Lares Corp. steering boxes any good?

F

FordCustom

Senior Member
I was looking at Rock Auto, and the steering box they offered was a Lares rebuilding svc. You send your box in, and hopefully get yours, or at least a reasonable facsimile rebuilt unit back. Any problems with the quality of parts, or longevity?

Is anyone using one right now?

This is for a 1950 F-1, V8 flathead truck. I am slowly but surely bringing it back to life.
 
I don't know about their steering boxes, but they are a bunch of crooks as far as I'm concerned. Ordered a parking light and they sent me a headlight. They said send it back and we'll send you the right one, but you have to pay return shipping and pay shipping on the correct item when we send it. I will not repeat where I told them to stick it.
 
Lawson Cox said:
I don't know about their steering boxes, but they are a bunch of crooks as far as I'm concerned. Ordered a parking light and they sent me a headlight. They said send it back and we'll send you the right one, but you have to pay return shipping and pay shipping on the correct item when we send it. I will not repeat where I told them to stick it.
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Lawson,

Are you sure you're thinking of the right "crooks"? I went to the Lares website and they don't sell things like parking lights.

Their website here > http://www.larescorp.com/

Or is it that you're referring to Rock Auto???....
 
I was referring solely to Rock Auto. I have never heard of nor done business with Lares so I certainly would not be casting aspersions against them.
 
I ordered a bumper cover from rock auto for a friend. It was the correct part, and showed up in less than three days. It's been my only experience.

The rebuild service is $274.. Rip off or?
 
Do the job yourself. That is a very simple steering box. There is also a couple people on the fordbarn that advertise rebuilding service for that box. Parts are easy to find for them because internal pieces fit from 1937 to 48 car and also 1937 to 1952 pu.
 
Lares spends a bunch on advertising it seems in Hemmings V8 Times etc so they must have to charge a lot. Friend of mine sent a '36 steering box to them and they quoted almost $800.00 on the rebuild. They would not say if it was in house manufactured parts or China so he told them to return it.When it came back it was tagged " not rebuildable ". I posted about this last summer and a Fordbarner contacted me about a good used'36 box for $100. It was a lot better than the one he had and works good enough but he still should have went with a '37-39 box.
 
I had my steering box rebuilt for my 36 by

Mike Bartlett
704-728-2484

He did a great job. He also in the V8 times. Also does shocks
 
They have a top notch organization. They rebuild a steering box for a 57 skyliner. Fantastic. I dealt direct with Lares.

Larescorp.com
 
I have noticed they use a nice looking silver/grey paint. Can you tell if it was actually cleaned well before the painting took place. Will I have to strip and paint it again. I groan when I see chassis swapped 50's trucks with a thick coating of paint over dirty suspension parts. It happens more than you might think. I am blacking mine out, but everything is going to be gone through. Leaves taken apart, cleaned and painted. Things like that. Not insane level of detail, good looking in a mechanical sense is good enough.
 
FordCustom, as stated earlier, the Ford steering box is fairly easy to rebuild yourself. It depends on what it needs, if the worm and sector gears are ok (they often are) then the rebuild amounts to simply replacing the bearing, races, seals and gaskets and making the proper adjustments. Might be worth taking it apart and having a look. Another thought, even if you have to change out the sector gear and worm gear and need to get a machine shop to do that part of the job, it would still be much cheaper than paying shipping back and forth plus the high price for a rebuild.
 
I have used Lares for rebuilt hydraulic steering parts several times with great results.
However... although the Ford steering box is easily rebuilt. Getting it off the car can be a pain in the ars!! A few months ago I had a 33 in the shop and I had to jack the engine up to get clearance.. UGH! I figure the car was designed for a 4 cylinder and the flat head used up all the room!
 
On the F-1 it appears that the steering shaft is directly in line with the axle while being removed. If I am going to do something with it, it might as well be now when the axle is going to be off for a while.

I really could care less about the ease of which it is done. I'd rather have one built by a place that knows what they're doing and has done it million times before. A place that has a good reputation. Something with a warranty possibly?
 
Just sent a '36 & '46 strg boxes to them, was given a high and low rebuild price, was expensive but did ship them to them, will know in a week or two, will post what I find when returned. Often feel you only get what you pay for, hope I get what I pay for. Will be interesting to see how they get painted, I did ask for black hi temp paint so will see if they got cleaned prior to painting
 
As mentioned by other barners in this post, if you get Vern Tardel's "Let Me Help You" Booklet on Ford steering, he makes the overhauling real simple, plus you get the satisfaction of doing it your self, with good old Ford parts.
 
No personal experience with Lares, but two friends each sent their '34 steering boxes to them for rebuild and both were dissatisfied with the results of the rebuild they did, plus they both felt the cost was excessive.

I agree with those who are saying....rebuild your own. The most difficult part of the job would be pressing the worm gear off the shaft and pressing a new one on, if that was found to be necessary for the rebuild..
 
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I had my Saginaw steering box rebuilt by Lares. Had a problem and they resolved it. Only problem, I had to spring for the shipping twice and it's not cheap sending these gearboxes!
 
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