1997 Steering gear replacement

[AKShrek]

Hey guys,
So my wife and I got a 1997 expy last year from her parents as a wedding gift and it's been pretty good to us since then but there has always been quite a bit of slop in the steering. I replaced all the ball joints, tie rod ends, exc. then took it in for a front end alignment thinking that would solve all my problems. Well it didn't. the tech told me that my steering gear had a lot of slop in it and that if it was an older vehicle, they would have just tightened thing down, but in modern vehicles that could lead to complete steering failure. (BAD JUJU)
he also told me to stay away from rebuilt/remanufactured gear boxes because the slop wasn't considered a defect so they might still have it.

After doing a bunch of research, I was able to find a new old stock motorcraft gear box but they wanted over $1000 for it!!!!! I found a bunch of remanufactured ones all over the place for much less than that and even some home rebuild kits. What I need to know is was the service tech full of crap or is there some truth to his words? and if he is full of crap, then do I want to go the rout of a rebuilt or a home rebuild kit?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

 

[1955moose]

My 2000 has the same problem. It came on pretty quick, the play. I wouldn't pay $1000.00 on a steering box, that's insane on a truck that sells used for a little more than that. Their is a motorcraft one available for mine, for about $250.00. It comes with a warranty, so what the hell, if it goes bad within a year they'll give you another one. Personally I wouldn't mess with rebuilding the old one, unless you've done one before. Steering is like brakes, rebuilding the old parts can fail on you, if you don't do everything to spec.


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[AKShrek]

Where did you find that part? And did the rebuilt one fix the slop?

 

[1955moose]

Haven't put it on yet, I am waiting till mine gets a little worse. The parts supplier I deal with is City auto supply in South San Francisco, Ca. Their should be a supplier in your area that sells motorcraft. You usually can buy a reman unit from the dealer. Go online also. Type in motorcraft steering pumps, their are usually a bunch of vendors you can buy from. The problem with online is the weight of shipping and returning old one for core. Good luck.


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[AKShrek]

Well thanks for the input. I just got one ordered. I'm out of the country until the 1st but I'll let you know if it fixes the problem. Feliz Navidad de Colombia!


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[1955moose]

You might also want to change the coupler that attaches column to box. Be sure to get all air out of steering system , once your done. Good luck keep us posted when done. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you.


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[AKShrek]

Well I got the new steering box put in and got some new cooper discoverer m+s tires put on the big green beast over the weekend and I can't believe it! It feels like a completely different vehicle [emoji3]


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[1955moose]

Glad to hear it's back to normal. What brand gear box did you go with? I will need to change mine as well.


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[AKShrek]

I just went to orileys and got one. I didn't have the time or money to order one from a rebuild shop out of state (I'm from Alaska) it was $220 with a $75 core and came with a limited lifetime warranty.


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[1955moose]

Good to know. I live 1 block from oreillys. 1 less thing to deal with.


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