Steering Box

[SBriggs]

Hi

My steering is heavy and loose so I am looking to either restore or replace the box. All the various connecting rods and joints have been checked and are ok. I came accross www.carsteering.com through eBay who have refurbished boxes for USD 395 with a USD 200 refund for the old box. Has anyone tried these?

Regards

SB

[scestes]

Hi

My steering is heavy and loose so I am looking to either restore or replace the box. All the various connecting rods and joints have been checked and are ok. I came accross www.carsteering.com through eBay who have refurbished boxes for USD 395 with a USD 200 refund for the old box. Has anyone tried these?

You do realize that the total is $595 when you check out. You're not getting the box for $195 in the end. A $200 core is added to the $395 and you get that back. I've never seen or used these guys before, so I can't comment on them. The price just doesn't seem like such a hot deal to me. It's the exact same price you get them from Ireland for.

[Mike Self]

a coupla points to consider:

you say "My steering is heavy and loose so I am looking to either restore or replace the box."

What width tires are you running? the wider the tire, the harder the steering. This can be magnified if you have a smaller than stock steering wheel. The factory fitted those bus wheels to '02s for a reason--so a 5'1" 100 lb fraulein could park the car on a narrow Munich street.

Looseness in the box itself can be taken up with the adjusting screw that's surrounded by a large nut in the center of the box housing, facing up. Follow the instructions in the shop manual or check the archives on how to tighten without making it too tight (and causing excessive wear).

Finally, (or perhaps first) check the lubricant level inside the box. If it's low, or a PO has filled it full of grease instead of the proper oil, it's gonna feel heavy.

I'd check the three things above before buying a rebuilt steering box; both my cars have their original steering boxes at 219 and 220k miles respectively; they work just fine.

cheers

mike

[JerryC]

Tires that are approaching the wear indicators seem to add to steering effort also. And there's always tire air pressure. Pumping the tires back up to normal pressure feels like adding power steering.

[SBriggs]

Hi

I recently put on narrower original size tyres at the same time I changed the steering wheel to a slightly smaller one, I was hoping that the two would cancel each other out with regards the weight of the steering (although they are road race rubber so stickier than normal road tyres). I need to check that the mechanic checked the oil though and I suppose it could be full of grease, good point. Thanks for the advice.

SB

[SBriggs]

Hi

Thanks for all of your suggestions. In case anyone comes accross this topic in the future, part of the problem was a lack of oil in the steering box, which was easily resolved. However, what really made a difference was the removal, cleaning and re-greasing of the mechanism on the other side of the steering rack (can't remmeber it's proper name). Finally, I also found out the car has a sports steering box, but with the standard size tyres it's fine for me.

Regards

SB

[plape]

I bought a rebuilt box from this eBay seller (carsteering.com http://www.ebay.com/itm/201487285575). $389 plus $300 core, free shipping. It was about $70 cheaper than the rebuilt one offered by 2002AD, and promised faster ship time. The rebuilt steering box arrived in about 4 days, looked OK. Painted non stock silver/grey, yellow plug, filled with red bearing grease, not oil. But, it was very stiff, even with adjusting screw out. I went ahead and installed it (my subframe was out for a rebuild anyway), thinking that once in the car I wouldn't notice the stiffness. Mistake. Steering was very stiff when installed, car basically not drivable. I took it out (much harder with the subframe back in the car) and replaced with my old slightly crunchy and leaky steering box and it feels fine again. I think maybe the rebuilders used the incorrect shims.

 

So, I call today to return this box, and decide I don't want another from this seller. But, they will only do an exchange or store credit because the part was installed. No amount of whining and cajoling would change their mind. I gave up and am having them send me another box, but I'm not happy with either the product or the customer service of carsteering.com. 

 

Buyer beware.

[Stevenc22]

I bought mine from 2002AD. Had no issues and they answered a couple questions i emailed them about.

 

 

[AceAndrew]

They use the same rebuilder.