My F100 Steering Box from Randy Gross

[Houdini]

I wanted to share my experience with my recent purchase of the F100 Steering box that I purchased from Randy Gross.

I've had the car for a little over two years and when I got it the steering was terrible and wandered so much that I felt it was unsafe.

I did several things, like new steering arm balls, king pins, bushings, and bearings, new nylon cups, new pitman arm, replace the rubber ball type wishbone with original style and adjusted the 2 tooth steering box. That took most of the play out, so it felt safe to drive, but it still had enough play to be annoying and sometimes a bit uncomfortable.

Based on all the good comments on the Barn about Randy Gross, I ordered the F100 steering box about a week ago. It arrived last Friday and I put it in over the weekend. I took my time and did a little at a time.

While waiting for the new box to arrive, I did worry a little about what I would receive. Would it be sort of worn and beat up looking, Would it fit without a lot of problems. Would it solve my steering problem.

When the box arrived on Friday, it was not crushed or busted. Upon opening the carton, I realized why. Randy gets the gold award for packing. I've never had any packages so thoroughly packed. The entire box was filled with crushed paper around the steering shaft and box itself. And it was really packed. It will take me a week to read all those newspapers. That alone impressed me as to how he cares for his products. And when I took out the unit, it too looked like new. I felt really good and had high hopes that it would perform equally well.

And to cut to the chase, it did do the trick and now I have great steering. That annoying wandering is gone now and it does steer easier. I would not call it power steering, you still have to put some effort it in when you are barely moving, like in the driveway, but once even a small amount of motion, the car does steer easier.

I'm glad I did it now and hopefully no more of the leaks from the steering box. Still one drip from the rear seal, but not bad.

My wife helped me install it. I took things apart and she helped me figure out how to put things back together when I forgot. She also did the hard reaching into spaces I couldn't twist into and did the things like hold the starter while I put in the bolts, etc. And she pulled the unit out from the inside of the car and held the new unit while I bolted it in. Great to have a helper.

We got everything put back together, carpet etc, Monday evening and just in time to use it in a neighborhood July 4th parade.

Thank you Randy for a great product and service.
Frank

[Houdini]

I thought I would add a few comments to the above experience.
Randy provided instructions and a few suggestions that differed from Les Andrews book. Those were helpful and made installation easier, like pulling it out from the passenger side and just disconnecting the pitman arm from the box and not the drag link.

After I unpacked the new box and looked at it closer before installing it, I found I could only turn the shaft about 2.5 turns by hand. and I found some looseness in between those turns. I was concerned that it might not be adjusted properly or have the same problems as my current 2 tooth.

So I called Randy, on Sunday morning his time and he was very helpful. He explained that it turns a bit over 5 turns and when it got tight, I was at the half way point. What I learned is that the way the gearing works, the midpoint of the sector is where it''s tightest on the gearing, or the sweet spot as he called it. That is where you get the tight control and no wiggle. As it moves away from the center position it loosens up a bit. I can imagine that the angles of the worn gear and the sector gear, or tooth would be at a greater angle as that happens and so it would not be as tight. But the tight sweet spot is fairly large. So once installed, I did find it turns about 5.5 turns from stop to stop (before connecting the pitman arm). I then turned it half way and it lined up well with my pitman arm where my front wheels were facing forward.

After installation, I found I get about 3.5 turns from stop to stop on my car.

Randy commented that if you have a shortened pitman arm, you might need an adjustable drag link. I know from reading comments that folks that installed the shortened arm on the original boxes would not be able to turn all the way in one direction as they use to, unless they had an adjustable drag link.

But now I understand yet another factor if you put in a shortend pitman arm and don't have an adjustable drag link, so the box is centered when the wheels are centered. You won't be in that Sweet Spot when going straight ahead and will have some extra play in your steering. At least that is what I would think would be true. In my case, I have a standard pitman arm and plan to leave it that way. My steering is just fine now.

I also found my bolt holes in my frame member had some wear, but not in the right direction for the bolts on the new box to line up. As Randy states, you might have to elongate the bolt holes to fit. I found a file with just a little bit of effort got things lined up, and the round part of the sector shaft fit the original bigger hole nice and tight and just right.

Thought this might be helpful to others considering any of these changes.

Frank

[Dodge]

I commend you on your choice of steering box and wife. Good job both of you.

[Ray in La Mesa]

I run Randy & Mel"s steering & brakes in my '28 roadster pickup-fantastic. I just wish all the A venders matched his quality & service!

[daveymc29]

I hadn't heard of Mr. Gross when I had a friend build mine and I installed it. It was great and I added a luxury feature for my arthritic hands, a new short pitman arm. Two finger steering in the driveway any time the car is in motion. I also have Randy's drums and am installing them on my coupe. Great quality is obvious.

[Synchro909]

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I just wish there was a similar steering box for RHD. Someone in NZ was working on one but I haven't heard anything about it for a while. Any of you Kiwis able to give me an update?