4speed455

Are we sure it's not a pressure thing? Would it be worth it to change out the fitting on the back of the pump?

RandyS

Not sure if this swap is meant to be on a 66........ I installed the 3rd (2nd reman) steering box on the car this morning. BTW, it was fun trying to get the LEE adapters out of the ports on the first 2 boxes, but that's another story. I burped it real good, started the motor and Voila, we have power assist. We have LOTS of POWER ASSIST! There is no play in this box, but the 'feel' is just as light as the stock PS box was.............. still using the Dextron red fluid. I may just go back to stock standard steering (no power).

RAMBOW

Here is the problem with what you are going through. You are assuming that the parts store box has all the guts that an original JGC box had.

Unforunately you have essentially no guarantee of anything other than it bolts into the car.
There is no way to know what the remanufacturers used in rebuilding it.

I have the EXACT same issue with my JGC box. It is the 12.7:1 ratio- i verified it & the dregree sweep- But it has way to light of input resistance. I've even compared it to friends cars who also have JGC swap- and its considerably lighter... which Sucks.

After researching, the incput resistance is directly related to the Torsion bar that lies inside the input valve assembly. The bigger the T-bar, the more resistance there will be when you turn the wheel before the box actually starts turning. Lighter the T-Bar, the less resistance needed before it starts turning.

When these boxes get rebuilt- they just put whatever valving they have on the shelf into them. Some performance cars got Super Stiff input valves/t-bars... These would be the grand nationals, the transams, monte carlos, etc etc- including the original JGC boxes.

The JGC swap was a great idea back in the late 90's early 2000's when the donor vehicles were just starting to appear in wrecking yards- and often had less than 100,000 miles on them and you could get a box for $50 or so.

Now that its 2014- the oldest donor boxes are 20 years old!!! Ones that survived on the road can have more miles on them than your chevelles original box might.

As you have found, Buying a parts store re-man unfortunately isn't a guarantee of getting exactly what it was- only that you'll get a part that bolts in and will "work" (or in your case, some of these didn't even work)

Return this one again, get your money back and buy a new AGR 12.7:1 box from Summit.
Thats what I'm going to do when i get around to it and some money saved. $385. Will bolt in- no adapters needed and will have the valving you want without farting around with questionable reman parts.


-Ben

MDchanic

This strongly implies that you beat the odds and got two different boxes previously that had internal problems.

I would agree that it would be reasonable to return the box, as the assist level is wrong.
It would also be reasonable to spend a day carefully taking apart the two boxes you have (instructions are in the CSM, and there are also videos out there) and replacing the torsion bar in the rebuilt box with the one from the junkyard box (it is not a wear part and should be fine). You have the advantage of having a "junk box" with only one part in it that you'd like to use, so you can start on that one as a "learner."

You're really fast at installing these boxes by now, right?

- Eric

RandyS

Yeah, gonna add a sig line -------- I love having RED ATF all over the floor, me and my car............

RandyS

Very informative. The old 'assume' bit me in the butt again. Thanks for the post.

RetroRanger

Another option and considerably less $ is goto rockauto ans see what's availible for your car. For my 72 they offered stock reman boxes and a lares fast ratio box. Lares is an American comapany and I contacted them first thru email and then spoke to a knowledgable person on the phone. Their box bolts in came w a new rag joint and provides the feel of a modern car. They also come w a 1 yr warranty. After core it was about $180 w new rag joint no adapters needed and uses stock hoses. I am very happy w mine.

RandyS

Thanks for the suggestgion. Went in to Rock Auto's site, found a Lares 3 bolt mount quick ratio box for less than I paid for a POS from Auto Zone. Gonna return both of the reman boxes to the Zone. I will let you know how it works out.

MDchanic

Well they DO make clear power steering fluid, if you prefer.

- Eric

RandyS

Hmm......... gotta think about that one..............

bassinguy

I just switched from manual steering to power. I bought a Lares power steering gear box with a new rag joint from Rock auto. After installing and filling with p.s. fluid not atf, and bleeding,the power steering is good. Original parts fit right in. I called Lares to see if I needed to install thread tape on the hose,and they said no. Apiece of thread tape could come off and block the fluid travel inside the gear box or pump.

RandyS

4th time is a charm....... (3rd sucked). I ordered a Lares steering box from Rock Auto, as suggested, installed it this morning (no adapters needed, and comes with the correct rag joint) and it works great! Nice and tight with a good feel. Cheaper than the ones at Auto Zone too!

On a side note, I figured I had nothing to loose by trying to rebuild the 'used' one I got off of eBay. Auto Zone sells the master rebuild kit, which has all of the O rings, Teflon rings, Seals, etc. for only $12.99. I watched a tutorial about rebuilding them and was able to rebuild mine in about 3 hours. A pro could do it in about 1/2 hour, but I had to keep stopping after a couple of steps and refer to the slides. I haven't tested it yet, but it seems nice and tight. The only tool I needed but didn't have was a snap ring pliers. I used a small pair of needle nose pliers and finally got the bugger out. Going back in was easy.

garys 68&72

Good to hear it's working. Mine was a miserable experience to drive before the jeep box. Btw, I used the standard clear PS fluid from the parts store.

bassinguy

Randy Glad it worked for you. Rockauto is good to work with. Did they charge you a core charge? Mine was $35.00 but if I used fedex shipping through Rockauto,they only charged me about $10.00 or so to ship the core back. Got my refund in about a week. Enjoy the new power steering. Rick

cfhcar

i think i would find a p.s. pressure gauge and check the pressure per the service manual.

gearheads78

For what it worth the Lee box I installed with the stock 66 pump worked flawless and was the 2nd best thing I did for the driveablility of the car. The first was the TKO600 swap.