On my e350, the steering box has been leaking for months, and I just noticed the damage that the fluid did to my radius arm bushings, so obviously I want to solve the leak before I throw bushings at it.
I've tried a few bottles of stop leak stuff, and threw it out like any fluid in the system. So a real repair is needed. Looking at O'Reillys, they list the whole gear box for $145, which seems to be used on a whole ton of fords for many years, or they offer kits to reseal or even rebuild your own box for a good bit less. So I'm looking for advice on what to do here, should I suck it up and replace the whole box, are the rebuilt ones any good? Or should I just reseal mine since I'm satisfied with my steering performance on my existing box? At this point I don't know exactly how many places it's leaking from, I know the input shaft seal shows a leak, and the rest of the box is pretty well wet, as is the frame and all else around it.

Also, I'm seeing that energy suspension makes a radius arm bushing from polyurethane instead of the crappy rubber that's on stock replacements. Is this a good choice for these rigs? The current bushings in there are about 2 years old and totally spent. Obviously I'll replace them again.

 

Wow---this is a page outta my recent experiences with an '03 E250!

Had the same bottom seal suddenly spring a leak, small and not getting too much bigger over a few months. Doesn't seem to be a replacement seal available plus the box has to be disassembled anyway. Added Lucas PS pump sealant---not a bit of difference---time to bite the replace bullet.

NAPA had an A1 Cardone brand reman box for like $160, OEM was $258 plus $225 core. I went the OEM way, just don't trust that brand even if NAPA is selling it.

If you're willing to spend upwards of $400 Redhead Steering Gear has a superb reputation. Downside to them is the don't typically stock the E-Series box and their core + return shipping costs send their stuff into the stratosphere price wise.

Also replaced my axle pivot and radius arm bushings with Energy Suspension parts----do it and don't look back, even if its just the radius arm bushings. Far more durable, won't deteriorate over time---I've done it on two different E250's now.

HTH

 

OK cool. According to the auto parts stores, these old Econolines take the same steering box as the pickups, which makes availability easy, but the price I quoted was a car done or master pro, either way means it's probably junk. Red head is local for me, so their shipping rates won't kill me anyway, maybe I'll give them a call to check price.

 

Oh man---I envy you being that close to RedHead!

I'm sure there is a lot of model cross compatibility between the F- and E-Series. Oddly enough when I talked to RedHead they didn't seem to have anything fitting my '03 E250.

Good luck with this--not a tough job as long as you're inside or the weather is co-operating.

 

Definitely replace it ...not worth taking it apart/rebuilding it in my opinion....