Steering box w123
 

Hey guys. I've been resealing and adjusting the steering boxes in my small fleet of vehicles using the FSM and Army's adjustment methods.

I have at least two boxes left over, would anybody be interested in one? Or would anyone want me to reseal and adjust a box for them? In reality I sprung for a few special tools for the job and I'd like to prove to my wife that it wasn't a waste.

I'd be asking around $100 for a sealed and adjusted box plus a $25 core. I know there are a few styles out there, but most use the same seal kit.

They are definitely heavy, so I'm not sure if shipping is feasible. But I do take road trips quite a bit so I'm sure something could be worked out for those of you in the Eastern states. I'm also willing to wiggle on the cost, I just picked a round number I thought was reasonable. What do you guys think?

Hey,

That is a decent deal at $100 to rebuild a steering box. Shipping is easy in a post office it fits it ships box. They will send up to 70 pounds for under $20. The steering box is under 30 pounds. The only problem will be removing the Pittman Arm. Do you have a mechanical steering box ? NON-Power Steering ? I have been looking for one for a while. If so, PM me. Thanks.

heh, I've got one that's original, zero play... from a 78 240 if someone wants it... it's power steering, not NON... Martureo can verify it's tight!

Wow a cottage industry! Which special tools did you buy? Pictures please!

...and how far do you strip 'em?(!)

I bought a nice pin spanner, the humongous sixty five mm combination wrench, an impact gun, impact tools and a nice vise.

I am going balls out. cleaning everything then adjusting every last bit according to the FSM. I wish I could figure out a gauge to measure the last bit of tightness instead of using the feeler method. But that might be next thing I do.

Can you not use a dial indicator for this?

Hey Larry Bible,

I sent you a PM a while back. I know you're busy, but any updates. Thanks, Mark

Yeah, but I'm trying not to buy anything else for awhile. I'm sure I can jury rig something with all the bits I've got.

I've got an 85 300DT W123. Steering seems loose, front end parts seem OK. I am thinking steering box so I might be interested in getting a rebuilt unit. It is winter now, so I can't be doing the crawl under to remove or attempt an adjustment yet but if I find it's been adjusted all the way already would I be able to get a unit from you??

Yep, I can sell you one of the extra units I have soon (I'm waiting on a particular o-ring for them right now). Whenever you send me your old unit (if you decide to) I'll send your core cost back.

I haven't gone to the post office yet so I'm not sure if it could ship with the Pitman arm still installed. I've had to run to a local mechanic so he could remove the nut and I used a puller on the arm after a few days of soaking in PB Blaster.

But if you could find a way to ship it to me (again if you decide to) with the Pitman arm I'd be fine with that.

I have a good dial indicator in my own box and I THINK there is one in my late Father's tools. It will be quite a while before I get over there to check, but if there's one in there, I'll send it to you.

pfft, I've got a dozen sitting here, you could have taken one from me

Heat is your friend for Pitman arm removal (I have it on good authority)

As for the post office - with your own measurements (dimensions and weights) you can get a price on line and even pay on line if you want to...

Oh, I took it to the local mechanic because I didn't have a big enough impact socket or a powerful enough impact wrench for the nut holding the pitman arm. He charged me $10 for each visit, regardless of the number of nuts to be removed.

I learned my lesson with removing the pitman arm itself by breaking several pitman arm pullers. I returned each broken one to the store and got a new one under warranty, thankfully. So I only ended up buying the initial one. I just doused the arm with PB Blaster twice a day for three days. After the third day (and on last puller) it slid right off. Yeah, I just haven't gotten around to figuring out shipping since I thought it would prohibitive. I still need to figure out the packing, I don't want the box getting shattered in the process... I used to be a package handler for UPS and I KNOW what happens to these packages. Heck, "fragile" used to mean "throw softer" or "kick softer".

Has anyone bought a remanufactured box? How was it packaged?

I thought fragile meant kick the living $^&*%&^ out of me please.

Just like BMW means break my windows...

I've bought a few for the diesel ram (piss poor quality from AGR and Cardone) and steering box was double boxed with foam pads used to take up the slack and keep the steering box from shifting when thrown across the room. Probably anything that fills the (packing) box will work.

these things are HEAVY, so thick packing in foam padding is a really good idea. I've got two pulled out, and WOW they are heavy.

Oh come on John - I've seen pictures of you picking up whole cars!

Cheers I have a spare steering box,,when I bought the 1987 300 SDL,, in June this summer, the power steering in a left turn was not working. Only had power in a right turn. So I got a very used box and put it in.. But it has a lot of free play in the neutral spot,, would like to get the original one fixed it was much tighter. I suspect it has dirt or something in the value control. she has 350,000 kms and sat for 3 years outside in Canada,, it worked ok for 3 weeks,, I flushed and changed ps fluid and filter too. Let me know if you would like to try rebuild,, shipping from Toronto Canada.. ty

actually, that pic was of my "little" brother (he's 6'9" tall...), and there is a winch cable lifting the car, he's just standing under it... but he did flip it over on it's side BEFORE I removed all the subframe and steering components... so I have little doubt he could have picked up that shell that was left.

Oh I guess that's the brother who caused at least half of the trouble then? I'm glad he's helping you out.

By the way there's always photoshop for that little wire problem.

I'm not sure about the 87 box. If you could get me a part number off of it so I can compare I could try to see if it's something I can do. I definitely don't mind the work I just wanna make sure I can do it.

This tread is a little dated but I wanted to see if you're still rebuilding these boxes. I have a 1983 300TD in which the box is leaking and the right turn is getting tough, probably a sticky valve in the hydraulics.
Best Regards, /////brian Wells

SOLD
 

:D I will call Friday afternoon to settle cost +pay. :)
Crashing now for a few hours, after a very long heavy day.

Thanks.

Are you still performing this service and do you have any extra boxes so that I don't have to take the daily driver out of service for too long?