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guys,
im sure this has been discussed before, but doing a search for "toyota steering box" does not help.

i want to install power steering on my 57 1/2 ton truck.
i want to use a toyota power steering box, (or any other), that will mount to the top of the frame. i dont want to use the chevy saginaw box from the 70's trucks, that mount to the outboard side of the frame, since it causes interference with the drivers tire on sharp right turns.

here are my questions.

#1 what year toyota box should i search for ?

#2 does it have to be from a 4x4 truck ?

#3 will the power steering lines from a chevy pump work with the toyota box, or will i have to have custom lines made ?

#4 will i use 2 u-joints and a double "D" shaft to connect the steering column to the box ?

#5 how do i disconnect the original box from the original steering column, just cut it with a hack saw, sawsall ?

i want to use my original steering column, and seen an article where you cut away the outer sheet metal cover, to expose the inner steering shaft, and classic parts has a bearing to put into the sheet metal cover and the shaft rides inside the bearing.

i pretty much have a lot ot the info i need, like that column bearing, drag link, steering arm, the only thing i am at a loss is what year toyota truck do i look for a pump from, and if it mounts to the top of the frame, and does it matter if its a 2 or 4 wheel drive unit ?

any other input would be greatly appreciated.

thanks much guys.

leonard

Don't know for sure but I think I have one off of a 4wd toyota that I had on my 35 Ford . I had it rebuilt and used a chev pump and it : was on a dropped axle . It worked great . Now I have mustang 2 under a compleate rebuild . If you need one let me know. It's smaller than a chev pow. stearing box but looks very simular. Good Luck Jerry

thanks jerry for the info

would you happen to know what year the toyota truck the box came from ?
once i find out excatly what year box i need, i will got with a rebuilt unit, but thansk for the offer.

thanks again for your help jerry.

leonard

Hey Rat,

I discussed this conversion with Fred's57Chevy who did the set-up for ABS Power Brakes. He sent me the whole procedure that he wrote up for them. Drop me a note at "maytags(at)nc.rr.com" and I'll send it to you. Yes, you do need a 4X4 steering box. Except for having to use the ricer parts, this looks like the best way to go, to me.

Best wishes,

Les

Les

ratrodking: I have a note I took off the forums a while back and according to my note its a 4x4 from 1985 or earlier. Maybe this will help or someone can confirm.......but Roadmarks seems to be on top of this to.

Question: is this better than the power steering off a chev pickup that can be used on the AD and TF pickups?
I'm putting a 74 box on my AD panel with the kit from American Classic....we'll see how it goes and I have a link explaining it with pics for the TF truck if you would like to see it....

As roadmarks stated I did the installation write up for ABS Power Brake in Orange, CA. I have installed several of the Toyota units and in my opinion they are the way to go. You can use the late GM PS pump with washers in the control valve to reduce the pressure. It operates on about 900 PSI about the same as a Mustang II. If you need any assistance, contact me at [email protected].
Fred

Hey RatRod-

I'm just gearing up to do this..

I bought a 79-84 Toyota 4 x 4 box(must be a 4x4)-(did they call them land crusers?)I just bought the bracket,drag link and pitman from CPP. I believe the # of U joints depends on how well you line up..depends if you're open to moving the steering wheel a bit. You'll need custom hoses. I'm using an old generator/power steering pump combo...original Chevy equipment. Yes hacksaw the original.

Haven't put mine in yet..but I understand from those that have done it that this system works well.

Keith

wow.
thanks for the info guys. i really appreciate it.
roadmarks, i just sent you an e-mail.

rfs56trk, i will send you an e-mail, and any info you have, and pics, i would greatly appreciate it also.

thanks achipmunk and slickriffs also.
everyone here is so helpful.

leonard

I was just curious about the drag link being mentioned. Does that need to be changed? I did a conversion on my 60 C10 using Chevy parts, but left the drag link alone. I did notice the wheels turn more to the right than the left from the center position of the steering wheel. It's about 1/4 turn of the steering wheel more to the right. I believe I have everything installed correctly. I never really looked at that before the conversion. It's really nice having power steering though, big improvement.
Joe

....the tie rods should be OK. Its the earlier models like the AD that need to switch to the newer tierod ends that use a tapered stem/nut vs the old "ball type" on the original. I would think you can center the steering but you may have to pull the pitman arm back off....but I do NOT know for sure. Wait until an expert comes along on that.

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. I guess for now I'll leave it alone unless it's a problem in steering. I haven't drive it much since the install, it may just be a problem when I have to make a sharp left.
Joe

the one thing that I notice with my 64 4 x 4 with the gm p/str is that it will steer circles inside of any ricer 4 x 4
ron

there was a good article written the 60-66gm site a while bach about this 1/4 turn and how to fix or remedy it. I will see if I can dig it up to post
ron

I'll also be putting a dropped front axle that I bought from Sid on this project. Between the conversion and the drop I may need to adjust the drag link(the bump steer thing). So I like the idea of the adjustable link...if you buy the complete kit from CPP it is included...

