Steering Box Ratio

MRGTX said
The problem for me is that there is a certain amount of slop built into the steering system in these cars and because of this, there are a few degrees (often quite a few degrees with worn steering parts) of "dead" steering wheel travel at any time. If you want to make quick or precise steering inputs, this drastic change in steering effort from basically nothing to super heavy is unpleasant even after you get used to it. It feels un-sporty and unrewarding, imprecise, and sloppy. Any manual steering box will have this to some extent but the extra effort required by the 16:1 presumably exacerbates the problem.

My experience will be on the extreme end of this. I have modern 200 treadwear tires, 5 degrees of caster, a smaller than stock diameter steering wheel...but the problems will certainly exist in more favorable situations as well even if it is to a lesser extent.

This is exactly the situation that inspired me to switch to a Borgeson steering box in my Charger.
I had a Firm Feel stage 3 power steering unit that had the usual on center slop that every power steering box seems to have. To make it worse, I had Fast Ratio steering arms.
Just like you wrote...the transition from high effort to slop then to high effort when sawing the wheel back and forth was terrible.
Look at the photos....this shows the amount of free play at the center of travel where the steering wheel moved before the tires responded. I had a good suspension setup, good coupler, good alignment and 275-40-18" tires.

Borg 23.jpg

The Borgeson eliminated the slop and made the car better to drive.