Me and my dad finally got a chance go do my redhead today. All new hardware was used.mounting bolts,nut/lockwasher for pitman.
pitman was torqued to 225ft lbs and then staked for an extra measure.
What sparked this happened about 18 months ago.while traveling down the road at a normal speed of 45-50mph my sector shaft snapped.went hard right, jumped the curb. Only by sheer luck and good brakes I managed to stop,and this isn't a a joke- I stopped 3" before going through a concrete wall. Since I didn't have the luxury of down time I purchased a box from kragen. And reused the pitman arm (bad idea)
The threads were messed up over 25% of surface area.
Anyway,onto the install.
First I sucked most of the fluid out of the system with a hand pump.
I knocked the lines
loose and managed to control the spilling.
Pinch bolt was next. After marking the oriantation I slid the shaft up.
Given I had replaced the pos cheap trackbar drop bracket with a icon piece I had to have the new arm already installed on the redhead box.
Reinstalling the box was easy and went great. A new tie rod end was installed and everything was buttoned up.
For good measure the entire hydraboost was flushed.
Talk about a huge improvement. I can now easily turn 37x12.5 muds with one finger. Going down the country road to my parents there is a ton of teeth rattling wash board. Normally it was be less than ideal.lots of feedback into the steering wheel.truck would feel like I was surfing down the highway,constantly having to keep working the wheel. I had about 2-3"of free play before the steering would correct. And this was on a 18 month old A1 cardon box.
Early last year I assisted one of my sgts with installing a redhead on his 05,he gave me his stock box to use as a core because to much time had passed to get a decent refund. So when I went to washington I dropped the core off in person,saving me a large shipping cost.
Since I was able to keep the box I instalked after the sector shaft snapped. And since the box was showing signs of going bad I warrantied the box.so now I have a NIB gear box. I'll be selling it for $50 to my friend with a 03 f250/7.3 . I'm keeping his old box to hopefully give someine to use as a core so they will have no down time for a new parts house box or one from redhead.
So if someone needs a core for a redhead purchase you can pickup and ship off a factory ford box. All I ask is I get the box off your truck to keep passing on to people that can't afford down time.
Over all,the redhead should be a standard or first modification.
So shoot me a pm and ill give you my cell number. I'm located in vacaville,between sacramento and San fran.
pitman was torqued to 225ft lbs and then staked for an extra measure.
What sparked this happened about 18 months ago.while traveling down the road at a normal speed of 45-50mph my sector shaft snapped.went hard right, jumped the curb. Only by sheer luck and good brakes I managed to stop,and this isn't a a joke- I stopped 3" before going through a concrete wall. Since I didn't have the luxury of down time I purchased a box from kragen. And reused the pitman arm (bad idea)
The threads were messed up over 25% of surface area.
Anyway,onto the install.
First I sucked most of the fluid out of the system with a hand pump.
I knocked the lines
loose and managed to control the spilling.
Pinch bolt was next. After marking the oriantation I slid the shaft up.
Given I had replaced the pos cheap trackbar drop bracket with a icon piece I had to have the new arm already installed on the redhead box.
Reinstalling the box was easy and went great. A new tie rod end was installed and everything was buttoned up.
For good measure the entire hydraboost was flushed.
Talk about a huge improvement. I can now easily turn 37x12.5 muds with one finger. Going down the country road to my parents there is a ton of teeth rattling wash board. Normally it was be less than ideal.lots of feedback into the steering wheel.truck would feel like I was surfing down the highway,constantly having to keep working the wheel. I had about 2-3"of free play before the steering would correct. And this was on a 18 month old A1 cardon box.
Early last year I assisted one of my sgts with installing a redhead on his 05,he gave me his stock box to use as a core because to much time had passed to get a decent refund. So when I went to washington I dropped the core off in person,saving me a large shipping cost.
Since I was able to keep the box I instalked after the sector shaft snapped. And since the box was showing signs of going bad I warrantied the box.so now I have a NIB gear box. I'll be selling it for $50 to my friend with a 03 f250/7.3 . I'm keeping his old box to hopefully give someine to use as a core so they will have no down time for a new parts house box or one from redhead.
So if someone needs a core for a redhead purchase you can pickup and ship off a factory ford box. All I ask is I get the box off your truck to keep passing on to people that can't afford down time.
Over all,the redhead should be a standard or first modification.
So shoot me a pm and ill give you my cell number. I'm located in vacaville,between sacramento and San fran.
Last edited:
