New steering box

[Bowie69]

Mine was one of their trick quick ratio ones, was a bit more

[Snagger]

1 hour ago, Badger110 said:

Is it a specialist job to recon a steering box or possible in the workshop?

 

 

It’s another BritRest YouTube video.  Looks mostly straightforward, as long as the concentric input shafts are intact.  They also have o-rings that can leak but aren’t touched by reconditioners.

[pat_pending]

8 hours ago, Badger110 said:

Is it a specialist job to recon a steering box or possible in the workshop?

 

 

Easy enough. the few special tools can be made/adapted.

Unless abused, most steering boxes "should" last for years with minimal wear, it's the sector shaft leaking that kills them

The only way to properly cure that, is to repair the worn section where the seal runs and regrind to size, that's the specialist job.

Any of the other potential leak points are easy to deal with.

The supply of good reconditionable boxes is drying up, many will have been weighed in for scrap over the years when it was cheaper to buy another non leaking second hand box.

I see some of the better reconditioners will now also only do the box you send them, probably because of the junk they've had back in exchange after sending out a recon box.

 

 

 

[paime]

12 hours ago, Stellaghost said:

No I would say traditional Defenders have become the new cash cow for suppliers, just look at what they sell for, you could have predicted the part supply chain would want their cut regards Stephen

Sadly I think you're right. The cost of those aluminium hinges is something else which annoys me greatly.

[paime]

Not sure what to do here. Do I risk it and buy a refurb unit? I can't justify a £1k adwest unit so that's out the picture. Do I try to refurb my own? Seems a challenge for someone like myself who is a little more on the agricultural side when to engineering skills.

[oneandtwo]

I’ve just rebuilt two 4 bolt boxes for spares. The shafts were worn and pitted at the bottom so I had the seal area ground and chrome plated (£45 per shaft locally)

All new Koyo shaft needle bearings were £35 the set (B2012, B2016 and B2020 bearings). Corteco full seal / O ring kit was £17.

I did strip a third box down which ironically I thought would be the best as was the newest off my Puma but that had suffered one of the shaft needle bearings breaking up and had scored the shaft on the bearing surfaces rendering the shaft scrap. 
 

Edited June 12, 2021 by oneandtwo

[oneandtwo]

Close up of shaft 

[paime]

Is it an easy job? I've read getting the arm off can be a bit tricky.

[paime]

In the end I opted to send my box to ICS Steering in Birmingham for a refurb. They quoted 5 days to turn it around but in the end it was more like 3 weeks. A nice bunch of people if not a bit chaotic and they forgot to send my steering arm back to me which was a bit of a pain. They've charged £160 + VAT for the service which comes with a 12 month warranty so still cheaper than a recon unit from the usual suppliers and at least it's still the original box which I like. Their website shows a video of the process and it looks like they deal with the shaft corrosion properly rather than just lump a new seal on there and hope for the best.

[oneandtwo]

I’m still not convinced by rebuilt boxes. To do it properly you need to chrome plate the shaft (£45), replace all shaft bearings (£35) replace the seals (£17) and replace the worm bearings (£40). That’s £137 in parts to do what I regard to be the bare minimum, and that’s also before having to potentially replace the worm unit which more often than not is pitted, costing another £75.

 

[reb78]

Thats not so bad in parts though^^^. Is it DIYable?

[hurbie]

10 hours ago, oneandtwo said:

...... and that’s also before having to potentially replace the worm unit which more often than not is pitted, costing another £75.

 

if you can get me a LHD wormunit (RTC4406) in good condition for 75,- , i'm your man .....

[oneandtwo]

10 hours ago, reb78 said:

Thats not so bad in parts though^^^. Is it DIYable?

Yes, it is DIY’able. I’ve done quite a couple more since I posted a few months ago. All needed the shafts chromed and regroups, and shaft needle bearings. Two needed new worm/valve assemblies and bearings too due to pitting, but for approx £200 in parts you end up with essentially a brand new box.

[reb78]

That's encouraging, especially as new boxes become more and more expensive/harder to find. Luckily I replaced mine on the 110 when Magal were still selling new boxes to the public for reasonable prices.