These are PREMIUM GRADE rebuilt steering gear boxes for the early 1967 Mercury Cougar / Ford Mustang / Shelby. We consider them to be the very best on the market. Most auto parts are being rebuilt in Mexico these days at such a low cost they can afford to pay out on warranty claims multiple times and still show a profit. You will not be calling us with any problems on this box...
Our boxes are rebuilt here in the USA at a one man shop where this is all he does. Our boxes are done by a true CRAFTSMAN that only rebuilds mid-sixties, Ford steering parts, nothing else. To my knowledge NOBODY else re-welds and profiles the sector shaft nuts, they just clean them up or mix and match with other core boxes and hope they work OK.
In addition, as the Cougar continues to escalate rapidly in value, original parts with FoMoCo part numbers mean more and more in terms of value to your car.
This rebuilt steering gear box is for manual steering cars and has a 19.9:1 ratio, it also has a 1 inch sector shaft for the Pitman arm. This is important, only accept 1 inch sector shaft steering boxes as a core for this item.
If you are trying to identify the proper steering box, the box will have a raised casting number of C7ZR-3550-A. The early (prior to approximately 5-1-1967, 01E date on the data plate) steering boxes (both manual steering and power steering) will all have used a 1 inch sector shaft, this in turn corresponds to a Pitman arm with the 1 inch hole. Later boxes all had a 1-1/8" sector shaft and corresponding pitman arms for manual and power steering.
The 16:1 ratio SMB-F box was used for production purposes on those Cougars with the Competition Handling Packages. The SMB-K box (same 16:1 ratio - Power Steering) is identical without a pitman arm. We at WCCC believe that the pitman arms were pre-installed on the steering boxes for use on the assembly line. That is why they have the SMB-F tag number. For those with manual steering and contemplating going to the faster steering box, 4-5/8 turns lock to lock to quicker 3-3/4 turns lock to lock. Understand that there will be more effort involved in turning the steering wheel.
*The SMB-C was known for breaking sector shafts. There was a factory recall on the SMB-C and they were replaced by the SMB-D.
We require a good, rebuildable core to receive the refundable $225 core charge back. Please remove your pit-man arm before sending your box to us. We recommend using a USPS Priority Flat Rate box as shipping to us will be under $15 from all 50 states. When returning a core please include a copy of your invoice. Keep in mind if you are returning your core to us after 30 days has passed you will get your refund in the form of an in-store credit.
Having issues with wobbly or loose steering? Check out our video on sloppy steering below.