Happy Thanksgiving gentlemen, I hope you and your family have a blessed day. I am planning on working on my 1985 F250 4X4 351W steering box. It has dana 44s. The problem is slack in the steering, it's not bad but it is road walking a little bit. There is a small amount of slack in the linkages so they will be replaced, but the ball joints were replaced about 4 months ago. The steering wheel has approximately a 1/4 turn (or a little less) slack in it. Since I will have the truck down replacing the linkages and the steering box seems to have a little slack in it and leaks fluid I am thinking of rebuilding it also at the same time.


My question is have any of you gentlemen done this before? Do you have any advise for me? I have never done this before and would appreciate any and all input. Would I be better off just buying a new steering box? Is this a very difficult job to undertake? Thank you in advance for your input.

 

1/4 turn of slack? are you nuts to drive it like that? everything under there is very straight forward, add a steering box to the list if it really has that much slack. Have it aligned after all the parts are replaced.

As far as the steering box, rebuilding it yourself or buying a parts store reman is a waste of time and money. These boxes have problems that are only corrected by custom re-builders like Redhead. I have one of their boxes and it drives great.

 

Thank you for your input FordFETruck I appreciate it. LOL 1/4 turn slack ain't nothing, try driving one with a full turn of slack, makes for an interesting ride LOL. Do you have a link to Redhead? I apologize for my ignorance but I'm afraid if I google Redhead it'll take a long time to sift through all the results, any help would be greatly appreciated. Again thank you for taking time to advise me on this problem.

 

Pull the plastic sleeve back and check the condition of the rag joint while you're looking at the steering shaft.

 

LOL, here you go.

Red-Head Steering Gears - Custom Rebuilt Steering Gear Boxes in USA

 

Heh... I can imagine there being significantly different results specific to both boys and girls....

 

Thank you sir....I've got to show my ignorance here but what is the rag joint please?


Thank you sir I will definitely check them out.


LMBO you are exactly right LOL. There were some "results" that would make a sailor blush. I knew googling redhead would produce some "interesting" results but some of the results were.....well more than "interesting". LOL

 

The rag joint is a flex coupling in the steering shaft made from a disc of cloth reinforced rubber (like a chunk of tire sidewall)

First google photo search brings this..
http://mustangforums.com/forum/classic-mustangs-tech/636094-rag-joint-inspecting.html

 

It would be this.

 

Ahhhhh ok I got it now. I have seen these joints many times but didn't know the name of it. Many many thanks gentlemen I will definitely check that tomorrow. Honestly checking that never came to mind, I really appreciate your input.


I did check out Redhead and I like the looks of their products. After I do some more investigating on my truck I am sure I will contact them about a replacement steering box. Again thank you gentlemen for your input and advice.

 

Redhead actually improves the Ford boxes. Originally the front of the shaft rode in a hole in the cast iron casting - meaning there was no bearing. Redhead bores the casting out and installs a true bearing there. But the other rebuilders just put new parts in the box, so if the box itself is worn it'll still have slop.

FTE frequently has group buys going on with Redhead, so when you call check to see if one is in progress.

 

Thank you Gary, I appreciate the intell. I will definitely ask them about this.