bradler

I have gone through two factory steering gears and currently have a Red Head gear box this leaking fluid from the top plate and appears to be going out. I'm having a hard time diagnosing it as just the gear box because I am also experiencing some odd breaking issues (pedal gets a little soft and pulses slightly but its not the ABS) that seem to be related to low pressure from the pump to the hydro boost/master cylinder. But on pavement when not moving the truck will not even turn the wheels. Could be some shrapnel/contaminants in the fluid but I suspect the pump is going out as well.

My main question is this:

Has anyone done the "upgrade" to the newer/larger steering gear?
Would I also need a new pitman arm (assume the sector shaft size is larger)?
I would also assume my existing gear box brace would not fit?
Do you need to upgrade to the newer pump as well? what about hoses?

I prefer to do a one and done and replace everything together. So is it worth the expense of going with the new set up vs. getting another red head gear?

Thanks

BigIron70

The Mopar gear box comes with new pitman arm.

Mexstan

Did you flush the lines each time that you changed a box?

After my third steering box went south, I switched to a Red-Head steering box. At the same time I installed a Racor (Parker) LFS 22825 6 micron spin on oil filter to catch any residual crud. Been very happy with the installation for ages now.

bradler

Yep thoroughly flushed the system and was running a magna fine filter. Going to look into that razor set up though seems like a god idea.