my dad has 47 3100 , at 83 he thinks power steering would be nice . has any one done this and what did you use ?
The easiest is to use the tie rod assist cylinder type. They came on cars up through 64 and on Corvettes up into the 80's. The draglink has the valve that routes the fluid to one side or the other of the assist cylinder and a bracket is needed on the axle for one end of the cylinder and on the tie rod for the other. With a truck that is stock height this works well. The very best is the mid eighties Toyota 4wd pickup unit. There are several places that are offering kits to do this. One must alter the steering column and shaft but you can keep the same column, shaft, steering wheel, and shifter. The Toyota box mounts on top the frame like the factory unit but is smaller and more compact. Look for a post by Ol Chebby for the steering column mods and in the archives of the Stovebolt forum on the frame bracket if you are going to go without the kit. The P/S pump bracket is getting scarce for the 216/235 but the best place to look is on a 61 0r 62 car, by then P/S was getting popular. The other option is to use the generator mounted pump from the mid 50's V8.
What Evan Said ..Much better than I could have . Be aware that for your Dad it'll be easiest & fastest to use the generator mounted power steering pump and they're all over the place as Chevy offered it on thier 6 cylinder cars as well as the entire GM range from 1956 on in 12 volts.... It's a slow system but works well for cruisers .
I pulled an aftermarket unit off of the 50 I built....it didn't work at all. I don't know if something was installed wrong, but that thing was severely disfunctional.
Prolly just had crud in the valve from too many years with no service... I hope you didn't toss it out ! .
Couldn't give the thing away. Hated to do it, but to the landfill the axle went. I had to throw away the 3/4 ton front and rear also. I hate to throw away anything old, but I couldn't find anyone willing to take it. That front end drove straight, no slop, no wandering.
