The original style power steering unit that was used on that series truck was very common on numerous vehicles during the 50's and 60's. It used a control valve assembly which connected to the pitman arm and a ram that connected to the frame and the tie rod. They were used on Ford cars into the 60's, 55-64 Chevy cars as well as pickups. As mentioned previously they were used on Corvettes. They had several weaknesses including numerous hoses and many places for leaks in the control valves and rams. In my opinion the main weakness was that it supplemented the manual steering box. If there was wear in the box or any of the steering components the entire system suffered.
The best conversion for those trucks uses a Saganaw box from a 67-87 truck. It is self contained and they work great. The conversion if done correctly looks factory. There may be some original units around but I expect the cost will far exceed the conversion to the later model system which is far better.
Fred
Last edited by rfs56trk; 11/24/2015 5:50 PM.
