Steering box braces

[SAndreasen]

Decided to go with an SDT brand it fit every bit as nice as the ones that cost twice as much .
https://www.ebay.com/itm/232080574229

 

[4570]

what is the need for this ? My 96 feels like the steering box is worn and wanders a little but not bad .Is it actually the box flexing and needing this ?

 

[SAndreasen]

The brace doesn’t help much with that . Your track bar might be wore out and your tie rod ends and probably need a new steering box . Need to have someone turn the wheel with the engine off and turn it one way until the wheel gets hard then let it go back and then to where it gets hard again and see what parts are moving

 

[JMcCoy]

The brace is intended to give extra support for the weak steering box they put in our trucks and prevent them from wearing prematurely. They won't tighten up an already loose steering box.

On a side note, if you do much "off-roading" the frame flex can actually induce wear. That's why DOR makes one that mounts on the driver side and front crossmember. Super beefy.

 

[Matt42]

I installed one a long time ago and it seems to have slowed down the ultimate deterioration. One of my planned projects is to replace the steering gear with a more robust one.

 

[JMcCoy]

The PSE is huge!

 

[AEdelheit]

On a side note, if you do much "off-roading" the frame flex can actually induce wear. That's why DOR makes one that mounts on the driver side and front crossmember. Super beefy.

As someone who has ran braces for 200k+ with a lot of hard off road use I call 100% BS on that statement and know many people who fell for DORs line then took it off when it did not actually work out that good and went to a traditional brace with no issues.

 

[AEdelheit]

The brace doesn’t help much with that . Your track bar might be wore out and your tie rod ends and probably need a new steering box . Need to have someone turn the wheel with the engine off and turn it one way until the wheel gets hard then let it go back and then to where it gets hard again and see what parts are moving

Doing it with the engine running so there is power steering is far more effective.....

 

[SAndreasen]

Doing it with the engine running so there is power steering is far more effective.....

You don’t want the engine running irs easier to see what’s wore out with it off

 

[SAndreasen]

what is the need for this ? My 96 feels like the steering box is worn and wanders a little but not bad .Is it actually the box flexing and needing this ?

4570 John Deere?

 

[JMcCoy]

As someone who has ran braces for 200k+ with a lot of hard off road use I call 100% BS on that statement and know many people who fell for DORs line then took it off when it did not actually work out that good and went to a traditional brace with no issues.

You know people who had the DOR brace on, then took it off because it didn't work? I call BS on that!
All l know is that my truck twists all over the place while off road. There is no way it doesn't put pressure on the steering box. How much damage is causes, I don't. I've gone through 5 boxes since I bought the truck new.
Over 200k on the standard brace. I now have the PSE box and DOR brace. Not a fair comparison since the PSE box is much larger. We'll see.

 

[AEdelheit]

You don’t want the engine running irs easier to see what’s wore out with it off

Its much easier to see whats worn with the extra assist of power steering, I do this all the time.

You know people who had the DOR brace on, then took it off because it didn't work? I call BS on that!
All l know is that my truck twists all over the place while off road. There is no way it doesn't put pressure on the steering box. How much damage is causes, I don't. I've gone through 5 boxes since I bought the truck new.
Over 200k on the standard brace. I now have the PSE box and DOR brace. Not a fair comparison since the PSE box is much larger. We'll see.

LOL If you say so........ I should add that while there is frame flex overall the parts that matters is between the giant engine crossmember and the bumper where the steering brace mounts so while the back half of the frame is terrible there is very little flex where the steering box is.

 

[Joe Mc]

The PSE is huge!

I put one on mine about 3-4 years back as seal at sector shaft started leaking. Indeed they are huge due to larger bearings and box, nice thing too is you loose about a ¼ turn from stock unit. Sold my BSS (I think that was manu. name) steering stabilizer as it wouldn't work with PSC box. Best all around upgrades to front end I've done thru the years were: tubular upper & lower arms, 3rd gen trackbar conversion and most recently the PSC box and new bottom of column bushing.