How can I tell if I have fast ratio steering or not?

["Turbo-T"]

It might sound silly but....

From what I have read, all TR's with the Y56 package received fast ratio steering. A few years back right after I bought my TR, I had the steering box replaced by a shop because it had a tremendous amount of slop in the steering.

Since then I haven't drove my TR much until recently. I've noticed the steering is kind of laggy. That has me wondering if the guy that replaced my steering box, just bought a run-of-the-mill box from Advance auto or if he indeed replaced it with what came on the car from the factory.

Are there any part numbers on the box I can look for to tell me if I have a fast ratio or slow ratio box?

Thanks in advance

 

[G-boz]

Depending on the year, there might be a big "N" or "Z" stamped on the box. Ive seen them with it 86-87 and seen them without 83-85.

I have one if your looking for one.

 

[novaderrik]

if it's the correct box, it will have 3 turns lock to lock and hit the stop on the lower control arm.
if it's the wrong box, it might be upwards of 4 turns lock to lock or the stops in the box won't allow it to hit the stops on the steering arms.

well, i think there are stops on the steering arms- i might be thinking of other cars..

 

["Turbo-T"]

Thanks. I didn't see any Z or N on my box. I did find that (with the car on ground) that lock to lock seems to be right at 3 turns. However I also dug out my receipt for when I had the work done and looked up the part number...the shop typed on the reciept, a Carquest p/n of 27-6580 steering box...except Carquest only carries 2 types....a 27-6530 and 27-6550....me thinks someone wrote an 8 where there should have been a 3....and 27-6530 says it's for cars not equipped with FE3 steering, which on the RPO sticker, says it has. That has me thinking someone possibly stuck the wrong gear box on my car.

I also looked up Autozone....they offer a replacement that's only 2.5 turns lock to lock and another that's 3.5 turns lock to lock....question is, is the reduce turns to lock the wheels because the Y56 package had the wider tires?

If I indeed had the slow ratio box, how much steering improvement would you say I'd see if I changed to a quick ratio steering? The front tires are the stock 215/65/R15.

Thanks

 

[novaderrik]

the reduced turns lock to lock is because it's a faster steering box- less input at the steering wheel to get more movement at the tire.
from what i've seen online, buying a replacement steering box is a crapshoot. they might list it as a fast ratio box on the computer screen, but you get a slow ratio box when you order it. they are all based on the same basic casting, with only the guts being different, and when you get paid low wages to build as many as you can in a day you probably don't care which guts go into which case... and then there are the clever people that use a slow ratio box as a core for a reman fast ratio box..

 

[dr_frankenstein]

not to hijack,

but would one "assume" that a slower box would be more suited to a drag only car where straight line action is desired and slowing the ratio down prevents hi speed twitch?

 

[novaderrik]

slower boxes are used in cars that go really fast- like a 300mph streamliner at Bonneville or a NASCAR racer at Tallega.. the last thing you want at those kinds of speeds is really twitchy steering, so you slow down the ratio to make the car easier to control.