The box on my 04 has lateral play at the sector shaft, which makes the truck wander due to play at the wheel. Thanks to @Colorado350 I learned about West Texas Offroad https://www.westtexasoffroad.com/. They specialize in ram steering setups, for about $600 with a reman box and all parts including rams. Man that makes me salivate, but I'm sending a daughter off to A&M in January and gotta pay for her apartment etc.

So I might have to save bucks and settle for a GOOD rebuild, non-ram. West Texas Offroad offers that for a much lower price, but I'd have to send in my box and wait. 3 weeks downtime for the truck. So I'm interested in other options, if y'all have them.

Thanks to this forum I've learned about a big issue with Ford reman steering boxes. Many mass market "reman" boxes still have play in the sector shaft bearings. On OBS and older trucks the lower bearing race is machined right into the gearbox housing, and it gets oval shaped over the decades of use. Rebuilders in China slap in new bearings, but they mate up with old races that are not round. Apparently, doing it the right way (machining the housing and pressing in a new race) would make the rebuild box non-competitive on price. Most buyers probably don't understand the issue.

I have one of those Chinese remans on our 86 Bullnose. Right out of the box, the sector shaft has lateral play. One of these months it'll probably start leaking ATF. I want to avoid making the same mistake. Justin at West Texas explained that on SDs the issues are even more complex, and that sloppy rebuilding can damage the housing or sector shaft irreparably.

So if anyone knows of another GOOD rebuilder that stocks reman boxes, please let me know. Otherwise I need to put up with 3 weeks of downtime for this truck. It's my first 6.0 (studs, deleted) and I really enjoy driving it. The 5R100 is so much better than even a beefed 4R100 is.
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Check out Red Head. A bunch of us did a group buy a while back (2012?). Mine is still doing great. www.redheadsteeringgears.com Net cost, after shipping and core charges/refunds, etc was around $320-$340 or so.

 

This time of year is bad for shipping. Christmas gifts, more than you can shake a stick at.
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Lately redhead boxs haven't had the best quality, that's why I went with a A1cardon from my local NAPA. Lifetime replacement warranty and a really great price. It's only been a couple mo ths and maybe 1000 miles on the truck but it's still perfect

 

I think I'll take that advice but also wait until January. Both of us in TX is less closeness than you might think. You can drive for 12 hours and still be in Texas. But I got a good impression talking to Justin there, so I'll go with them. They'll do one ported, ready for rams, for $380. It's only without ports that I have to wait.