Actually, no, mine is not hard to steer once it is moving, it's just at a dead stop that you have to use "muscle" power. I actually think that my truck's manual steering is easier to turn than power steering equipped steering wheels. I have to watch out or I will make too quick of a turn! The reason is the gearing is setup to be much easier to turn. As for the brakes, I'm not sure, but if you aren't taking the engine out and putting in a 350 or something like that, OR swapping out the rearend to comfortably go 60 mph, they should be fine for driving like it is.
