So a year ago as part of an engine swap on my 180k mike 90’ ZR-1 (I swapped in a 35k mile 91’ LT5 engine) I installed a rebuilt steering rack I purchased from Ecklers. It had been on sale for a great price but with a large core charge that Ecklers was slow to return, but that’s another story. Last week I started my car and was greeting with a nasty noise from the power steering pump. It was empty and the new steering rack had blown an end seal resulting in power steering oil all over my garage floor. I checked my paperwork and found that the rack had a 5 year warranty. So immediately called Ecklers customer service. The young lady I spoke to checked and told me to send the unit directly to the rebuilder Lonestar Caliper Co. in TX. Expecting the runaround I found Lonestar on the Internet and sent them an email to confirm that this was indeed the process. To my relief I received an immediate reply and although surprised I was contacting them directly, they ask that I send the unit in to the attention of a manager (owner?) there and that he would attend to the matter personally. I sent the unit in on Tuesday via Priority Mail (not wanting to my car down long). I was emailed back when it arrived on Thursday. This morning I was advised that the unit was being rebuilt today and would be shipped back today. This afternoon I got an email saying it had been shipped and (get this) with an apology for the inconvenience the defective unit had caused! Now that’s something you don’t see everyday anymore! While I would have preferred that the unit not go bad in the first place, I fully understand that **** happens. It’s that much more gratifying when a company and its people actually stand behind their product. While I continue to be less than a fan of Ecklers I will have no hesitation buying products from Lonestar Caliper Co and their other distributors in the future. I’ve seen their stuff on EBay as well. Cudos to Lonestar Caliper Co.
H

 

Great to hear they're standing behind their work. Let us know when it's back and again in the car and how it works out.

 

Nice story.

 

Used their calipers for years on C3s always found them to be a stand-up company.

 

I swapped my car to a Z51 rack, it was from Lonestar. Same thing it was in the car for a week and started leaking worse than the one that came out of it. I elected to send it to Turn One for a rebuild instead of using the 5 year warranty.

When turn one disassemble the steering rack they told me that it was not able to be rebuilt because of corrosion inside of the rack. I then took to the internet and bought another z51 rack that needed to be rebuilt and mailed it to turn one and they were able to cobble together a steering rack for me.

At the end of the day my z51 swap cost me somewhere around $1200 instead of the initial purchase of the $400 rack

 

I chatted with lonestar when i needed my original z51 rack rebuilt.

They pretty much told me they just pop new seals in and call it a day.
In my case i needed to have my rack sleeved and rebuilt, so it went to turn one.

 

The quick ratio is in the internal parts not the housing. A base rack housing could be used to repair a z51 rack.

 

That is great to know that LoneStar Caliper rebuilds racks and that they do good work. I have used Turn One for the rebuilding of Power Steering Pumps and Racks. They do great work and are located in Saginaw, Michigan which might be closer to some of the folks.

To keep from having to rebuild power steering devices you need to decrease the amount of heat in the PS Fluid. The heat is what causes many of the problems we have with these parts in the first place. Having a plastic PS reservoir does little to get rid of the heat. If it were metal and located where it is the problem would be less of a big deal.

I have a C3 with a big block and power steering and headers. On this Corvette I have insulated all of the power steering hoses from the heat of the exhaust but still have higher than I would like temperatures so I am thinking of putting a tube cooler with a fan on it near the reservoir. I don't want to block any of the factory air flow through the engine area but need to dump that extra heat. My engine has 12.25-1 compression ratio which makes it generate even more heat than normal. I have insulated the heater hoses, the fuel lines (all the way to the carburetor) and the power steering hoses from the heat coming from the engine.

Heat is the big killer of a lot of parts on these cars. If you are replacing the rack or the pump you might consider adding a cooler to help the parts last longer. Even just a bigger capacity reservoir would help in a lot of cases.

Since my C3 is "close" to stock I don't want to do any permanent changes to it but I have been contemplating getting rid of the power steering system that GM used back then and putting in a new electric PS system. They are now down to less than $1400 for the whole system. I would love to get rid of the pump and all the hoses. It would make it easier to work on the car but what happens to electrical motors when they get exposed to heat coming off my headers? Are those parts ready for prime time yet? I love the feel on the new cars with it. The question is does the aftermarket system feel like the factory systems and are they as reliable? Has anyone out there tried this modification yet? My 1968 C3 seems like a good test mule for such a system.

Thanks for the information on Lonestar Caliper as I had never heard of them before. I will add them to the list of Corvette suppliers I have.

I hope that all is well for you all out there! Stay COOL!

Best regards,
Chris

 

I went on their website for SS brake hoses and they only sell to wholesalers?

 

Huh? They might have decent customer service in terms of addressing warranty issues, but you call this "good work"...???