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New guy with power steering Questions

S

Steve C 1964

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Jan 9, 2010
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Age
62
Location
Cullman Al.
I have a 1964 C 10 with manual steering. I have purchased the kit to adapt to power. I have a 1989 TBI engine with the same year power steering pump. I have purchase a steering gear from a 1986 Chevy 1/2 ton. Does this kit have good directions or am I on my own? Are these the only parts I will need? And one last question for today. Do I use the pitman arm from the newer model steering gear? There seems to be great knowledge here so i am sure these questions are sill to some but i just don't like to go in without some research on my own.
 
yes, the kit has excellent directions if your talking about the rez kit. You will use the power steering pitman arm, NOT the manual steering arm, you will need to cut the steering column and drill the flange, then weld the flange back on. measurments are stated in the directions that come with the kit. make sure your ps pump, gear, and hoses are from the same donor or you could run into hose problems, certain years were standard thread and others were metric.

good luck
 
the flanges changed on the power steering hoses around 1980, aparently the older ones had a different thread and flange than the newer ones but I'm not 100% positive on the details...
 
LEYLAND said:
the flanges changed on the power steering hoses around 1980, aparently the older ones had a different thread and flange than the newer ones but I'm not 100% positive on the details...
Click to expand...

its been so long since i did the conversion i cant remember, im sure DVal would remember thou.
 
66 KUSTOM said:
its been so long since i did the conversion i cant remember, im sure DVal would remember thou.
Click to expand...

WRONG !! It's been too long for me also. The difference is the later models are Metric hose fittings, but I can't remember what year that began.

To be safe, just year match the PS gear box and pump.

Here is another option ! ( That I have not tried on our trucks but have on a street rod. ) Electric Power Steering ! No Pump !! and what is really weird is that the vehicle does not need to be running for the power steering to be working. It even is on when the key is turned to accessory.

There are aftermarket kits ( $$$$ ) by Flaming River, but the setup is also used in late model GM vehicles.

The street rod install used a earlier GM column that was already there so hook-up, at least to the column, is do-able in our trucks. I need to look further at the steering box and how that would be mounted to the truck frame. But, and instant benifit is no parasitic HP loss on the motor ! Should be around 15 HP !

Work has kept me out of the garage since before Christmas so it will be a while before I get back to this. Don't hang around for an immediate response !

dval
 
I've started that conversion myself on my '62. The only problem that I ran into was drilling the hole in the frame that is closest to the front end. Not sure what type of frame you have but mine is a box. If the frame is boxed, then you'll have to buy a couple of new bolts since the ones that come with the conversion plates are too short. The inside of the frame is tapering out to the box where the hole is about in the middle. Pretty hard to drill a hole at a 45 degree angle to the metal. We ended up cutting the hole with a torch. Other than that, things went pretty smooth.
 
dvalentine said:
WRONG !! It's been too long for me also. The difference is the later models are Metric hose fittings, but I can't remember what year that began.

To be safe, just year match the PS gear box and pump.

Here is another option ! ( That I have not tried on our trucks but have on a street rod. ) Electric Power Steering ! No Pump !! and what is really weird is that the vehicle does not need to be running for the power steering to be working. It even is on when the key is turned to accessory.

There are aftermarket kits ( $$$$ ) by Flaming River, but the setup is also used in late model GM vehicles.

The street rod install used a earlier GM column that was already there so hook-up, at least to the column, is do-able in our trucks. I need to look further at the steering box and how that would be mounted to the truck frame. But, and instant benifit is no parasitic HP loss on the motor ! Should be around 15 HP !

Work has kept me out of the garage since before Christmas so it will be a while before I get back to this. Don't hang around for an immediate response !

dval
Click to expand...

HAHA, well at least i remembered that the difference was metric vs standard.

Ive seen the electric steering in which your are talking about, very cool!!
 
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