Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 10, 2025 ...

A question of time.... (replacing steering box)

September 06, 2020, 05:24:33 pm

A question for those of you who have R&R'd the steering gear on a Unicoach with a remote gen radiator.

How long did it take you to remove the steering gear?
How long did it take you to re-install the steering gear?

Thank you..
Tim

[edited topic title to be more descriptive - Michelle]

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Re: A question of time.... (replacing steering box)

Reply #1 – September 06, 2020, 05:51:43 pm

Probably 4 hrs. removal, as I drained the radiator, removed radiator, removed gen. muffler and windshield washer bottle to get clearance for the steering box to come out. Then disconnected the steering column and raised the column. Then pulled pan under the generator and the side cover on the generator box. All this before  removing the pitman arm and unbolting the gear box. Look for many posts showing different approaches to do this. While you are waiting for Redhead to rebuild order all the hoses that attach the generator to the remote radiator as now is the time to change them. Going back together closer to 3 hrs if you don't rush it.

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Re: A question of time.... (replacing steering box)

Reply #2 – September 06, 2020, 05:57:39 pm

Ditto craneman I did mine different as in cut out a portion of the metal in front of the gear box (then I had to weld it back after reinstalling) I wound up taking the gen radiator out for other reasons and realized that how chuck did it would have been much easier.
I'm just a one-man show and didn't have anyone around to help within radiator when I took out gearbox
(sometimes it's best to wait for help!!!)
Chris

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Re: A question of time.... (replacing steering box)

Reply #3 – September 07, 2020, 09:08:09 am

It is worth your time to save money if you can do it. Unfortunately, I did not have the means and paid dearly to have mine replaced. Ouch!!

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Re: A question of time.... (replacing steering box)

Reply #4 – September 08, 2020, 03:36:24 pm

I am having a RedHead put in on Monday at NMS, they quoted me 6 hours for the job.

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Re: A question of time.... (replacing steering box)

Reply #5 – September 08, 2020, 06:18:41 pm

We just did ours last week. It took us about 2 hours to get the unit off and 3 hours to get back on. We didn't remove anything from the front compartment (it was really tight and kind of a nuisance though), but we did have to cut the front wall of the storage compartment (thin metal) about 4" lower to get the steering box in and out a little easier. One person underneath and another helping hold in place and lining things up in the front compartment helped a lot.  We thought this video helped to explain the process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1S-SA5ucMI

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