Hey all,

It's been not even 700 miles since I installed a Lee Performance 670 box that I ordered from Savitske Cars and Customs. This is the lighter version of the steering box with the same ratio as the IROC's had, but with better valving and road feel (it was alot better when I just bought it). I called them and they're supposed to call me back but never did. I'll call again Monday. But could a box this new get loose already? There is a good 15 degrees of a dead spot on the steering wheel so when I'm driving it's progressively getting worse it seems. I need to fix this asap, can I tighten the screw on the top of the box to see if that will help?

 

i would not touch the screw on top till you hear from Lee on this, if you mess with it, you will loose any kind of warranty that may be on the box.

Are you sure its the box and not a rag joint or steering linkage issue?

 

crap.. thanks for the heads up.. i'll call them on monday.

steering linkage is new, the steering shaft and joints are flaming river solid joints that have absolutely zero play in them (they are solid u-joints on both ends, no more rag joint).

Where the steering wheel is moving in it's "dead spot" you can see the shaft moving with the steering wheel, but the movement ends with the box. The pitman arm doesn't move so it must be something inside the box i'm guessing.

 

DOH. I know you and I talked about my woes with Lee. My Lee 800 was never tight. Also with an all new steering linkage. Just keep calling until they answer. They are helpful once you get them on the phone.

With that said, I'm tired of sinking money into this setup and hope to try a custom power rack this winter.

 

Yeah going back to this thread:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...-1-delphi.html

I just re-read it and realized that you also had this problem back then. A custom power rack setup.. That is probably the best solution, but definitely the most expensive. I'm sure there's a way to fix this as it WAS good at one point (hard to turn, but the precision was there!). I'm sure this is a matter of adjusting it back to spec I guess, plus I think my power steering pump is calling it quits on me.. I can hear a faint squeel if it's quiet and i turn. I have never changed the pump.. I hope I can get the spec sheet from SC&C even though it's been almost a year that I've bought this from them.

 

Yeah I spoke with Lee about this issue, his recomended adjustment was as follows. Loosen the jam nut for the adjuster on top of the box. Now loosen the adjuster a few turns to make sure its loose. Now, insert the long end of a normal l-shaped hex key into the adjuster and turn until it gets snug using your fingers. He said it should go from loose to snug quickly, as in not gradually. The adjuster should just stop at some point. Tighten up the jam nut and you should be good to go.

I did this procedure but saw no improvement. He offered to take a look at the box, which I may do this winter after the driving season is over.

 

From what I remember in another thread on these boards was that was not the right way to adjust the box.

There are 2 nuts and you had to do it in a certain sequence to remove play from the internals.

I have it bookmarked on another computer because I want to try it on my factory box. Since the Lee 670 is expensive.

 

Yes, the two adjustments affect two different parameters. The one i outlined is typically tried first as you do not have to remove the box from the car.

 

If method #1 does not work, I will try method #2. This is, ofcourse, after I talk to SC&C which still are not answering (odd..). Anywho, I'll keep trying.

I read a tutorial on how to adjust the top screw awhile back, that's the easy one but usually not the one to adjust, usually there's something internally that needs to be adjusted WITH the top screw. I won't touch anything until I reach Mark at SC&C.

 

SC&C told me that my power steering pump could be bad but that doesn't make sense i don't think? How could that make the steering feel like this?

 

What you feel is def. in the box. If you turn the screw up it pulls the pitman shaft up and makes it mesh tighter with the sector. To adjust this proeprly you need to o this with a dial torque wrench on a bench as it's easy to get it too tight, that will increase the wear on the teeth or even lock the box up altogether. The pitman shaft is groun in such a way that the center gears, for on center steering are a little tigher for a positive on center feel.

Did it get gradually loose or loose all of a sudden?

 

Hi twin,

It actually got gradually loose but I only noticed it recently because it got to a point where I'm struggling with the wheel by adjusting constantly left and right to go straight because it just sits in a dead spot when it's centered.

