Gary - Here's a recent Electric Power Steering thread for an on-going AD Series truck. It may be adaptable to your truck.
Others should be along soon to offer some further suggestions or pointers.
~ Dan 1951 Chevy 3 window 3100 Follow this story in the DITY Gallery "My Grandpa Carl's Truck and How it Became Mine" 1966 Chevelle (Wife's Hot Rod) | 2013 Chevy Silverado (Current daily driver) US Army MSG Retired (1977-1998) | Com Fac Maint Lead Tech Retired (1998-2021)
Narrow front tires aired up higher then normal will make a difference. Also a good cleaning and refreshing of the gear box, tie-rod ends, and draglink. I have a 40 gear box in my '37, the only time its tough to turn is at a very slow speed trying to get into my garage, but as long as the tires are rolling, its not bad, way better then the original box was. I have 40 psi in the front tires, 205/75R15.
I installed a Prius electric power steering assist on my 55.1 and it works great. I chose the Prius because it appeared to be the smallest dimensionally. It is a three wire unit. One positive cable, one negative cable and one activation wire. I have attached an image that shows the size of the unit installed. From the engine compartment, it still appears to be stock. The cables come with the unit. There is also a module that activates the system. I added two couplers, one above and one below the unit. I used a newer steering column above the unit so I could upgrade the turn signal and emergency flashers with a new wiring harness.
If the unit fails for any reason, the column will feel like it did originally. Attached is the complete Prius system from a pic on Ebay. I have a link for a site but I don't know if it is permissible to attach it here, (It's a Ford site)
My brother helped install an aftermarket setup much like the Prius one above. He said there are a couple of them on the market, one much cheaper then the other. The owner bought the cheaper one. The adaptors were machined so far off center, the center shaft would hit the outer tube. This went on a '62 Corvette. We know a couple good machinist that made some new adaptors and new bracket. The company was no help, said they were all made the same way. Once it was installed, it worked really good, just one finger could turn it lock to lock. Drove like it did with no power to it. They used both ends of the original column.
