I know a lot of people go with red head boxes. And you get what you pay for on that I assume. But has anyone gone with anything else and had good or bad stories. I was thinking of just driving to the Napa .5 miles away and picking one of the premium ones the sell up.


Thanks

 

Buddy of mine just put one in from Advanced Auto... used a coupon code to get 30% off or $50, TRT30. Don't forget a pitman arm puller when you change it out.

 

I went with redhead because it is an upgrade from stock. My understanding is that any unit you get will be a rebuilt ford unit with new seals. Mline failed at just over 100k. Redhead rebuilds the boxes with tighter tolerances, and I believe they polish the shaft (don't laugh) more thoroughly to have a better sealing surface. I was uneasy with the idea of using a cheaper unit and the redhead unit was cheaper than the oem product. So far haven't had any trouble.

Also in addition to the pitman arm puller, you will need a way of removing the nut - it is big. I don't know what size it is, but I used a 1 13/16 socket I got from TSC. That's a 3/4" drive so if your impact wrench is 1/2" you'll need an adapter. My impact wrench maxed out at 150psi is rated for 450ft/lbs which i believe to be the torque spec there.

Also try to center the wheels best you can before you take everything off. I put the seat belt through the steering wheel after that. There's a way to make sure everything lines up just right you could search that, but iirc the way the unit is sent it is centered so as long as you keep it there it is just a matter of lining the pitman arm up correctly and you're good. Tricky part is you have to mount the pitman arm on first, then mount it so you want it to be as close as possible. You can always readjust the drag link if it is off centered a little bit.

The hoses to the steering box, I really can't remember much there but seems I had a hard time getting them off. It was an odd size in metric like 20mm. I think there is at least one sealing washer there too, you can get those at your local ford parts counter.

Good luck

 

I just installed a Cardone from orielys. It's been only a week but so far so good.

 

Yeah I'm not sure yet what way I'm going to go. Im going to go down today and see what kind of warranty the Napa units have I will be using my buddies shop so I will have everything I need Thanks for the info so far

 

Ok nice having use of a shop will be a big plus on that one

 

I was told naps doesn't have an offering. What did you find?

 

http://m.napaonline.com/parts/PartsL...ering+gear&p=1