It cost $279 plus shipping. Here's a copy and paste of what they do:

• The steering unit is cleaned and inspected for external damage and physical function.
  
• Then it is disassembled, cleaned again, and inspected for internal damage and wear.
  
• Shafts are reconditioned and polished or replaced.
  
• All parts are solvent cleaned and prepared for reassembly.
  
• The unit is reassembled with new OEM (original equipment manufacturer) seals, bearings and other parts as needed.
  
• All settings and adjustments are set to factory specifications.
  
• Final testing is performed for function and leaks.
  
• Standard detailing includes priming & painting the unit. Optional “Extreme” detailing takes the unit down totally to bare metal. Primer is applied then the bare housing then sprayed with “cast” paint. Custom colors and finishes available.
  

 

Thanks for that information, seems like a pretty good deal. I've managed to get mine adjusted to about .75" of play and it feels pretty good, although amplified at highway speed.

Do you have a free play measurement for your reconditioned setup? Thanks!

 

There is only a slight amount of free play. I didn't measure it. It's just enough so that the steering doesn't feel too stiff. It's great to be able to take curves without slowing down once again. And I don't have to worry about being pulled over and made to perform tricks for the police.

 

I replaced my gearbox 2 months ago with a rebuilt gearbox from Advantage Steering. Plus I sent my old 1 in to get my core charge back. So, they should have 1.

 

Am I understanding the instructions correctly?

On the top of the steering box there are 2 adjusters. The slotted screw/14mm locknut preloads the sector shaft bearing and the big sector plug raises/lowers the sector shaft teeth into the ball nut for the interference fit to minimize gearlash. Wear causes gear lash.

The steering wheel rotates the pinion and that moves the rack back and forth to turn the car.
But the pinion is perpendicular to the steering shaft. ?!?

Preload: Big lubricated bearings hold everything in place tightly but allow parts to rotate. The preload on those bearings is what makes the wheel stiffer to move. If the steering box is disconnected from the steering linkage and can move freely, Preload adjusts it so that motion is firm, loaded up enough to keep everything smooth and firm but not so tight that it just makes the wheel hard to move and wears out the bearing surfaces.

So to find the right setting for the center screw preload (pinion gear), disconnect the steering linkage from the pitman arm using a ball joint separator.

Lightly turn the steering wheel and distinguish the feel of the play and the preload as it exists before adjustment.

But what if it had been carelessly adjusted? Is turning the screw CW making the preload looser?

Loosen the small 14mm locknut and turn the slotted stud CW, which LOOSENS the preload. ?!? How loose, how many turns?

Loosen the big 40mm locknut (CCW?) and rotate the sector plug (big round washer-thing with 4 holes in it) CCW which really slops up the gearlash. Meaning, it gets worse? Why do that?

How much should it be loosened?

Set the preload on the sector shaft bearing by turning the slotted stud CCW, which pulls the bearing together. Not too tight.
Uh… what is too tight?

Turn the sector plug CW a bit and slowly/gently check the feel of turning the steering wheel about 3 to 4 inches left and right. You should feel a distinct but slight change in resistance. This is the preload in the "dead zone" of the very loose gear lash.

- tighten the sector plug a bit more, check the feel. Keep doing that until you get the play down to the factory spec of about a 1/2 inch of dead zone ("play").

- tighten the 40mm locknut CW.

- mark the relative position of things with paint (like the yellow in my pic, and note that I've tightened my plug another few degrees but not the preload).
Why mark it after the fact, not before?

- drive it to check the feel and tighten more if need be. Use your judgment.

Don't over-adjust the gearlash to be super tight. If you do it will be really tight and delightful for a short while but then get loose again due to over-wear and will get out of adjustable range.

 

There is no rack or pinion in this system, it's a recirculating ball nut (worth googling, very cool!) that rides on the steering shaft, forwards and backwards. The nut's teeth are engaged with the sector shaft's teeth so that when the nut moves forward/backward, the sector shaft rotates on a 'vertical' axis. As the sector shaft rotates, it moves the pitman arm left and right, along with the linkage etc.

This photo is looking into the top of an FB (SA?) steering box. Ball nut teeth on left, sector shaft on right




The big 40mm locknut is loosened CCW so you can move what I call the "sector plug". Loosen enough that you can freely turn the sector plug.

Raising the sector plug CCW you are pulling the teeth of the sector shaft up and out of the teeth of the recirculating-ball nut. This creates more "dead spot" in the center but it also allows you to feel what the steering shaft preload is (which we are not adjusting!), i.e. when you turn the steering wheel you'll feel the resistance of just the movement of the nut forward/backward, aka free play, aka dead spot. Once you know how that feels, you can go CW until you start to mesh the nut's teeth with the sector shaft's teeth. It's an interference fit, the more you lower the sector plug CW the more it interferes and the less free play you get. But if you go too tight it feels super precise, wears down, and becomes unadjustable. You shoot for that 1//2" of free play measured at the steering wheel.

Too tight is an eternal question. You want to get it tight enough that you notice it as you adjust incrementally, move the wheel, repeat. You want it to feel silky smooth like a new roller bearing. If it starts getting notchy that's way too tight.

So if you have to back off or start over you can understand how yo had adjusted it to that point.

You'll need to play with it until you get a feel. With the above information, you can at least know what you are adjusting and how it changes the feel and function of the system. BUT, if you are not confident that you understand what you are doing, don't drive the car with a severely maladjusted box.