So I would have to take the box off the car and adjust? I think I remember reading a tutorial on how to do this awhile back.. When I spoke with the guy who sold it to me he said he has never heard of this from customers and he's been selling these boxes for 20+ years. Strange.

 

If you take it off I would just send it back and demand them either rebuild or replace it

 

I will call them and ask what I can do from here on out. I will definitely get them to rebuilt it what sucks is the shipping cost i'll have them pay for it or atleast half of it.

 

Its not unfair or unexpected to be asked to pay for the shipping back to the MFG. But I wouldn't accept paying for them to ship it back to me when it was fixed. You've already paid that charge when you bought it in the first place.

 

Good point. I'll try my best to get a fair deal here. Thanks guys!

 

Tried adjusting the top screw on the box and it's still loose as hell.. I gave it a half turn and still nothing! Time for me to ship it over to Lee perhaps? Sigh.. Winter is here too so I won't even be able to try it out for awhile (storing car this week). What a shame for 550$!

 

I was told that the pitman arm could be loose or not seated properly.. If it looks like it's in, could it not really be all the way in? This is what the guy told me over the phone that it could be the pitman arm..?

 

Pretty unlikely. That thing gets torque to something stupid high, well over 100ftlb IIRC to set the press fit. You can just check to see if the nut is tight.

 

Man, this and the other post on here referenced above are not filling me with confidence on Lee's. I've generally heard good things, and I too am aiming for a total steering rebuild in the near future so I'm trying to make sure that I am able to learn from what othere have experienced.

I was at first just thinking of playing it simple and going the Flaming River route as I want to replace the box, pump, shaft, etc.; but the more I read about some of the other guys, I was thinking maybe I should up the ante. Not that I heard anything bad able FR, I just was hearing better about Lee's and another company called Turn-One. Their site is here: http://www.turnone-steering.com/

Not wanting to hi-jack this thread, but I'm curious if either hellz_wings or 87350IROC heard of these guys before and why they went with Lee's over them, (or any other Steering MFG), or if anyone has heard of them and have any good feedback on their products?

Thanks all, and good luck hellz_wings, I'll be following your progress annd hoping for the best for you.

- Xan

 

I have not heard of those guys. I did some searching on the net and found that their power steering pumps seem to be very popular with the late model GM crowd. I did not see much info on their steering boxes. They are very expensive, but worth it if they would fix my problem.

I choose Lee because of their excellent reputation on the net. I couldn't find a single bad review. Oh well, I'm sure they are good company, maybe hellz_wings and I were just unlucky.

 

Never heard of that company but then again I know what I know from reading stuff online so I can't say if they are good or bad.. But from reading their site they "look" good.

I chose Lee because of their great rep online on many different forums, and from reading everything i've only seen good stuff about them, that's why I found it odd that there is still looseness.. It wasn't loose when I installed it so that's the confusing part.. I will be able to give an answer in the spring as my car is stored and I can't work on it until then.

Could be unluckyness but I have a hunch it might be the pitman arm not being seated correctly, which I will confirm in the spring.

The good news is that when it was installed at first, it was tighter and felt much better than my 2008 charger so there is hope lol.

 

I am sad to say, but I also had this issue with my 670. Luckily, he is only 30 minutes away and I can get my steering box adjusted when I need it, but still, I had my box rebuilt for precise steering, I still have sloppy steering. I may go with the flaming river box, or simply try to rebuild it on my own.

 

You are definitely lucky.. I'll have to ship mine. I don't understand why the box lost its adjustment so quickly? I'll have to call them up and ship it to them but I'll do it over the winter cuz removing the box, shipping it, waiting for it to be shipped back and then installing it again would probably take two months and two months is like half the driving season where I live (May, June, July, August). I even tried adjusting the screw on top of the box slightly tighter again (1/4 of a turn) but it did nothing unfortunately.. It's probably the other internal adjustment that needs to be done. I checked the pitman arm as well and everything is in properly. I should have sent it to Lee this past winter and got it rebuilt oh well, it's still drive-able.

 

I haven't installed my Lee's 670 box yet. Praying I don't run into these issues.