Which steering box to buy?

[GNRick]

Advance has a sale, $30 off an order of $100. Thinking of replacing my steering box. They have several to choose from. Any opinions on them? Which one should I buy? Thanks!

Advance Auto Parts: Search Results for steering box

 

[Dennis Kirban]

Reason they probably have several to choose from is because regular regals and others will fit your application but not have the turning radius or the rod feel that was part of the suspension packaged in the turbo regals. the code on the inspection plate on the top should it be visible is YA.

Those boxes are probably highly sought after as I used to sell them in the GTO market as they worked long as you changed the hose fittings to metric....again going by memory.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[big reazon]

What are you trying to do? Are you autocrossing daily driver what is it? Why are you replacing the steering box? If daily driver order the one that says it has 2.5 turns lock to lock as that is the one that would be correct for your car. But you must check this Upon picking it up because I have found this piece to usually be overlooked. If you are autocrossing or have a little extra cash you should pick one up from sc&c or directly from lee's. There about 500 bucks last time I checked.

 

[GNRick]

The steering on my 87 GN with 175k miles is quite a bit "sloppier" than on my 26k mile 86 GN. I know the Jeep half shaft is a common upgrade, but I have read where the steering box can have parts that wear out. I tried tightening the allen screw on top of it but apparently that isn't really the best way to adjust it....it should be removed from the car and more drastic adjusting methods should be employed. Advance shows those boxes when I searched for GN, but I didn't recognize the brands. O'reilly sells Cardone, a more familiar brand to me. All have a lifetime warranty however. So, no, I don't plan on autocrossing, just want to restore the steering feel to when it was new. Front end steering parts, bushings, ball joints, etc. have already been replaced. I just clicked on the boxes to get more info. Appears the one for Fe2/Fe3 sport suspension is the one for $172. Most expensive one. Figures.

 

[GNRick]

I bought a rebuilt Cardone steering box from O'reilly's for $116 plus a core charge. It is specifically for the GN with FE2 suspension (or something like that) and quick ratio steering. In the meantime, before it gets installed, I tried tightening the allen head screw on the box (on my car) and then backed it off 1/4 turn. At first I thought it made a positive difference, but later on the car seemed to wander quite a bit. Seemed like the steering was more sensitive to moving the steering wheel, but I didn't like the wandering effect. So today I backed the screw back out to about where it was before and I think I restored the steering to where it was. I'll let my mechanic install the new box next week (scheduled for Tues.). The allen screw on the new box is screwed in tighter than on the box from the factory (I compared it with my other GN), plus they put a dab of green silicon on the screw for some reason. Kind of wish the screw on the rebuilt box had the same # of threads exposed as from the GM plant.