Does anyone know if a comprehensive overhaul kit exists for a 200tdi 90 steering box. I am not just talking about the seals! In fact my steering box is visually in excellent condition with no leaks. I am talking about bearings and worm gear.

The steering has been getting progressively worse over the years which I believe to be mechanical wear to the working parts. She was abused in a previous life as a recovery truck! You can grab the input shaft on the box and give about 45 degrees free rotation in both directions before resistance. It's also becoming more 'wild' on the road and wandering like a drunk badger. I have replace all ball joints incl drop arm, bushes, suspension incl springs, and prop shaft uj's in the last year.

I'd rather not pay £400-£500 for a recon box if I can help it. And yes, I have access to a full Army workshop with 50 tonne presses, oxy torches, even a Gucci pneumatic nut splitter before anyone says you need that sort of kit.

Cheers

id adjust it first,adjustment is made when steering box is central (whether road whels are or not)and you rock input shaft by hand so that you just take all free play out, if 4 bolt box ,input/worm shaft is rtc4405 and is the valve control assembly too and arent cheap ,rtc4398 is sector shaft,stc2847 is full seal kit bearings are available from bearing specialists ,price parts first ,ive rebuilt quite a few if you need advice

Thanks for the part no's. I adjusted the box previously, but will try again before committing.

Couldn't find anything on craddocks for the worm gear. I'll flash up microcat later on in case it's a different part no.

Hope nobody minds me resurrecting a very old thread but I think this is likely the best place to keep this information for wider future reference. I went looking for the part number for the needle roller bearings at the bottom of the output shaft on a 4-bolt RHD PAS box. Now I've got home, I can see the identification on the bottom of my partially disassembled box - Torrington B2020. They seem to be readily available. Note that this link suggests that, in a Gemmer box at least, the upper of the two bottom bearings is a B2016. When I extracted both of the lower bearings, the upper was a lot shorter than the other but both were damaged and I couldn't find the ID of the upper bearing. They're definitely not both B2020s though.

However, I've had the shaft hard chromed to restore its diameter, and it turns out that needle rollers on hard chrome is a bad idea. I've therefore a related question - could I swap in bushes (as per older Adwest boxes) instead of the bearings? The bearing ID is 32mm and the OD is 38.1mm. An imperial-sized Oilite bush is 38.1mm OD and 31.75mm ID, so it would just be a case of getting the rechromed shaft ground to suit, and then pressing a 50mm long bush into position where the bearings would normally go.

This might help:-
http://www.getyourbearings.co.uk/oilitephosphorbronze.html

Would it not be easier and cheaper to just get another box? A known good used part maybe?

That's what I did, 3 years later still working fine!

Problem is that I've acquired a couple of boxes and neither has been any good. I'd rather find a way to overhaul what I've got so I know it works. Plus this might be a reasonable route for other people to follow too - costs about the same as a rebuilt box, but the money's been spent in the right places (rechroming and re-bushing). All depends on it actually working, of course...