Steering bevel box

[waterbus]

Been doing some research and unable to find much about the VW BEVEL BOX or STEERING RELAY BOX. From what I understand it's the box that a Vanagon has at the bottom of the steering column to redirect the steering motion 90 or so degrees back to a rack and pinion. A search on line for this box gets no hits. Can anyone tell me if in fact the Vanagon's do have this box and if so what years did they come on. Any aftermarket suppliers of this box? Thanks.

[wildthings]

Yeah , there is something there. Must be pretty dependable as I have never heard anything at all said about them. The good book just mentions them as a "transfer gear" and says that they can't be repaired. Probably the first Vanagon you see in a yard is going to have a good one on it.

[waterbus]

Went to the local VW boneyard and asked the expert. He said he never heard of them but had replaced racks on Vanagon's. He had two and both have the boxes in queston. Will go over tomorrow and liberate one of them. One step closer to putting a Mustang II type front end under the bus.

[waterbus]

Rolled around in the dirt today and got the box. Talk about a tight fit. Getting the bolts out is easy then you have to maneuver the sucker out from over the frame and just about everything else they mounted between the box and sucess. Neat unit. Because the box reverses the direction of rotation I must find a front steer that will give me the correct direction. All part of trying something new.