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Redhead Steering box or Red-neck Ram?

20K views 21 replies 7 participants last post by  The Butcher 
#1 ·
Well, my steering slop seems to be a worn out steering gear. Haven't pulled it apart to be sure, but the shaft at the pitman arm has quite a bit of play in it when I rock the wheel back and forth. Everything else is tight.

So, I'm looking for a steering box (ported) so that I can eventually do hydro-assist. The question is, do I do the Redhead box now (can they port them?), or just go ahead and get the Red-neck ram set up (with a new box from them). I'm hearing the Redhead box is superior, but the ******* ram set up isn't that much more expensive (from what their website seems to say).

Any input?

For some reason I'm a little leary on the hydro-assist set up, but at the end of the day I would guess that the hydro-assist should take some load off the shaft of the steering box, and then possibly add to it's longevity? Am I off base with that assumption? I like to cruise 80-90MPH on the highway, so I don't want something that is going to be darty. Just want confident, tight steering.
 
#2 ·
If you have the coin, do the ram assist steering.
I drove my buddies with setup done by Lee Engineering / ORU and it is amazing.
No slop, dead on steering, and can turn 37" tires with one finger.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the input guys. Why would I need to run a stabilizer with the Hydro-assist? I thought you could do away with the stabilizers if you run Hydro. I have dual Bilstein stabilizers right now, but not sure I could get all of that to fit on there once the Hydro is put on.

I decided to go ahead and get a Redhead box today, and have them ship it to West Texas Off-road so they can port the box and send me the ram set up too. Hope to have it by the end of next week.
 
#7 ·
Never had any problems w/ my 02. There is fluid on either side, it should be balanced as the shaft is not fully in or fully extended. The fluid exchange takes place when steer.

I think the touchy issue is steering gear related. I had my box rebuild by PSC and it was great at first but after a few years it developed some slop.

OP, fwiw, I got the psc but due to their lack of instructions and "search the web" I ended up using ******* instructions. IMHO due to my 1st hand experience, I say avoid PSC.
 
#9 ·
Totally off the topic but I was following the thread and I was wondering if you plan on selling your dual blistien stabilizer setup. If so I'd be interested. Just let me know.
 
#10 ·
I'll keep that in mind. More than likely I will just include it in the sale of my old suspension that I have listed in the classifieds. If not, I'll let you know.
 
#11 ·
I got the Red Head box installed along with the ******* Ram. It definitely tightened up my sloppy steering (no more 2-3" of slop from side to side). I never really had that tough of a time turning the tires to begin with, but I would say that the ram does help some low speed/stopped turning. Where I really notice the difference is in how solid the front end feels now. It makes going downt the highway at 70-80MPH much more confidence inspiring.
 
#14 ·
Here you go. Welds aren't the prettiest, but he wanted to make sure they weren't going anywhere. I'd say they will be the last thing to fail.
 

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#13 ·
It's raining outside right now, but once it stops I'll snap a few pics.
 
#15 ·
Couple more showing pretty much the same stuff. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics. It had just rained too, so there was some haze on the lens.
 

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#17 ·
I bought a new steering box from Redhead and had them ship it to West Texas Offroad where they ported it for me. Seems like it should be more than sufficient of a set up now. Putting the ram on should take a considerable amount of strain off the steering box, so now the main wear items are going to be on the tie-rod/drag link I would think. Which, by the way, does anyone know where to source a "rebuild" kit for the tie-rod/drag link assembly? I was thinking new joints and boots for the ends wouldn't be a bad thing to do sometime in the future.
 
#19 ·
After looking at several ways mount it I thought this was actually going to give the most potential un-encumbered movement. I wanted the stationary part of the ram to be braced not just top and bottom, but in the corner as well, so this looked like the best place to mount it. Nothing seems to bind, and there isn't much difference in the path of motion of my tie rod and the ram.

Why do you wish you had gone with the diff cover bracket? I'm not a fan of torquing on the diff cover for some reason. It probably wouldn't cause any problems, but I see no reason to put side to side torque on the cover and bolts.
 
#22 ·
I've seen that before. Looks like a stout unit, but I'm still not a fan of torquing back and forth on the bolts that hold the diff cover on. I'm sure it would be fine though.
 
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