Redheads are a problem

[shenrie]

My most recent experience with redhead was as positive as I could hope for. A year outside the of warranty, my redhead box stopped allowing any kind of power assist turning to the right. Lucky me to be part of their 3% return/flaw rate! And yes I was made aware that I got sent a nascar gear... freaking jokers...

Without looking at receipts I can’t bark numbers, but they offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse and I ended up with an upgraded version of the same box that iirc, they build exclusively for whitefeather sprinter conversions. I can’t remember the specifics on what was different, but it is definitely a better gear in the end.

I was happy with my first box from day one, and the newest one is no different. In both cases first impression echos both arctic’s and timerider’s experience, stiff and little to no return to center and both times same end result as timerider after a few months of use.

I’ll admit, I’m still a little gunshy forging into hairy situations cause deep in my head I’m scared if I push the limits I’m going to be let down, but as long as it holds up, I will get over it. I’m that way with everything that fails me. If it does fail again, trust me when I say I will update my experience with whatever steering gear thread is active.

All that said, arctic, could I respectfully request that you ask a mod to change the title of this thread to something like “my experience with redhead steering gears”? But only if you’re genuinely happy with the outcome of your dealings with them of course. I just hate seeing titles like that floating around. If people actually read the thread there’s enough info in here for people to make an educated decision on weather or not they wanna deal with the company in the question. I’m part of a small fab/speed shop and these kinda reviews kill small companies. It’s good when they deserve it, but when they don’t, it can haunt business. I truly mean no offense and if I’m outta line please lmk. I will gladly retract and apologize.

[JWA]

^^^Your point(s) are taken well regarding small businesses, their on-line reputation and naturally how they respond to customer service issues, the one thing that would allow me to overlook a small percentage of less-than-favorable quality issues. Without a doubt steering box failures are a huge hassle so dealing with a reluctant supplier or re-builder for failures as discussed in this thread is something we'd all love to avoid.

OTOH if a well known supplier shows signs of excessive failures during a short period of time but then corrects its practices so they become or return to former high quality reliable products that should receive the same alert priority as do problem reports.

I had a Ford reman'd box installed on a 2003 E-250 EB 177,600 miles ($258, installed for $50 by competent friend)----it exploded (bottom seal) beyond it's warranty. That box had lasted just over 5 years ( 85,700 miles), cost about $170 (NAPA/Cardone) but near $500 installed (rush job, professional shop) One might say I'm skeptical of a Ford reman'd unit, that danged NAPA/Cardone box lasted about 27,500 miles, 21 months driving without issue (van sold 03/2020.) So kinda been there done that with failed steering boxes.

Just my two bits mind you.

[REDOVAL]

Same here, many years and still working fine. I'm in no way happy with the hydraulic assist port locations but that a small issue overall. I had a slight incident while at rather high speed on the race course in Barstow, CA and ended up twisting the OEM sector shaft about 90º when the pass wheel caught a rock. Ended up being a costly error but that's expected when pushing an 8500# rig hard in areas it isn't intended for.

Scott

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by shenrie

All that said, arctic, could I respectfully request that you ask a mod to change the title of this thread to something like “my experience with redhead steering gears”? But only if you’re genuinely happy with the outcome of your dealings with them of course.

Negative reviews are often times excessively harsh, but I’d like to think that I posted honest, accurate information. While talking with the customer service representative I was dealing with most recently, he read through my history file, and pointed out that there was actually even one more box I had trouble with many years ago. At that time I had called them to discuss the fact that at times I would lose assist when turning to the right. I had completely forgotten about that, and at that time they sent me another box. That makes three boxes in a row that have had failures, but separated by a few years of service. When I asked about why the new box seemed to be so tight, he told me that they don’t replace the ball screws or the valves. As the screws wear, they simply install larger ball bearings. Sometimes that makes the steering stiffer and in time it will loosen up. As mentioned before after I removed the steering dampener the effort was decreased to an acceptable level. As for the valves, they are inspected and if deemed to be serviceable are reused but they seem to be the cause of quite a few failures. Clearly, I’m not the only one that has had issues with defective boxes as illustrated by an earlier post with links to numerous other forums describing the same issues and other forum members here too. Sadly,buying remanufactured parts from any source these days seems to be a crap shoot and I’m not sure that a Napa or AutoZone box would be any different. Your point about The title is well taken though. Perhaps it should have said steering gears instead of red head, since I’m not sure any other brand would fair any better. Anyway, the bottom line is, I now have a fully functioning steering box installed in my van. I’ve got way too much experience in changing these things but that may be due in part to the harsh use I put them through with 33 inch tires and off road use, but that doesn’t explain the initial out of the box failures. Still, I am now hoping that my next experience is similar to all of the folks here who have experienced long lasting, good results with their redhead box.