Steering box rebuilders

[Ecode70D]

Jeff  HAHAHA yourself
I guess that means you don't have one.
When I get a few minutes time, I'll check to see if the sector nut on  my spare 57 box fits my 58.  In the pictures that you sent me earlier, looks like you are missing the nut and lock washer.   
 
    My 59 box turns  smooth as silk, so I'm not going to rebuild it.   I rebuilt my 57 box and it works nicely now, so actually I'm not in any big hurry to install the 59.   Jay

[djfordmanjack]

Can't keep up with the 57 steering gear nagging. had 3 of them all were tight in European winding roads. maybe some of them rebuilt?

[hiball3985]

Can't keep up with the 57 steering gear nagging. had 3 of them all were tight in European winding roads. maybe some of them rebuilt?

Whether they are still good or bad is probably relevant to how much or little maintenance they received over the years. I've taken some apart that looks like the factory gear oil that has turned into dried out looking grease.  The box in mine was so worn the free play went from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock and couldn't be adjusted out, just plane worn out and dry as a bone when I tore it apart.

[cokefirst]

Out on the west coast, many of the parts suppliers use Straight Line Steering to rebuild their boxes.  They rebuild boxes for everything from cars to big trucks.  They have two locations, but all the car rebuilding is done in San Jose.  The price was reasonable, and the turn around was about 2-3 weeks.  I live close to their Riverside location, so I took it there and they ship it to San Jose and back in their weekly shipments.  Here is their website.  http://www.straightlinesteering.com/about%20the%20company.htm

[Jeff Norwell]

I just sent them a request for a quote on my steering box. Aftermarket Steering boxes my be OK but I'm happy with turning the wheel 15,000 times to turn around. At least I'll have something I don't have to drill new bolt holes for etc. I just hope they are not so expensive.

Jim.any word from Turn one?.... not trying to be nosy...but I was very curious to see if they are priced ok.. or out of this world.

[hiball3985]

I'd like to know what is included in a rebuild. I don't know of anyone that I've been able to find who has new worm and sectors for 57 boxes unless they have some secret source..

[racton]

    Greetings  I have a steering box from a 1958 ford 300 .The tow truck operator had cut the column right above the large flat nut.Can I save the box?Do I need the idler arm from the 58?
      Thank you

[JimNolan]

Jim.any word from Turn one?.... not trying to be nosy...but I was very curious to see if they are priced ok.. or out of this world.

No, I haven't heard a word from them. It drives OK now with just enough play (any play) that I know the longer I go the worse it will get without having any adjustment left. I was hoping to send it off this fall. I'll try to call them this time. I just want to make sure they'll rebuild it.

[gasman826]

I spent yesterday at the Columbus, OH GoodGuys show.  Early on Fridays, you have the vendors to yourself.  You know I'm old, retired and on a fixed income so I'm not too proud to ask for discounts.  I'm not saying how much I spent but I SAVED 650 bucks!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  One of the vendors I searched out was Turn One.  I talked with THE guy.  He is the owner, tech support, sales, engineer, head technician, and grounds maintenance.  When asked about wear in the '57 sector and worm gears, he balked to share technical secrets.  By chance, I mentioned the Caviler rack conversion in my Custom.  He was genuinely interested.  When I mentioned the only downside was the loss of turning radius.  He immediately responded with improvements he could make to increase rack travel to increase turning radius.  He was unsure if he could restore OEM turning radius but was sure to make an improvement.  For this service, he gave me a SWAG of less than $200.  My rack is coming off and I'm making a run to Saginaw!

[Jeff Norwell]

Gary.. did he give you any cost on rebuilding a 57 stock 57-59 box?...Awesome that you met him....did you find him positive?

[gasman826]

He seemed to be very genuine and has 20+ years with the company.  He mentioned Chuck and the interview.  Since I've tossed all my '57 boxes and my '64 box is in good condition, we didn't linger on the '57 box discussion.  I also quickly gathered that he was not interested in blind estimates...send the box in and get a quote.  As of yesterday, he had not recently quoted a '57 box.  I got the feeling that '58 and newer boxes were less of a challenge than a '57.

