1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

Attempting to fix my leaky steering gear box input shaft on my 1982 305 C10 RWD by swapping out the steering gear box from a 1981 350 c10 RWD parts truck and the pitman arm isnt lining up with the shaft from the gear box. Looks like its the same gearbox from 73-87 so I'm not sure what to do. Anyone been down this road before?

81 box on the 82 frame and suspension -
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7385/1...acf07ca5_b.jpg

82 box -
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3668/1...e325048f_b.jpg

I'm not entirely sure the gearbox and pitman arm havnt been changed before so who knows what POs used but the distance from the base of the gearbox to the center of the shaft that holds the pitman arm seem different to me.

TIA

Re: 1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

Looks like someone did some rigging on the parts truck. Show me a pic of the old box vs. the new from the top. I've got a 85 box on a 78 frame. Only difference was the hose fittings went from standard to metric threads. You should also check the pitman arms for dimensions.

Re: 1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

Parts truck is an hour away, so no can do on measuring pitman arm. Pitman on the 82 looks to be overall 7" and center to center on the holes about 5.5". Maybe I can see if the parts shop has one tomorrow to compare.

81:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5507/1...cd6487f0_b.jpg


82:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7365/1...267971cc_b.jpg

Re: 1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

Those are two different gears. From the looks of your frame your truck has been heavily modified/lowered. Did you do the drop? If not, can you still get in touch with the builder? That gear looks like a later model, 88 or up maybe. Gonna need to find out what model he used.

Re: 1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

I didn't do the fab work, he said it took all 82 parts when I asked about that. Maybe it slipped his mind. I have his email but I think he got tired of me asking questions :)

I'll drag the steering box that came off of the truck with me to the parts shop, maybe they can match it. Thanks!

Re: 1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

Good luck

Re: 1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

Called a few shops this morning. One offered a sport and a standard gearbox for the 1989 RWD C1500. Guessing the sport is the quick ratio but neither were in stock. Another shop had only one listing and (no distinction of sport or non) its in stock so I'll run over to contrast and compare.

Re: 1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

Might even compare it to a S-10 model.

Re: 1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

For some reason my brain had gone out on me. :screwy: After fresh eyes on it this morning I determined the casting numbers to be the same, difference in measurement was angle of observation. Gear box in; lesson learned. Thanks for the help anyway buddy_1

Re: 1981 Steering Gear Box in 1982 Truck; No Dice
 

That 82 gear casting looks so much smoother than the other, it looked like the newer units. Glad it worked out for you. Buddy