Does anyone know of a source for the Y-shaped steering arm that's used with the conversion kits that mount a Saginaw power steering gear ahead of a stovebolt front axle, without having to buy the whole kit? I'm working on a somewhat different approach to that conversion which would use the same type of steering arm, but would end up with a much simpler method of mounting the steering box to the frame. Thanks! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
It wouldn't be too difficult for someone with a vast machine shop, and a few brain cells to rub together (sorry buddy, I could not resist ) to make one of those. They are not all that complex. The trickiest part would be making the tapered hole for the draglink end. The ends of the "Y" end is just threaded to accept bolts coming through existing holes in the spindle/backing plate/steering arm. I can take some measurements for you. Or you could call CPP and tell them that you stripped the threads and you need a new one. Carl
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
Touche'! I'm not above fabricobbling something like that, but if somebody else is willing to do the fab work and sell me one, I don't mind forking over a few greenbacks. The tapered hole isn't difficult to manage- - -there are taper reamers available with the correct angle to turn a drilled hole into one that fits a tie rod end. The project I'm contemplating involves mounting the steering box on top of the frame, with a straight Pitman arm pointing downward and running an adjustable length drag link a couple of inches away from the frame and parallel to it. That should allow the steering shaft to run along the top of the frame rail, out of the way of exhaust plumbing, etc. A universal joint or two will connect that shaft to a shortened original steering column, or an aftermarket item. Only one problem- - - -the steering box will work backwards when mounted that way, so I'm fabricating a simple, rugged spur gear box to reverse the steering shaft direction just ahead of the power steering gear. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Item Number: 76-977 at classic parts.com? It has a few other parts but it’s not the whole $750 kit that most of the others sites are selling. My Caddy motor is pretty wide so I will be looking for solutions to the steering column problem as well.
That wishbone-shaped steering arm is about the only part of that ridiculously overpriced kit I'll actually need. I've been doing some business with a shop that sells steel plate on Ebay, and they will plasma-cut just about any shape a customer can draw out for a very reasonable price. I had them cut a couple of pieces of 1" plate for me recently, and their cuts were clean and accurate. Most likely, I'll just get them to rough one out for me from 3/4" steel plate and do the drilling, tapping, and taper reaming myself. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
"I know the voices in my head aren't real, but man, do they come up with some good ideas!" LOL! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Those may be my brain cells you here. I’m not sure I understand. Would you turn the steering box 180 degrees so the shaft faces the front of the truck? Then the pitman arm would hang down on the inside of the frame?
No, the box would rotate 90 degrees clockwise, viewed from the driver's seat, so the Pitman arm would hang down just outside the frame instead of coming out of the bottom of the box like usual. That would put the drag link running parallel to the frame like it does originally, but it would just face forward from the axle instead of back. With the steering box on top of the frame ahead of the axle, the geometry would be a lot simpler and there would be less of a possibility of the left front tire hitting the steering box in a right turn. The hydraulics of the steering gear will work the same, no matter how the box is clocked. The only problem with that idea is the fact the steering shaft rotation would have to be reversed as it enters the power steering gear. There are all sorts of Pitman arm lengths and shapes available to get the drag link geometry right between the steering gear and the spindle. The box can be bracketed to the frame at whatever height that makes the drag link parallel to the ground for bump steer control. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Yes, that's original. Now visualize it with the steering box about 3 feet forward and the drag link pointing toward the rear. That gives a bunch more clearance for V8 cylinder heads and exhaust manifolds, and the Saginaw power steering boxes are almost all adaptable to a forward-mounted position if that pesky "It steers backwards" problem is dealt with! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Yes, I think I get it. So rather than having the column shaft attach directly to the box, you need to have them connect via two gears that mesh together therefore reversing the input from the steering shaft. I have some time before I have to solve this problem with my truck but I am keeping my eyes open for a solution. My grandfather simply move the box to the left 4-6 inches and mounted the column much closer to the drivers side window. I want to put the column back in its original location so I will either use one of these aftermarket power steering setups or dump the Cadillac motor and find something much narrower.
Why can’t I just move my stock steering box to the left and just use a couple of ujoints to connect to the steering column? I know there must be a good reason because no one seems to do that but I don’t understand why. Is the distance between the column and the box just too short to allow for the two needed ujoints?
There's a limited amount of lateral displacement a universal joint can accommodate without getting into a bind every 90 degrees of rotation. If you use a "double Cardan" joint with two pivot points instead of one, more displacement can be done, but some pretty creative bracketing and the use of pillow blocks to support the shaft would be required. I have done pre-purchase inspections of horribly expensive "resto-mod" stovebolts with independent front suspension and rack and pinion steering that were absolute deathtraps because of incorrect routing of the steering shaft.
If you're not interested in having a power steering box, you could move the original equipment box ahead of the axle and fabricate an offset steering shaft with U joints without using a direction-reversing gearbox. That would require rotating the steering gear mounting toward the horizontal plane somewhat and re-clocking the Pitman arm a little, and fabricating an adjustable-length drag link. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Driving 1000-1500 miles a week on my "part time" job doesn't give me a lot of time to play in the shop, and we've had monsoon rains that got water into three rooms of our house. If I head for the shop in the middle of that situation, I'd better plan on sleeping out there for a while! I do have the bits and pieces on hand to start tinkering on the gearbox whenever I can squeeze out a little shop time! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
) to make one of those. They are not all that complex.