I've read nothing but good reviews and I'm sure once the installation is complete I'll be very happy, but right now I'm not too pleased. Everything needed for installation is supposed to be included in the kit, so off I go. Right away I see that I need high strength thread locker and anti-seize. I've got the anti-seize and medium strength thread locker, the blue stuff, but no red stuff. So off to the auto parts store. That first complaint is pretty minor, I'll admit. Now, onto the driver's side mounting bracket. This mounts to the frame where the original steering gear was mounted. There are 4" long bolts supplied for this, but as you can see in the picture, the 4" long bolt is a bit short for the lower hole location. Finding a 3/8 x 4 1/4" x 24 is not exactly easy, that was my second trip out, with no luck. Now for my biggest complaint. There is a gusset that bolts to the driver's side mounting bracket and to the frame, where the power steering cylinder frame bracket was originally installed. The kicker is the instructions tell you to re-use the existing fasteners from the p/s cylinder frame bracket. Are you kidding me? Re-use 30 year old bolts? This is a $1300 kit and I'm supposed to re-use this stuff. As you can see from the picture, even IF I wanted to re-use the bolts, I can't, thanks to 30 years in Michigan. Speed Direct sells the necessary bolts for this, but they aren't included in the kit. I'm completely baffled by this. As I said earlier, once Summer rolls around and I'm out cruising, this will be a distant memory. But right now....

 

I just installed mine yestrday. I used the original bolts. But just go to homedepot, lowes, or ace and pick up 4 nut and bolt sets with washers and lock washers.

 

Hello
I can understand your frustration with some of the small details. I would expect to use new nuts and bolts where needed. As you said it is a 30 year old car, and many of the bolts will be rusty, or have some type of corrosion. Maybe they were replaced with the wrong size along the way also.

But the thread locker and anti seize lubricants would appear to be the responsibility of the consumer. I'm not sure that this would normally be included in some kits.

Good luck with the install.

kdf

 

That's what I did, but that was also my point. I shouldn't have to after spending $1300. Any problems with the lower bolt on the driver's side mounting bracket being a bit short?

 

No, you can see in the picture they were just right.

 

My math was off by a decade, I should have said 40 years old, not 30. The thread locker by itself wouldn't be a big deal at all, but on top of the other stuff, I was just whining. I recently did inner tie rods on a GMC Sierra, with Moog parts that included high strength thread locker in their kit, so at least some kits are doing it. Thanks for the replies.

 

So, the saga continues. I get to step #11 where I'm supposed to attach the rack to the brackets that I just installed, using the provided U-clamps. The instructions say that the U-clamps are shaped differently. These U-clamps came in separate packages, unfortunately the part number on each package was the same, which means the U-clamps are identical. So I looked at the packing slip from the order and it shows two different U-clamp part numbers. It's obvious the driver's side U-clamp isn't going to work, the spacing between the mounting holes is off by 1/2". So to anyone who has done this before...do I need two different U-clamps? That's the way it looks to me. It looks like someone grabbed two of one clamp instead of one of each.

 

Funny that we never see threads like this with the Borgeson conversion. I know which conversion I'll trust my wife's life to

 

this was from my kit from 4-5 yrs ago....the bracketry was different from side to side....as i recall one had a v shaped bracket and the other was flat.....that piece that you were to reuse if it were not rusted so badly you would see has two different thickness to the plate as it fits over the frame that has a lip inside where the two frames meet. i like my steeroids.....make sure you have the steering centered for the blinkers so they self cancel properly...you can click on the big picture at the bottom and expand it and you can see the bracket and mounts

 

Thanks for the pictures, I need to get a hold of Steeroids in the AM.

 

I talked to Randy from Steeroids today. He was very apologetic about the mix up with the mounting clamps and said he would send out the correct one right away. He also said he would send out the new hardware that attaches the gusset to the driver's side frame and bracket. I was impressed by that because he didn't have to do that, although I still think that should have been included in the kit to start with. I sent him the pictures of my rusted and broken bolts. He said he's never seen bolts that bad before. That's funny, he should spend more time in Michigan. He also said the he would overnight the parts if I wanted him to. I told him that it wasn't necessary, I can wait a couple of days. So, I'm very pleased with the way Randy handled everything for me. Mistakes will always happen, but it says a lot about a company in the way they solve any problems that arise.

 

We installed and raced on a steeroids system and were very happy. We had a cpl issue where we twisted some of the mounting plates due to tremendous torques we put on them, steeroids provided excellent customer service and even fabbed replacement new heavy duty mounting plates and links for us at no charge.

I would have gladly paid for them.
I will always take a company who takes the time to listen and responds to my issues.

 

I think the moral of the story here is that everything we bolt on to our cars is created, packaged, and shipped by a human being and they are all prone to mistakes. I agree, with a $1300 kit you would expect everything needed to be in it and for it to be right. However, the company apologized and are working hard to make it right. Just think, if you paid $800 for the kit and it came from some company in China you would have saved $500 but you would still be upset, you would never be able to get in touch with the owner, and you would be on your own to track down the parts that were not right. $1300 bought you a kit that was 98% complete and correct but also got you awesome customer service which is worth a million dollars when things go wrong. Glad to hear Randy is taking care of you. When the PS system goes out on my '81 I will be getting a kit from him as well.

 

Good luck on your install and continue with the photos. They show a lot of detail when you write your description.

Its bad that you got the wrong part, but the customer service response you got was very good to make up for it.

kdf

 

As sexy as the R&P setup is, I have no regrets about the Borgeson box.

 

can we get a difficulty level on the conversion (ie. 4 out of 5)??? also my steering is fine as is now but i am doing a body off. im itching already to get it back on the road. is the conversion something that can wait. never having driven one with the conversion can i live without it basically and just wait til my steering goes out??? don't mean to hijack just wanted a lil insight.

 

with the engine out this is a piece of cake, maybe a 2 out of 5......with the engine in the difficulty is getting the double d joints set up around the headders, with the body off its probably a 2 again

 

My system went in "slicker than whale chit off an ice flow"....lol

Engine was in. Stock manifolds.
If you've got headers then its a different story. SOME, not all brands of headers need to be "clearanced" (ie BFH) to fit around the steering shaft and the joints.

I'd highly recommend the Steeroids kit.


dodosmike