[KYBlueOval]

I spent yesterday at the Columbus, OH GoodGuys show.  Early on Fridays, you have the vendors to yourself.  You know I'm old, retired and on a fixed income so I'm not too proud to ask for discounts.  I'm not saying how much I spent but I SAVED 650 bucks!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  One of the vendors I searched out was Turn One.  I talked with THE guy.  He is the owner, tech support, sales, engineer, head technician, and grounds maintenance.  When asked about wear in the '57 sector and worm gears, he balked to share technical secrets.  By chance, I mentioned the Caviler rack conversion in my Custom.  He was genuinely interested.  When I mentioned the only downside was the loss of turning radius.  He immediately responded with improvements he could make to increase rack travel to increase turning radius.  He was unsure if he could restore OEM turning radius but was sure to make an improvement.  For this service, he gave me a SWAG of less than $200.  My rack is coming off and I'm making a run to Saginaw!

Gary, I'm very interested in this turning radius improvement. Please give us the results. If it works to your satisfaction, I'll drive mine up to Saginaw.

[81TTA]

I'd like to know what is included in a rebuild. I don't know of anyone that I've been able to find who has new worm and sectors for 57 boxes unless they have some secret source..

The bearings/gaskets/seals and worm gear are available from aftermarket sources.  There even appear to be completely "rebuilt" boxes available ready to go.  I don't know of any source for just the sector shafts for these, though.

We finished up a "rebuild" on a 57 steering box this winter. Fortunately, we had a collection of steering boxes to choose from that allowed us to mix-and-match the best hardware.  So, I didn't have to deal with any wallowed-out bores or other worn parts way outside of specs.  I used one of the aftermarket bearing/gasket/seal kits.  The boxes aren't very complicated at all.  The service manual had enough detail to describe how everything should go together.  The only adjustment when reassembling is setting the shaft preload based on the number of paper shim/gaskets. 

Can't keep up with the 57 steering gear nagging. had 3 of them all were tight in European winding roads. maybe some of them rebuilt?

The rebuilt box now behaves as djfordmanjack describes.  Tight, quick response to steering wheel movement.  Perhaps later boxes are better in some other way(s).  But, I'd be hard pressed for a reason why given the way things worked out.

[hiball3985]

The bearings/gaskets/seals and worm gear are available from aftermarket sources.  There even appear to be completely "rebuilt" boxes available ready to go.  I don't know of any source for just the sector shafts for these, though.

We finished up a "rebuild" on a 57 steering box this winter. Fortunately, we had a collection of steering boxes to choose from that allowed us to mix-and-match the best hardware.  So, I didn't have to deal with any wallowed-out bores or other worn parts way outside of specs.  I used one of the aftermarket bearing/gasket/seal kits.  The boxes aren't very complicated at all.  The service manual had enough detail to describe how everything should go together.  The only adjustment when reassembling is setting the shaft preload based on the number of paper shim/gaskets. 

The rebuilt box now behaves as djfordmanjack describes.  Tight, quick response to steering wheel movement.  Perhaps later boxes are better in some other way(s).  But, I'd be hard pressed for a reason why given the way things worked out.

Do you have a link for the aftermarket sources? I've rebuilt these type boxes before in my truck, they are the same design. I need to help a friend with his, I already have a 58 box in mine.

[81TTA]

Do you have a link for the aftermarket sources? I've rebuilt these type boxes before in my truck, they are the same design. I need to help a friend with his, I already have a 58 box in mine.

Yep.  I purchased all the parts I needed from Concours.  I don't think I can simply paste a link to their list of '57 steering parts. I used their "kit" # B6A-3551-BK for the recent rebuild.  The link for that is here : http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?parta~dyndetail~Z5Z5Z50000051e~Z5Z5Z520142~P114.95~~~~S4YP03EASA96271910514x~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z50000051e

They seem to have worm gears and worm gear+shaft assemblies, as well.  There's also a listing for a completely rebuilt box for a fair amount of money more!   If you go to http://concoursparts.com/ , it's pretty easy to select the model year and category to bring up all the other parts they offer.

Here are a couple other places that have steering parts :
http://www.macsautoparts.com/ford_mercury_late/steering/steering-boxes-and-related.html?limit=96
https://cgfordparts.com/wwwsectionfiles/cg_cat2_steering_steering_box_parts.html

While most of these places have a pretty good overlap of identical parts, there are some things that appear to be available at only one of them.  A good example (coming to mind because I completely screwed this up on one of the boxes I had...) is the tube/plate assembly (MACS PN : B5S-3597-A) that aligns the steering shaft and bearing at the other end of the box.  This is the tube assembly that allows the horn wire to pass through the box.  When everything is bolted together, there's really no problem.  Nothing can move around.  But, when the shaft is unbolted, left in place and allowed to bang around while someone (certainly not me) trips over the parts a few times, the tube will definitely get bent and distorted.  I don't see one of these available on the Concours site.  But, the MACs site appears to have this assembly available.