The gear box in my 79 f250 has crapped out on me. Lost about 6 quarts of fluid in an hour of driving. This is in addition to wandering all over the road constantly. The truck is my daily driver so sending my box off to get rebuilt is a no go, unless I found another one used and installed it which would be job in itself.

What I want to know is do the manual boxes walk around like the power models do? That's my biggest problem. Ive driven manual steer trucks before and I don't have a problem with it. If it would take the play out of the wheel and give me one less pump, belt, and a whole lot less lines to worry about then that's just icing on the cake.

Also, what else needs to be replaced to convert to manual steering?

 

I would just fix the power steering. Converting to a manual box and making new mounts/linkages for one would be more of a pain in my opinion.


Good power steering is tight though. I would get a reman box (redhead makes the best by far) and replace the other worn out steering components.

 

I don't really have $400 to spend on this. There aren't any other worn steering components that I can find, it's just the box itself.

 

But you would never regret the Redhead..........

 

The conversion would probably cost as much as the Redhead. If the box is the ONLY problem in your steering, everything should tighten up with its repair (well, as tight as one of these ever was...). If there is something else shot, a new box won't help, obviously. Are you sure it's the box? That much fluid loss almost sounds more like a blown hose to me.

 

Have you located a manual box? I would think that might be pretty hard to find a used one and a rebuilt one would cost just as much as a rebuilt power box.


for reference my 79 f350 has very little slop so I would suspect something is worn out in your steering.


I don't know but I would also assume that a different steering column would be needed for the manual box too.


You could try getting a rebuild kit for the power steering box but that brings in the problem of down time of a daily driver.

 

I wouldn't regret the manual box.....

 

The fluid is coming out of the lower seal on the box. Everything else is tight and functioning as it should. Are the manual boxes as sloppy as the powermodels? I couldn't care less, power to manual. I'm the only one who drives the truck and it wouldn't be the first time with manual steering.
I'm very tired of bouncing off lines on the road because the box is sloppier than a pig. I don't mean to be short. I'm just really done with an otherwise mechanically sound truck wandering around all over the place like a pile of junk.

 

The wondering problem is due to bad steering system, something in there is causing this. It may be the box and in that case a correctly working manual box would fix this problem but then so would a correctly working power box. The slop in the system could also be anything on the steering column like the rag joint or the u-joint or it could be any of the other steering linkages in the whole system including the ball joints on the knuckles.


Your box is dead so either rebuild it or get a new power or manual one. After that if it's still wondering all over then it's time to replace everything else that is bad.


Have you ever messed with the slop adjuster nut on the top of the box???

 

Bottomed out the adjustment about 2 years ago. When the trucks running I can stand in front of the truck and watch somebody turn the wheel. Whole lot of movement goes into the box before any would come back out. Jacking up the front end m, pulling on tires and having somebody else turn the wheel I can't find anything else that's loose.

What all needs to be changed? I can get a refurbished manual box for about $200 out the door. I can't find anywhere that has a power box for sale except for a yard a couple towns over.

I might buy a redhead box later on. I just don't have the money right now and the truck needs fixed. Do the power boxes have an inherent slop to them? If they don't do they aquire one pretty soon? Are the manual boxes any different? I really don't mind the manual box, if it would fix my leak and the slop I'd be happy to switch it over.

Come on guys please, I really need an answer.

 

The power box has no more slop than any other box when it's in good shape. The original 79 box on my f350 has no more slop than any new truck.


Have you checked the rag joint that connects the steering shaft to the power box? What about the U-joint at the cab side of the steering shaft? The rag joints often wear out


If the adjuster nut is bottomed out then it does sound like your box needs a rebuild or you need a new box. I really dobut that the $200 manual box plus any other things that are required to hook it up will cost less than a new power box. What would suck though is to put in any new box and find that you still have all the same slop cause it was being caused by something else.


Sound to me like you need to check each individual component of the steering for ware and see what else needs to be replaced. A visual inspection will see the worst offender but a lot of little warn out joints will add up too and those can only be found by close inspection.

 

OP think about this rationally and just fix the box that's in there

 

Ive got a redhead box i dont need anymore...
That, a new rag joint, and tie rod ends made my 2wd the best driving i-beam truck some friends of mine ever drove. At least, accordind to them.

If it were me..id stay with power steering. Be easier to fix that than convert to manual. Unless someone has a tight manual box, you will still have some wander. Old boxes are old.

 

I've gotten a mechanic buddy of mine get me a lower seal for the box. So I'm not in a bind now. The truck will be ready to this time tomorrow. I'm still sick of the wandering. Me, my dad, and a seasoned tech have all looked it over pretty good at different times and all the slop is in the box. Maybe there's a little bit in the rag joint or elsewhere but nowhere near what would cause the truck to wander as much as it does. Which I can deal with now that the truck is gonna be good for work Monday.

Are the manual boxes on average any tighter or less likely to get play in them than the redhead boxes? I don't like replacing stuff twice as a rule on the truck. I like everything to be as reliable as it can be when it gets replaced. That way it knocks one more item off the "is old and liable to break" list. Heff, IM sent.

 

I fought wandering on my F100 truck with a ford PS box. Changed the box and just about all the rest of the steering components. Finally discovered the rag joint was bad. Replaced and now the PS is perfect. I recommend staying with power steering.
Rich