Thanks West Texas Off Road!

[COSCAG00]

Just wanted to give my experience with using these guys.

I have a 4x4x2 steering box that I wanted to get rebuilt and work led me within 1.5 hours from there shop in San Angelo. I was " close" enough to justify dropping the box off today and figured they can ship it back to me when done. I showed up at there shop today at 3:45 to drop the box off and as I am getting ready to walk out the door am asked how much time I have. Well I say I am here right now and hitting the road, they tell me if I can stick around until 5:30 should be able to get the box knocked out. So I leave and kill some time and my phone rings at 5:00 telling me my box was ready for pickup. WOW! Now I realize things don't always fall into place like they did, plus there was not much inline I front of me getting rebuilt but great job.

Just wanted to publicly say Thank You! This saved me about $80 shipping both ways plus getting to look at some nice rigs at their shop.

 

[bsquared]

How cool is THAT! They did my box a while back and turned it around in proper time. Great you were able to do the deal in person.

Great to have support from our suppliers like that. The Bronco crew is definitely different than most! Thanks for sharing the success.

 

[HOJO]

That is some great customer service ....

 

[sprdv1]

Love it when that happens...

 

[Jeff10]

Hey,

That is really cool!

I used them to rebuild a stock Bronco box. I went ahead and had it drilled, tapped and plugged for ram assist. I have yet to drive the Bronco; but, the box was clean and ready to go when I got it back. Installed... no leaks... and appears to operate well.

Matt worked with me when I tried to adjust the box myself. He spent a lot of time with me on the phone, not really expecting anything other than good will. It worked.

He shared with me that he had been fighting a couple of complaints that had been made. I don't remember exactly; but, I think he was being criticized on one of the boards. I guess anyone who works with the public needs to put up with this kind of thing. (And, anyone with employees knows that things aren't always perfect.) I don't know who was right in that case, and who was wrong. All I know is that almost everything I have read about the work they do, and their customer service, is positive. (Billie does a great job with order-taking and keeping customers informed of repair status.)

I had to chuckle... the amount of time you waited for your box to be rebuilt was about the amount of time it took me to box up the steering gear to ship it to them. It would have saved a lot of time and money to do what you did.

I really like the fact that they exceeded your expectations by taking care of things while you waited. Pretty cool!

Jeff

 

[xcntrk]

Just an FYI; I called them this week looking for a 4:1 conversion. Turns out they don't have any of the reverse rotation gears in stock and couldn't commit to any availability. It seemed they didn't stock the 4:1 gear and it appeared to me they come about them when doing rebuilds and overhauls. I was told, might be a week or it might be a month before we see another 4:1 reverse rotation gear come through the shop.

In their defense PSC also didn't have any in stock. But at least this company was honest in stating they only do a handful a year and minimum quantity limits to purchase 4:1 reverse rotation gears outweigh the volume of business they receive for it.

In the end, it was Lee PS that had gears available and got my business. I would have gone with WTOR if they had the gear - but I was a little turned-off by their parts inventory and how they go about it.

 

[allenfahey]

I'm glad you guys are happy with WTO. FYI for you all to check.... Last month at the MEB Roundup my freshly rebuilt box lasted 45 minutes on the first day. The adjuster on the top of the box backed out and spewed power steering fluid. I tightened it down and then it started leaking from the sector shaft. Luckily KB6677 bought a box from Broncitis and I was able to borrow it for the rest of the weekend. Only plus from it was my box was 6 turn and the borrowed one was 4 turn I thought about shipping it back to them but for $100+ in shipping I decided to get a rebuild kit and an inch pound torque wrench and I will do it myself.

If you want the quick ratio 3.?? turn box you need a Chevy Astro NON-variable ratio box. If you open the box there will be three teeth that should all be the same size. The non-variable boxes are rare. Out of the 10+ I checked at the u-pull-it yards were variable ratios. An easier way to check the box is to look for the code sticker in the glove box or the passenger door and look for "N40" which is the code for the steering box being non-variable. Once you find the box you swap the internals like you would for a 4x4x2 box.

 

[COSCAG00]

Yeah parts are pretty scarce for these 4x4x2 boxes. The splines on the sector shaft are worn on my box and they didn't have one to replace it. Matt said it is getting harder and harder to find these parts. He did give me a few pointers on how to tighten up the union with the pitman arm though so I should be good to go.

 

[vol_bronco_05]

An easier way to check the box is to look for the code sticker in the glove box or the passenger door and look for "N40" which is the code for the steering box being non-variable.

FYI, you cant trust the code on the door. I just had a local yard pull a box from an 89 Safari with N40 on the door and it was a variable.

Update 7-19-12: I noticed today that the box they pulled was a remanufactured unit so that's why it was variable. Maybe you CAN trust the door?

 

[scrapman1971]

i have about 4000 of the astro gears mixed. this is the second or third time i have heard WTOR having trouble getting the gear. maybe it is time to go through mine and sort them by two numbers instead of one. sometimes there is a code on the cap of the box. does anyone know what the code is for the non-variable? i really don't want to take each one apart. that would really add cost.