So last year I installed a Borgeson box in my 68 B-Body. The install was on par with what others have experienced. I compromised and drove the box off center for the season.

Today I decided to dive back into the system and see what the heck is so wrong with this setup. What I am finding is a need to shim the box with over a 1/2" spacer on the double bolt side to get this thing even remotely in the right position.

I am fairly pissed.

As it stands, the Bergman conversion joint will not work with the box, as it is at to much of an extreme angle. In fact it's extreme enough that the steering is hard to turn with the wheels off the ground, and the seal is getting destroyed on the connector. I have decided that I will need to cut the shaft and use the little U-joint connector in place of the Bergman unit. However.... If I were to shim the box 1/2" to get the pitman arm in good relation to the linkage, I am worried it will be so far out that column will not line up with it.


As it stands my options are:

1. Center the box lock to lock, and drive around with un-even tie rods. This would be almost 3/4" difference from side to side.

2. Center the steering components and drive the box off center by almost 1/2 a turn on the steering wheel.

3. Purchase a new Borgeson box and hope that it's not as assed up as this one.

4. Try to re-key the pitman arm by grinding out all the master splines and clocking it over a tooth. And then HOPE that it's even close to center.



Are the new boxes having better luck with setup over the ones from last year?? I noticed the prices came down on them by $200

Why not just re-key/re-flat the steeringbox inputshaft?
- Center all steering linkage
- Center steeringbox
- File/grind a new flat on the splined input shaft
- Connect everything


But if the angle of the box is still bad enough to cause alignment issues with the steeringshaft, I would take good pics and get in contact with them to get the box replaced.

The '1st gen' Borgbox (small sector) I bought was spot on with the steering shaft alignment, but it leaked oil on the welds in a corner.

I shot a video of the leak and they offered me a replacement box rightaway.
Being in Europe, shipping back and forth and time wasted I opted to try and fix the leak myself.
I managed to use a simple punch and move some metal to close up the leak.


Having read about others alignments been way off as well, maybe their welding department needs a fresh bunch of people installed.

Following. I'm looking to buy one of their boxes next week..

I don't think I would grind the pitman arm's teeth out. That sounds like a major PITA and you would weaken the arm(?), not to mention that you would have to do this every time you need to change a pitman arm.

I have come to the conclusion that its not only a mounting issue, but must also be a manufacturing issue with the sector shaft. Assuming the mounting was dead on, and it had direct (Or even remotely close! haha) input into the steering shaft, the spline end of the sector shaft has still got to be cut out of relation of center.

What a PITA.


I will keep the thread updated as to what I find.

I understand that they are now using a modified Mustang box as basis for Mopar's. Perhaps they got it right this time,,,,or are you already using the new box,,,was added sometime in past year or so.

Been there, done that on my EBody, including requesting a replacement box from Borgeson which had exact same problem. Got burned good by them for shipping charges on their screw up however. Finally resolved utilizing a 1/4th shim on 2 bolt side.

All is now well,,,,however one tie rod(forget which side is 3/4 inch longer than other to have box at top center. Doubt that this has any effect on drivability.

Subsequently have acquired new correct steering box mounting bolts,,,photo shows grade 8 hardware store bolts.

In my case, don't believe was sector shaft. If your steering shaft makes an angle just before entering coupler as mine did,,,,it's likely that they did not jig box correctly before welding mounting ears.

Your shaft should be a straight shot to box from firewall into Bergman coupler,,,just as with factory box.

Not to suggest that your pitman shaft could too be mis-machined.

Overall a PITA with a lot of finger pointing and replacing the box to try a new one and then replacing again to re-install their original once I decided to do the shim approach.

All is well now, do like the drive.

Also installed one in the wife's 55 TBird. Had to adapt a full size Ford Borgeson kit to T Bird as no kit for the Bird from Borgeson. A giant PITA, but worth it as TBird steering system with slave cylinders and all was so bad.

having one tierod assmebly longer than the other can induce bumpsteer issues.

Or call me for advice? Not on this board....

I appreciate that, I work during the day (Home with sick kids today) So a phone call is often hard for me.

Honestly lets just do it here.... If you have some information, please share it right here on the board. That's the whole point of this thread, and these forums.


Lets get this information out so others can learn.


Right now I see a sector shaft that was machined incorrectly from center to master spline, and I see mounting ears that are incorrectly fixtured.

The fix seems pretty simple. Don't buy this box until they fix the design. I've installed a few of these, and the box is great, but the alignment and splining at the pitman suck. The factory rag joint shouldn't be at any angle, much less enough to cause binding. ONE vendor saying "call me for a magic bullet" doesn't breed a lot of confidence.
Until Borgeson can figure this out, I'll stick with Firm Feel and possibly be designing my own rack system with a custom spindle for my next project.

Anyone running the modified Mustang box that supersedes the Mopar edition?

Opinions, comments? Understand it is smaller. Makes for easier installation and better header clearance.

No one will like this but its your own fault for using any part that is originally from ford. Ford sucks yes I'm extremely biased I HATE fords. If any of you think that the mounting ears were welded on wrong (they welded on mounting tabs to make the part fit a mopar? that's just stupid) cut them off and re position the tabs yourself. Any one who thinks ANY aftermarket hipo part will just bolt on out of the box and work like stock has not been doing this very long. good luck to you all

It's a Delphi box and design. Versions sold to various manufacturers. A similar one was Jeeps too.

I talked to Borgeson at SEMA about these problems.

The first generation box was Delphi. The new (narrower offset) version is Isuzu.

The box has about 1/2" more offset than stock...if you don't want to deal with it put a factory box in the car...I would have to think by now that it is common knowledge these boxes need a bit of tweaking to work.
That reminds me that the new carb I bought needed different jets and air bleeds....

Anyone willing to pay Borgeson's price for a POS that doesn't fit right is not too smart. A bit of tweaking is jets, a 1/2" offset in the steering box is a design flaw. Not sure I want to learn the hard way what else they half @ssed designing this.

So you fall under the don't want to deal with it camp, so stick with the factory box, simple.

So you are not going to order a new mustang???

No, I fall under the "I don't enjoy getting bent over and dry ******" camp.

But some apparently do enjoy it.

So tell us all how much greater this Borgeson box is than a factory steer and gear or firm feel box.