Has anyone here rebuilt a steering box?

68stang351

Founding Member
May 16, 2002
850
8
39
Savoy TX
I think I'm going to attempt to rebuild my manual steering box on my 68 (short shaft). I have a couple of different books that cover the rebuild in great detail, and I've read that part several times. I will read the instructions until I know them, so I don't forget anything. It really doesn't look all that bad.

Anyway, I wanted to know if anyone knew of a good source for the rebuild kits? So far, I've only found one from Colorado Mustangs. Are there any other good sources?

Any tips?
 
  • Sponsors (?)


I recently rebuild 2 mustang steering boxes a 19 to 1 box and a 16 to 1 box. A couple things you should look out for are… 1. There are2 “u” shaped metal tubes that the recirculating balls run through that I found to be eroded on both boxes. They have an odd shape so you have to look at them closely. 2. The bearing preload on the input shaft is to be set at somewhere around 6-8 inch pounds. This can be difficult to accurately adjust. I have a snap-on brand dial gauge for setting up pinion gears but found it just wasn’t sensitive enough. Frankly I kind of winged it and hope it doesn’t bite me in the ---. I guess really the main thing I would recommend is follow a good ford service Manuel and not a Haynes or Chilton book. One more thing ford does have a procedure for checking the rotational torque on the input shaft by using a gauge at the steering wheel. Saginaw the manufacturer of the box says this is a very bad practice as it doesn’t isolate the box from the friction created by the Colum bearing and will give you erroneous readings.
 
I recently rebuild 2 mustang steering boxes a 19 to 1 box and a 16 to 1 box. A couple things you should look out for are… 1. There are2 “u” shaped metal tubes that the recirculating balls run through that I found to be eroded on both boxes. They have an odd shape so you have to look at them closely. 2. The bearing preload on the input shaft is to be set at somewhere around 6-8 inch pounds. This can be difficult to accurately adjust. I have a snap-on brand dial gauge for setting up pinion gears but found it just wasn’t sensitive enough. Frankly I kind of winged it and hope it doesn’t bite me in the ---. I guess really the main thing I would recommend is follow a good ford service Manuel and not a Haynes or Chilton book. One more thing ford does have a procedure for checking the rotational torque on the input shaft by using a gauge at the steering wheel. Saginaw the manufacturer of the box says this is a very bad practice as it doesn’t isolate the box from the friction created by the Colum bearing and will give you erroneous readings.

this is good information. look closely at the shaft and the balls for pitting and wear. the hardest part is making sure the balls go where they are supposed to when putting everything back together. the second hardest part is setting the preloads.