Lares Corp. steering boxes any good?

Okay, well I finally got around to messing with it. I removed the cap nut/cover, and there's only a 1/4" of thread of the adjuster screw sticking out. The nut was loose, and doesn't seem to grip the threads much, if at all. The adjuster will not turn, at all. So I imagine it means that no adjustment is left and the box is toast, am I right? Honestly, I couldn't get the adjuster to move either direction.

I don't want to get it to the local rebuild shop that has a $300 starting price, and find out they want to charge me another $300-$500 for machining, new worm gear, etc etc etc....
 
It will depend a lot on the condition of the worm gear and sector gear. If they are reusable I would guess that is the $300 price. If they need replaced the price will go up considerably. But, hard to tell unless it is apart.
 
Did you also remove the star washer? Sometimes those get stuck to the side cover under grease.

If the adjuster is too far in, then the worm is likely worn and needs replacing. Had to really tell until you disassemble the box and look at everything.

Neal
 
The cover locknut thing wouldn't really catch any threads though, so any adjustment would have to have something else to hold it in place. I will check the star washer, maybe clean it up with some cleaner and a brass brush to get a better look at it. The inside of the cover nut looks to be a much larger diameter than the adjuster, so I don't understand what it was trying to catch a thread on. I have more time this evening, and it was starting to rain as well last night. The sun should be out this afternoon.
 
Got the washer off, that in itself was a 20 minute chore. Zero adjustment left. It will loosen but not tighten. I am going to pull it sometime in the next few weeks, and get it rebuilt I guess. Of course pulling it will probably get another batch of troubles I imagine. Truck four feet in the air, drop the axle and remove most of the steering components, steering wheel, etc etc etc.


The star washer is supposed to have a tab in it to match the slot in the side of the adjuster, right? If it does, that is long gone. I had to pry it up, and pretty much unscrew it. It was gone before I started messing with it.

Right now I am just kind of disgusted that an axle swap has snowballed into rebuilding the entire front suspension and steering system. Oh well... I knew what I was getting into, eh?
 
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Well, the good news is it needed it anyway and the axle change didn't causes it! About the hardest part of pull the steering is getting the steering wheel off. The pitman arm can be a bit of a challenge as well.
 
I lucked out on steering gear adjustments for years. A bench adjustment is a good way to go if you follow the book. I sent a P/S control valve to Lares, and it came back on time, fixed, and on budget. Two years later I sent in the pump, it also was good service. I remember years ago to cost to get those parts sent in for repair was 800 bucks. Lares did it for a fraction of that. Good people to deal with.
 
I was going to try and remove some leaves anyway, to maybe lower a little more. Mostly to smooth out the ride though. This truck has ten leaves all the way around. At some point I will have to buy a torch. Either that or wait until it's drivable to bend the steering arm down, I hear a drop axle can cause clearance issues with the shocks, and bump steer from the angle of the drag link. I want it to be safe and pleasant to drive once I'm done.

Lares is pretty much good from the majority is what I am getting here. I still may go to the local place. He was highly recommended, and the entry to the office is like an old time gas station office. Lots of cool stuff, and I don't mean Coke signs and antique gas pumps, hehe. Dirt, grime, dusty... steering boxes poking out from everywhere. They have been there forever. Adco is the name of the shop. They came highly recommended by the street rod builder guy at work. He's built several nice vehicles for the owner of the business I work for.


http://www.adcopower.net/
 
I was going to do Sid's, but then if I ever want to get it back to stock height someday, I wouldn't have my original axle. I will probably get the tie rod drops from him. I have new king pins and U bolts for the springs, and a quart of flat black rustoleum. I am going for function over beauty, at least on the underside.
 
Not sure on the later year axles, but on the early ones (I purchased a 33) you just have to pay a core fee if you don't provide your axle. The core charge on the 33 was like $100 or $150.
 
That's about the same that I paid then, and got king pins and U bolts in the deal. I do have one question. Is the tie rod bar threaded all the way through. Is it solid except the threaded ends? It mentions shortening them for the full dropped tie rods. A full tie rod, and not a bolt on drop. Running out of threads getting it aligned, would not be good.
 
Not that familiar with the later years as far a axles and tie rods go. I would give Sid's a call, they were always good at answering questions for me.
 
FordCustom said:
That's about the same that I paid then, and got king pins and U bolts in the deal. I do have one question. Is the tie rod bar threaded all the way through. Is it solid except the threaded ends? It mentions shortening them for the full dropped tie rods. A full tie rod, and not a bolt on drop. Running out of threads getting it aligned, would not be good.
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You should realize that when dropping an I-beam axle, the kingpins USUALLY end-up closer together than original, which effectively makes the tie rod "too long". Most-likely why you're "running out of threads". Most tie rods are hollow tubing. DD
 
Sorry, thought you were talking about an adjusting collar. If it's a standard type of tie rod like on earlier years, yes it is a hollow tube and only threaded on the ends. You can get taps to extend the threads, but it requires two, a RH and a LH tap. Or you could cut and re-weld the tie rod.
 
JSeery said:
Sorry, thought you were talking about an adjusting collar. If it's a standard type of tie rod like on earlier years, yes it is a hollow tube and only threaded on the ends. You can get taps to extend the threads, but it requires two, a RH and a LH tap. Or you could cut and re-weld the tie rod.
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You only need one tap. Cut what you need off of one end. Just be sure you cut the end off that is threaded the same as your tap.
 
Well, the box rebuild turned out to be a cheaper thing than I imagined. There's a rat rodder I know, that is also a professional diesel mechanic. He has offered his services at no charge.. He's done this a bunch more times than I have, So I am pretty confident things will turn out well. Now I just have to get it out.
 
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