Seems we got a lot of aircraft people in our forum.

 

It was starting to get like my old vehicle test crew at lunch talking about well endowed women in LA.

 

So today I stopped in at Redhead and talked to them for about 30~45 minutes.
Really seemed nice.

So to the question about bad cores. They don't try to repair them.
Also they don't have a source for the major hard parts. I was told
that one of the effects of turning the mesh-load adjust is extra wear
on the gear teeth to the point that they can break off. Also it seems that
there are some people out there that like to play with the adjustment on a
fresh box for one reason or the other. They pre set them and then do a pressure
test on the bench to make sure that the box does not leak and it works.
That is not saying that one won't leak once installed do to loads that they
can't reproduce easily on the test bench (my wording) The load being
large tires and things like that.

Anyway back to the work at hand. They get a box in and have a look before
they issue the core. If it passes then you get the core fee back in not then
they will be talking to you about what and why.

They clean and then do some servicing on the unit then hand assemble it.
Not like some place in China that just tosses it together and hopes.
It gets all new seals and the ***** are sized to the unit. I think he said
3 sizes of ***** to pick from to make it work correctly.

Also if you want to have it painted they can do that for you.

When it comes to group buys they do some planning so that they are
not short on stock and in a rush.

Also if you happen to be out in the middle of nowhere they can ship
with faster services than the normal Pony Express.

Last thing I did invite then to come on and say hi and do there own Q&A.

So looks like I'll be picking up a box sometime this summer.


Sean

 

Thanks Sean. I just happen to be in the market for a new steering box. Tried to send reps
Kevin

 

I have a red headed box and I've been very happy with it. I replaced my worn out stock one...play went away but then started to come back. Thought maybe it was the box again but checked and sure enough I had a bad drivers side lower ball joint. Did all four ball joints truck steers just like new now

 

I just got mine in the mail. Its going on tomorrow so we'll see.

 

Sean, In your critique you didn't mention anything about the customer service and very limited warranty.

 

OOPS, Don't do this for a living so I missed something .
I forgot to ask about why the short warranty but did ask why it gets
denied some times. They said that for one reason or the other people take
"New" out of the box gear sets and readjust the mesh load. They put a
witness mark on it. If that shows the gear has been opened then your
warranty would be void.

On Customer service. When you take into account the fact that they were
busy and were able to take time to chat and show me a gear box explain
what is done I got a good feeling about the service.The guy I talked with
did say that there are some people that no matter what you do they are never
are happy how you fix a problem.
But from my time there I got a good feeling about the customer service.
I have been to places where things felt wrong and this was not one of them.



Sean

 

Old participated thread, but due to a current thread I thought I'd come back to this one with new relevant info since the issue was discussed above.

The reason the Ford Motorcraft boxes are more expensive then the aftermarket retail options is they replace the sector shafts with new ones, something the rebuilders cannot get. You don't have to take my word, it's posted in Ford's parts documentation and it's also shown if you click on the info button for the item on RockAuto's site.

 

Thanks for the update with that bit of info. Good to know.

I don't git why Redhead does not place the used at-rish parts in a MagnaFlux machine.
It's not that hard to do and reasonably easy to read.

BTW Do you happen to know if the original Ford or the replacement parts are cast or forged?



Sean

6.0L Tech Folder

 

Sean, I don't. About a month or so ago I was talking to a Ford employee and we got into the discussion about the boxes since I'm about to replace my tie rods, PS pump, etc. I then checked the Motorcraft literature and it confirmed the info was public. It just stayed in the back of my thoughts until another discussion on this site got me to remember it. My understanding is they are concerned about the possibility of damaged shafts shearing if they came from a distressed source, and since the gears are also worn to some point it's just a better practice to replace the part then inspect for stress cracks and wear. Some rebuilders may do that type of inspection, but if Ford is sourcing the components at the production line cost then from what I know it should be a no-brainier to make the choice. I can't confirm all their rebuilt boxes are like this, so one should look at the Motorcraft literature for the specific part.

 

In short my RedHead sucked right out of the box. It completely failed with less than 3000 miles of use. I now have an OEM back in there and couldn't be happier!

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...group-buy.html

Here's the pc of crap...

 

man that sucks you had such a bad experience. Ive had my RH box on my full size bronco running 35's 4.88 gears, tie-rod flip and still sporting the TTB front end with Zero issues 4yrs strong now. And i wheel my rig.

 

Yes, very disappointed.

 

Got to ask. What did they say when you informed them about the problem?



Sean

6.0L Tech Folder