Does anyone know of a place that rebuilds steering box?

 

STEERANDGEAR IN COLUMBUS OHIO. JUST SHIP IT TO THEM

SteerandGearHOME

 

Welcome to the forum...
Google is your friend, I would do a little research on the topic, you may find a local shop nearby , or as suggested above an out of town/state shop.
Type in the shops name followed by "review" or even "yelp" and you can see what others have to say about a particular shop.

 

Before you condem your steering box check the idler arm and bracket as well as the pitman arm. You can have a little outer limits of play in each as well as tie rods and ball joints, not enought to condem for sure however when you stack the outer limit tolerance of each you can quickly get the point and pray steering. I was about to do the same with the steering box and instead resolved with removing the wear created outer limit steering componets. Nothing really stood out as a stand alone issue however they added up on top of toe in and positive camber on the right and it was getting interesting in tight rush hour traffic. When you are steering right to stop left drift then steering left to stop right drift and no happy steady center line was exhausting on a short 3 hour trip so it is time to address it.
Good luck.

 

What model year is it? As pointed out, check idler/pitman arm. Older vehicles have an adjustment on the steering box as well.

 

Mine is a 2002 model with only 57k miles and I am having the exact same problem. Dead spot is worse at higher speeds on the interstate. I have recently replaced the intermediate shaft with the newer style one and this problem is nothing like that problem was. How do you check pitman arm, idler arm, steering box, etc...?

 

Did this condition develope over time or suddenly ? Have you changed or rotated tires recently ? Make sure you have an accurate tire pressure gauge and the tire PSI ( pretty sure 35 is spec for that year) if you are not experienced in front ends you would best have an alignment tech measure the front end and check the front suspension and steering for wear. Not all wear / excessive tolerance is visible, especially lower ball joints. Caster can have a big impact on the vehicles center tracking. You will need to do an alignment anyway and unless you have impacts and air pressure at home you will hate doing the work yourself. An alignment is the best $100. bucks you can spend on it. If you express your concerns most alignment techs will show you around the front end as he inspects it and demonstrate the wear points or what is causing the issue.

 

I really first noticed it after I put the new style intermediate shaft in but thought it was coincidence or that since that the old clunk was gone it was just overshadowed before hand. It seems to have gradually worsened but in a short time frame. No rotation recently. Tires are wearing evenly, pressure is at 35psi and it will stay straight when letting go of the wheel. It does not seem like I could have messed up anything with the new int. shaft installation but maybe something is wrong with it?..?

I might try putting the old one back on and see...???

 

I was having these drifting issues while on the freeway, an alignment helped, I knew the front end was good since I had just purchased the car(89 Caprice) and the pitman and ceterlink were replaced.
It felt like I needed a rear sway bar or control arm, had also been told that by the alignment shop, wrong!
I took it to my mechanic, after inspecting the rear end suspension he took it for a test drive and concluded I needed a steering box adjustment, the play in the steering did not seem like it was enough to cause a problem but the adjustment solved my problem, the car now drives great on the freeway, thank God, it snowed the next day.

After some discussion, as far as I know they adjusted it by tightening it down and then backing it off one half turn while the wheels were straight and the key was off.
Apparently there are several ways of doing it but one of the mechanics said this was the simpleist way.

It's funny how a small problem up front can feel like a big problem in the back.