Cardone 27-6550 woes

[RegalX78]

I recently purchased a cardone 27-6550 remain steering box from Amazon as they were the cheapest price, free shipping. It came all beat to sh*t and leaking. I popped the end snap ring out to find the where the O-ring sits was rusty already. It was also painted or dipped in basically undercoating......Lastly when checking the ratio it was 3.5 turns lock to lock, not the 2.5-2.7 that it should have been. Very unimpressed. I sent it back.

Anyone have a better should for this remain box? Advance wants twice the price. How has experience been with Lares?

 

[spidereyes455]

You never know what you're going to get with a parts store reman, seems more often than not these days you just get a standard box and not a quick ratio. Why? Because most people in the know won't turn in a quick ratio box as a core. I know I wouldn't.
If you have the skill set and tools I would obtain a used quick ratio box and toss a $25 rock auto rebuild kit at it, then you know what you have and can take some pride in knowing you did it yourself.

 

[joesregalproject]

RedHead or Bluetop are the only good remans that you'll get. Cardone is okay for a lot of things but reman steering boxes isn't one of them.

 

[RegalX78]

I thought about just rebuilding the box I had, but after determining that it was not the fast ratio it went back. Perhaps just order another one and hope it's in better shape and the correct ratio....

 

[joesregalproject]

I thought about just rebuilding the box I had, but after determining that it was not the fast ratio it went back. Perhaps just order another one and hope it's in better shape and the correct ratio....

Reman steering boxes are a crapshoot. The only ones that aren't are Redhead and Bluetop but they aren't cheap. I'm fairly certain that all Cardone does with them is clean them, put new seals in and repaint them. They don't set the backlash in the gears correctly if at all and they don't keep track of quick ratio vs the regular boxes.

 

[SS_Malibu]

I bought mine from BAP (Buy Auto Parts). Reasonably priced and I've been very happy with it. I did have to buy a Pitman arm due to I switched from a 605 box to an 800 box.

 

[abbey castro]

You never know what you're going to get with a parts store reman, seems more often than not these days you just get a standard box and not a quick ratio. Why? Because most people in the know won't turn in a quick ratio box as a core. I know I wouldn't.
If you have the skill set and tools I would obtain a used quick ratio box and toss a $25 rock auto rebuild kit at it, then you know what you have and can take some pride in knowing you did it yourself.

I got the correct box for my SS from Oreilly's, and I kept my original box. I will build it someday.

 

[brrian]

I bought a 27-6550 gearbox thru Amazon warehouse, $100, damaged box. I was sure I was getting somebody's return because it's not quick ratio, but free returns so why not try? It came today & I just checked & it's the correct ~2.7 turns between stops. There are no signs of installation... it looks 'rebuilt' new. I can get $27 for my core, which I'll do unless I have to pay for shipping, then probably not worth it.

There are at least two more on Amazon Warehouse... if you have Prime, no harm in taking a chance on one.

 

[mikester]

I bought two boxes rebuilt by Lares in MN. Both quick ratio. They seem pretty well made so far.

 

[SS_Malibu]

Nice score. You'll like it.