E350 steering box

cjken

Explorer
Has anyone replaced the steering box in an E350?
Is there a heavy duty version in market or do you just buy stock box?
Any tips would be appreciated. Mine is has quite a bit of play do I plan to replace and also maybe do tie rods to tighten everything up. If I get crazy maybe the bushings on my Quigley front end.
Thanks
 

tgreening

Expedition Leader
You can try AGR Steering. They are/were pretty popular in the off road crowd. They make after market boxes for Ford, though I don't know the breadth of application, and they also make heavy duty steering pumps with enough output to run steering and hydro boost if so inclined, or hydro-assisted steering.
 

ujoint

Supporting Sponsor
I'd go with Ford. Almost every parts store box winds up being a piece of junk soon.

Or PSC, Lee manufacturing if you want something better.
 

VANMAN

Observer
ONLINE-REDHEAD STEERING GEAR- I replaced 2 in my E350 didn't make any changes to steering at all they were Ford units....then I bought one from Redhead...completely changed the steering it has never been this good!
 

BajaSportsmobile

Baja Ironman
Lee has retired and closed up. His former employee has opened up PSS and we use them for race products as well as Howe Performance.

I don't think Redhead is worth the extra money. We had the same problem with one of them as we have with Ford and Auto Zone. You can't get a new box from Ford, only remanufactured, from what I have found.
 

cjken

Explorer
Thanks Ramsey!!
I'll keep looking into it and check Ford. I'm still a few weeks out from the swap.
 
Hey, I see this is a super old thread, but curious to see what you put in. Have pretty loose steering still(replaced a leaky p/s pump and bushings).
 

brianjwilson

Some sort of lost...
Also interested. I've read some good reviews about redhead as well.

Although I've gone through remanufactured steering racks in other rigs (where new wasn't available) and they were all junk. All big box store generic stuff though. The reman units felt worse than my worn out 50k+ mile units on 35s. It seemed like they just cleaned them, replaced seals and leak checked and re-sold them. It sounds like redhead is interested in building them nice and tighter, vs the generic off the shelf stuff. But I'm definitely interested to hear from more people.
 

Abitibi

Explorer
Anyone else find the steering on their E350 to be a arm wrestling contest when stopped? If I'm not moving itmdoesnt feel I have power steering. And on the trail in 4x4 it's almost impossible if I'm stopped.

Sent from my SGP511 using Tapatalk
 

gtbensley

Explorer
Mine is pretty poor as well. Doesn't really steer if I am stopped but also has decent play just driving down the road.
 

motoidiot

New member
Another vote for Redhead. That's what my Diesel mechanic recommended when mine needed replacement and I would do it again.
 

4x4pair

Adventurer
I sent mine to West Texas Offroad for a rebuild and to be ported and tapped for hydro assist (in case I decide to go that route in the future). I'd say the steering was much tighter and worth the rebuild. It of course did nothing to make it steer easier but neither did replacing the power steering pump.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk
 

cjken

Explorer
Hey, I see this is a super old thread, but curious to see what you put in. Have pretty loose steering still(replaced a leaky p/s pump and bushings).

The box definitly tightened up my steering. Ironically I think my p/s pump may be going.
I just got a cheap pep boys unit.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,543
Messages
2,875,693
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top