Re: {Chrysler 300} Steering Box Rebuild Service

Matt Allyn

On Jan 12, 2023, at 8:07 AM, 'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

John,

Thank you very much for the qualitative assessment of the stage two FF box rebuild.

I am on the fence between stage one and stage two. Having driven the 1947 Desoto Suburban for the last 20 plus years, with parallel parking here in San Francisco anything would be an improvement.

I can see us using this car for the next couple of years as primary and as the road trip car. I suspect that once I rebuild the ’47 Desoto, that the 300K will be used by Sondra the most and I will be using the ’47 around town or the ’49 Convertible in the summer. I have to shuttle cars with our place out of town with only two off street garages here in San Francisco.

I was leaning toward stage two, but with your comments I am thinking stage one may be a better fit.

Thank you again and I hope a few more people who have had S&G or FF boxes done to a level above stock chime in to better help me get a sense of the stage differences in real world driving.

Best, James

From: John W Sager <cleanthegarageout2@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2023 04:24
To: Chrysler 300 List Server (chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; James Douglas <jdd@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: {Chrysler 300} Steering Box Rebuild Service

I have a Firm Feel Stage 2 rebuilt steering box in my '70 300.

In some ways, it's really nice. On the highway there is more "road feel", if you want to call it that. It's actually more effort rather than feel, but it does make the car feel more connected to the road, especially on a twisting country road.

In a parking lot, I sometimes wonder if I would have been happier with the Stage 1. The days of spinning the steering wheel with the ball of your palm are gone.

It's taken a bit of getting used to... If you've driven a lot of these cars, the stage 2 will really feel different. It's a personal preference type thing if you like it that way.

If you are doing a lot of parallel parking, I think I would opt for the lighter feel (and effort) of the Stage 1, but that's only my opinion. The amount that I've parallel parked my Chrysler in the past 10 years could be counted on one hand with a few fingers to spare, so I might not be the best to judge. I've never driven anything with the Stage 1 box in it, but I understand the Stage 1 has a similar feel to a late 70's Mopar cop car.

With my Stage 2 box, it's nothing like a manual steering car, but it's not the effortless power steering older Mopars have either.

As far as everything else, Firm Feel was great to deal with and was within a few days of their estimated delivery time. I would use them again.

John

On Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 12:07:13 PM EST, 'James Douglas' via Chrysler 300 Club International <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In the next week or so I will be sending out my steering box for a remanufacture. Basically, I have narrowed the list to Steer and Gear or Firm Feel. S&G has a two-week tour around time and FF is two months. Mainly because they both offer in house manufactured reaction rings to firm up the feel.

I am going to be asking, and willing to pay for, an extraordinary level of quality control on this. I plan on driving this car as my main car for a long time. I am even willing to go to the trouble of having parts hard chrome plated to bring them back to specification if a replacement part in not available. Basically, I am looking for perfection on this.

Assuming the spare steering box I put in this last weekend is good enough to get me around for a few months, I care much more about quality that a fast turnaround time.

I have secured the following NOS parts for this rebuild:

A new piston assembly (worm)
A new sector shaft (roller)
All but one of the thrust bearings and races. The race MOPAR 1822-156 is nowhere to be found. I checked all the usual and some of the not so useable suspects. I also tried to find it using the actual Torrington number without luck.

If there are any parts that experience dictates that it would be good for me to hunt down, please do advise me on this.

Most everything else the rebuilders should have.

If anyone has had their steering boxes rebuilt and used one of the suppliers for a rebuild other than “stock” as to firmness and feel, I would appreciate your subjective feelings as to how that worked out. In my case the mission for the car is daily driving in San Francisco, think parallel parking, as well as being our cross-country car.

What I would also like to know if anyone has had any thought after using either of the above providers good or bad. You can email me directly at JDD@xxxxxxxxxx.

Thanks all, James
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