Power steering acting up

[KJF95S-10]

I just installed a quick ratio steering box from an extreme onto my dads 96 sonoma. It works good accept It takes good bit of effort to turn it to the right and glides almost effortlessly to the left. The ports where capped off when the box was stored and didnt have any obstructions in the way the fluid is all up to par. It never did this before. Is this normal when swithching to a quick ratio box?

[bg's]

No.

[KJF95S-10]

Quote: Originally Posted by bg's

No.

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I had a feeling it wasnt

[bg's]

^ I know, I'm an ass. Well let's see. When you installed
the box, I take it you bled it off right ? Any crimps
in the line ? Have you flushed out the pump and box
together, refilled with fresh fluid and bled it off ?

Saginaw 600 or 700 boxes are pretty simple. It being
a quick ratio it MIGHT have a burr on the worm gear,
but doubtful. Really the only way to check it is to
disconnect the pitman from the steering and see if
the resistance is still there when turning right.

Is this a box from a truck, A body or F body ? Some
A-bodies have internal locks which limit turning radius
in one direction more than the other. At least I
believe it was the A-bods..Other than a possible
problem in the box or pump, it might behoove you
to inspect the complete steering from the outer
left tie rod all the way through the center link to
the right outer tie rod group. I have a couple articles
that might help you diag the problem..Here's one, just
because I feel bad..>

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/bf/bf10230.htm

[KJF95S-10]

Thanks, its from an 02 extreme pickup. I have bled it and changed all the fluid at least 3 times. The lines are in perfect shape. Im starating to conclude that this may just be a bad box. i jacked the truck off the ground and the resistance is still there so its gotta be the box.

[bg's]

Yea it can happen much easier than one would think.
Once the worm shaft gets a burr in it or one of the
runners somehow get burred it's very hard to get
the fluid to flow correctly. Here is a pic to what I
refer.

http://jeffd.50megs.com/steeringboxparts.jpg

You may also have a screwed up ball bearing
or num of them in the rack assy that have burrs or
most often than not crud build up and not allowing
the worm assy to work the pitman sector teeth to
properly on the return or "right turn full lock" movement.

You know you're not stuck with just using a ZQ-8
box. Almost any 600 or 608 Saginaw box will
bolt up. I use a rebuilt box from a 88 Monte Carlo
SS. It's Alpha code is YA. You just has to be careful
when going this route and on many box's the internal
stops are positioned in such a way as to limit how
much "turn" the box will allow to the pitman arm.

You may be fine turning left full lock for instance and
have a nice tight steer radius, then when you go
right full lock, you find that the radius has increased
dramatically, so much so, that one may have to
stop, back a up a bit and go full lock to go around
a tight corner. One can adjust the stops internally
but you BEST KNOW what you're doing.

Once again I believe the A-Bodies are more prone to
this than the G-Bodies or Trucks. Here is a list
that can help you out finding a quick ratio box.
Also in the early days A-Bodies had VERY slow
variable 16.1-1 or more box's..

http://www.chevelles.com/techref/shea_3.html

You would want to look at G-Bodies for the best
in short lock to lock variable or constant ratio
box's.

* 83-88 Monte Carlo SS
* 83-84 Hurst Olds
* 85-87 Olds 442
* 84-87 Grand National/T-Type (Turbo)

The cream of the crop is the WS box that came on
a number of WS6 Firebirds and some Camaros
late 70's to early 80's. These are a constant
ratio 12.7-1 quick ratio box and make steering
much shorter which comes to around 2.25 to
2.50 lock to lock and as odd as it might read,
ARE A-Bodies. Weird !

Anyway good luck and I hope this has helped a bit..

[KJF95S-10]

Thanks for the input. That helped alot.