GM Steering box, to rebuild or not?

[TJDukit]

Ok so the steering box on my duramax is shot. The output moves side to side giving me a lot of play in the steering. The guys at six states recommended in a casual conversation that I should not tear the box apart myself because of liability reasons.

I know i am capable of doing the rebuild, I just want to know what you guys think about it. Should I spend the extra coin to just get a rebuilt box with a warranty or should I do it myself. Obviously there will be less downtime if I just swap the box but downtime is not an issue for me at all. I would guess only an extra day of not driving the truck if I did it myself, I have already started driving the jeep almost all the time because of this issue.

Right now I am leaning towards a rebuilt box just for simplicity, but its hard to swallow how much one costs.

 

[Tacoma]

depends on your level of irritation dealing with grimy, stubborn old parts.

I was all set to rebuild my steering box, but after tear-down revealed damage on 3 (!) spares, I just shelled out the $120 or so for a nice rebuilt one w/warranty. Much easier.

The rebuild isnt' hard. The only real issue is making sure you get the balls in the right way-- Saginaw boxes use two different sizes and they have to alternate.