OFFICIAL Red Head Steering Box Group Buy Thread

yeah Im sure someone was having a bad day on the assembly line.

So, I ended up having a good experience with redhead. I emailed them on the weekend, they called me on Monday and told me they would ship one immediately, I got it two days later on Wednesday and got the gear changed out the same day. I got the old gear shipped back to Washington today before the hurricane came as well so hopefully I won't have to worry about it. The new geared seems fine and I detect no leaks currently. I hope this is the last issue I have with it for a long time. Now my luck is the hurricane will smash a tree onto my garage and destroy the van...

Well, gear number 2 was having issues returning to center. It was to the point where it just didn't feel safe to drive, i especially wouldn't feel good about anyone else driving it. About 1 turn of the wheel either way and the steering wheel would just stay turned, no return to center at all. It started this way when I got it but chalked it up to it just being "SUPER TIGHT" and would loosen but it didn't. I called and complained and they said to keep running it and it would loosen up. Basically just told me that to blow me off I feel like. Anyway, after about 1000 miles or so it was still exactly the same. So i called back and asked for another. The guy on the phone this time immediately agreed and sent me another which arrived two days later.

This new one doesn't return to center either! UGH. I'm about fed up with these gears. About ready to just go pick up one up from NAPA.

Just to be sure it was the gear and not something else. I disconnected the wheels from the steering links. The wheels have almost ZERO resistance, the new ball joints are in great shape. While jacked up I can turn the wheel from one stop to the other with almost just blowing on it. So i know it's not the wheels. hooking the steerling links back up and disconnecting the pitman arm is the same thing, super smooth. With nothing attached to the gear and turning it back and forth it is SUPER stiff again one turn either way. I hooked the wheels back up and turned the wheel back and forth probably 500 times last night while trying to make sure it was properly bled. The test drive today yields no return to center!

If the gear wasn't such a ******* to change out I'd probably be in a better mood... I think I'm going to call soon and just ask for my money back.

Did it have this issue from the start or just begin awhile ago?

IIRC, a return to center issue usually has more to do with alignment, caster specifically I think.

But he completely took that out of the equation.
It's junk, ask for a refund.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

Gear number 2 didn't return to center from the begining. It didn't leak though, so i was at first happy. However it was concerning with no return to center at begining too.

I agree, alignment could be an issue, but it's been checked and is within spec. Also, the old discount auto gear returned to center fine with this same alignment job. I re-checked the caster with my cheapo measure tool while i had the wheels disconnected the other night and it reads somewhere between 3+ and +4. I am going to try to recheck it again and got some caster/camber adjusters and am going to try to install and max it all the way as positive as I can. However, I am 99% convinced it is not the alignment that is the issue as the other gear worked fine.

Too much caster though and I'll end up with a wandering front end... if the gear would return to center anyway i guess...

Could it be an air bleeding issue? Did you do lock to lock numerous times after installing it?

Steering boxes aren't spring loaded or anything, why would they return to center? I can remove a pitman arm from the draglink and it'll stay right where it is. Returning to center is entirely alignment related as far as I know. Caster I thought.

I turned it lock to lock several dozen times, kept the fluid full.

I realize returning to center is done by the wheels, but if gear box has too much resistance, the wheels cannot overcome it. You can only adjust the caster so much...

Well i just went and found a New OEM on ebay, think i'm done with rebuilt aftermarket. Now i need to call Redhead and see if they'll refund. If not, anyone want a brand new redhead? lol

That's odd you had this problem. I have had no issues with mine.

Mine has been in two different trucks combined 25k miles or so with no issues

yARIC008 said:

Well i just went and found a New OEM on ebay, think i'm done with rebuilt aftermarket. Now i need to call Redhead and see if they'll refund. If not, anyone want a brand new redhead? lol

Click to expand...

Maybe...interested


Idea...adjustemnt nut on top of box loosens and box self adjusts tighter...

Had driven friends truck his woukd not centre we did 1/4 turn adjustments and suddenly it was bang on no slop amd working as supposed to...napa rebuilt box...btw he works at napa.

JMU.3CW Eh!

Add me to the list of unhappy red head owners. My steering was much harder to the left than to the right. Went through everything and finally swapped back to my old box. Problem solved. Other than a little slop it's fine. They will be getting a call from me.

Remember it's not that the gear returns it to center but it has to let it come back to center and not fight it.