I have never seen a box do that!
I'm interested in hearing the story!
Me too--after working in a salvage yard awhile,I thought I'd seen a lot of strange failures,but never saw a GM steering box crack the case like that one!..
I've seen the "disc" on the front blow out of a few that were really rotted,the snap ring flew out,or the disc itself was full of holes..one guy that junked a '66 Impala that had the disc fail,had it towed in --said his wife parked the car right against a curb,tried cutting the wheels full lock,when it refused to turn,she gunned the engine and turned the steering wheel HARD,and it went POW!..
She shut it off when the P/S fluid hit the exhaust manifold and smoke came belching out!..parts and ball bearings came out of the box,we could barely turn the wheels ..someone else ended up buying the car,we sold them another used box and it was a good deal for him..car was not bad at all,really..
I've seen some cars that slammed curbs,got whacked at the wheels by another vehicle,and the tie rods,center links, were bent like pretzels,or the ball joints busted clean off,even saw bent pitman arms and twisted pitman shafts at the splines,but no busted steering boxes,unless it was a direct hit!..
