L245 steering box

[Thetractorfiddler]

So my beloved little kubota let me down tonight. Planned on doing a little night slashing (bush hogging) and as I went to reverse up to the slasher I discovered my steering wheel getting closer to me as I turned left. And I wasn't going left either! Go figure.

I've been meaning to replace the steering box as it's been sloppy since I got it, guess it wanted to be done now.

My question is for all you kubota owners, how much of a pain is this? Could I repair the box instead of replacing the lot? Anyone tried a patch job and had success?

No pics of the problem as I just limped it back to the shed using my boot on the pitman arm to steer and walked away broken hearted.