I have a worn out steering box on my 88 form. WS-6. I believe it's the quick raitio but not sure. Any way, it needs replaced this week end and was wondering if someone could give me some idea what model and years I could look for to widen my search at the bone yard and any tips also on R&R . Thanks Sqzbox.

 

the box your looking for will be in the upper model cars. you can tell its a fast ratio box by the "XH" on the front round part of it.
or you can call Tom at house of camaro and he will gladly sell you a good correct box. i bought one from him and was pleased.

tomattrc@aol.com
1-800-460-6789

 

When looking at steering boxes online, one website listed two availabilities for 82-92 F-bodies. A 3.5 Lock to Lock Steering box and a quicker 2.5 Lock to Lock steering box. There is also supposedly a 2.25 LTL box out there as well all though I do not know what it was offered on or what years. Perhaps 1LEs? WS6s? By 1989, ALL Camaros came with the 2.5 LTL aside from my uncertainty regarding the availability of the 2.25 box. My 1989 RS is equipped with the 2.5 box

 

The close ratio steering boxes came with at least 2 different sets of stops inside, depending on which tires the car came with from the factory. The lock to lock count has almost nothing to do with the steering ratio

 

Then why is that the primary description for these parts on-line: Lock to Lock? The lower the number, the quicker the steering ration, no? Granted the site in question is www.discountsteering.com which deals strictly with simple original equipment replacement rather than any sort of performance oriented upgrades, but that is how they identify the box "Sport Steering 2.5 LTL" or "Standard Steering 3.5 LTL". I guess my next question then becomes: If the settings for the box are dependent on the tires size, do I need to make any sort of adjustments for the 16" IROC rims on my originally 15" equipped RS? By the way my reference library, Chilton, Haynes, and "How to Tune & Modify your 1982-1998 Camaro" were no help in providing any kind of steering ration specifications when researching this issue.

 

Take a look on rockauto.com. I believe the price for a new AC Delco for the IROC was $199.00.

 

Because people are stupid and you can spend more time then you have trying to make this make sense to them, just tell them that you’re looking for the one that’s 2.x LTL and then they know when they have at least one of the ones that they are looking for. You can also sell more boxes when they’re looking for a specific LTL and if they have the one with the other stops they get rid of the perfectly good one to get the “right” one.

With stock offset 15” rims, the 15” tight ratio box will cause wider then stock tires to rub the inner fenders when you crank it all the way to the lock, but no one runs aftermarket wheels with the 15” offset on the front anyway. With wider then stock 16” tires/wheels both will rub on the inner fender when cranked all the way, so it really doesn’t matter, just don’t crank the wheel all the way with either and you’re fine. If this all bothers you take the box apart and make custom stop blocks for it to match your wheel and tire combination, but then again, it doesn’t matter if you start with the 15 or 16” wheel box.

This is probably the 3rd time in a week that I’m posting this, but do a search in this forum, at one time I posted lock to lock counts on my ’83 TA (close ratio box with 15” stops) and my ’87 Formula (close ratio box with 16” stops) if you still insist on knowing lock to lock counts.

 

How many turns lock to lock has a lot to do wih the Ratio. When turning a 90 degeree corner you dont have to turn the 2.5LtL boxes as much as the 3.5ltl boxes. The less you have to turn the wheel the faster the ratio is. Meaning you turn the corner faster with less degree of the steering wheel. Atleast it sounds good in my head.

 

For that to be true, the locks have to be at the same wheel position, don't they? What if one box didn't allow the wheels to turn as far? Sure your LTL number will be lower, but your turning radius won't be as good either and input : output steering ratio might not be any better at all...anyhow...

Does anyone actually know what the ratio of the steering box in an Iroc would be? I'm about to order one of the much talked about Flaming River boxes with the rack & pinion spool valve, but I'm unsure whether I want to go with a 12:1 or 14:1 ratio. I'm afraid 12:1 might be too quick and require too many steering corrections going down the highway. I'm curious as to what the stock box is as a comparison point. If it's a 17:1, which I know is common, I'll probably be happy with a 14:1 box as the stock steering didn't seem too too slow.

 

THAT IS MY POINT. If ratio is the same then you’ll have to turn the wheel the same amount in a turn, doesn’t matter what the LTL count is, and do you really spend much (any?) time with the wheel turned up against the lock? If you do you’re putting undue wear on the PS pump and steering linkage, and if you’ve got wider then stock front tires it doesn’t matter because you’re hitting the innter fenders before you’re hitting the steering box stops