Keith

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/6066_GMC_Truck/message/34540
this was the article that I was referring to
ron

looks like a bad link Ron

Keith

perhaps you may have to be a member to open??, it just opened for me , so I did copy it so that there is no problem

For those of you considering using a late model power steering box on your early
trucks, I would like to mention a few things. First is, this is a really great
way to upgrade your truck. There are a few ways I've seen this done. The first
is probably the worst way, and you wouldn't believe how many times I've seen it
done. Some people have used nuts or washers to shim out the steering gear box so
it will mount on the flat frame.
For those of you that aren't familiar with these, I need to point out that the
saginaw 800 series steering box does not mount on a flat frame. If you have ever
taken one off of a '67 or newer truck, you may have noticed that the frame is
"sculpted" to match the contour of the steering box. There is a company that
makes a bracket that will allow you to mount this box on the flat frames of the
60 to 66 trucks, but, the drawback to this, and the other method I previously
mentioned is that they both move the steering box and therefore the pitman arm
outwards from the frame. In doing this, you change the steering geometry, and
the number of turns it takes to go from having the wheels centered to full lock
on either the left or right turn. The problem is that because the shaft is not
in the original location, it will take {approx}2 turns to go to full left, but
take {approx}4 turns to go to full right turn. { I say it's approxamately that
many turns because
some of the steering boxes have different ratios, therefore take more or less
rotations to go from left to right.} This is of course if you center the
steering box first, meaning the same amount of turns to full left or right, and
adjust the tierod linkage to match. If you look at the linkage after you've done
it this way, the tierod ends on the center link are not centered evenly on the
frame, they are both moved to the left to compensate for the steering box
position, and your right tierod will be longer than the left. You will also
experience bump steer in this case.
Another way to do this using the mounting bracket is to try to compensate by
centering the center link between the pitman and idler arms, neither of them
will be aimed straight back then, but both are aimed slightly inward towards the
center of the truck. This throws the steering box off center. Again, with the
wheels aimed forward, you will wind up with a left turn steering wheel rotation
count higher than the right turn count. And this is if the steering box internal
stops are not met before the spindle stops are met.
The third way to use the mounting bracket is to keep the center link in it's
proper location, centered between the wheels evenly, and take up the difference
in distance by turning the steering box to the right. In doing this, because of
the arc of rotation, the end of the pitman arm comes forward some and pulls the
center link forward as well, again, changing your steerng geometry slightly.
This way changes things only slightly, but it also throws off your gear box
center the most, meaning now the possibility of hitting the internal stop in the
gear box before the wheels are turned completely on a right turn is much more
likely.
When the steering box is sitting in the proper location, the pitman arm and the
idler arm should both be pointing straight back when the wheels are aimed
straight forward. Think of the pitman and idler as pointing to 12:00 o clock if
you are standing in front of the truck. Now if you move the steering box
outwards {to the right} without moving anything else, the pitman arm will begin
to point in the 11:00 position. This also has the effect of pulling the center
link towards the front of the truck because of the arc of rotation, changing the
steering geometry. The further out the pitman/gearbox is moved, the further the
geometry is changed. In the correct position, the center link can be thought of
as going from the 9:00 o clock to the 3:00 o clock position, left to right. As
you move the pitman out, the center link goes from 9 to 3, to 9 to 4, if nothing
else is adjusted. Now if the center link is kept parallel by moving it to the
right to compensate
for the gearbox position, this will turn the idler to the right as well, and to
keep the wheels pointed forward, the right tierod would have to be made longer,
and the left one shorter. This is when you will get a bump steer condition.

Now, the only way I have been able to keep all the components in the right
locations and the steering geometry correct, is to do a frame graft at the
gearbox mounting location. I take a piece of the '67 to '72 frame where the
steering gearbox mounts, and graft it into the '63 to '66 frames. This gives you
the "sculpted" frame mount and keeps the pitman shaft/arm in the proper
alignment. I've done this to 4 trucks so far, and it works great. But it's also
not something that just anyone should try without knowing first, how to weld,
and second, how to align the frame sections. There are 3 bolts that hold the
original steering box to the frame, but the power box uses 4. Only one of those
4 bolts will line up with any of the original holes and keep the gearbox in the
right location. In doing the frame graft, I've kept the pitman shaft location
close to the frame, just as the original one is. You do have to cut out part of
the frame rail, the side and just a
small part of the top and bottom lips where the gearbox will mount. This is so
that as you put in the new piece, it will go in far enough. I also then make a
back up plate to help reinforce the frame in this location and weld it into
place.
I have to do this to my 1 ton in the near future, and I'll take some pictures
of the process as I do it so that if anyone else is interested in doing it, you
will have something to follow. I'll also try to take some picture of my two
trucks I've already done. The other two belonged to someone else and are down
the road killing bugs now. I don't know how much will be visible n the two I've
already done. One is all painted black, and the other is all covered in surface
rust.
But if anyone has any questions about this, feel free to contact me. I'd be
glad to answer any questions you may have.

Rick Cook
Sierra Vista, Arizona.

padresag: Interesting article and thanks for doing it.

My question. You mention "earlier trucks" and then the 60-66 models. Does any of this apply to the 47-55 1/st models?? I already have my power steering box (1974) and the kit coming from Classis parts to install the power steering on my 52 AD.

Comments, if any, on these set ups.
Thanks

this is not my article.
most of this referes to crossover steering now that I think about it. I do run the later p/steering on my 4 x 4 with the old draglink setup to the l/front wheeland to me that would just mean centreing you strg on that setup

"My question. You mention "earlier trucks" and then the 60-66 models. Does any of this apply to the 47-55 1/st models?? I already have my power steering box (1974) and the kit coming from Classis parts to install the power steering on my 52 AD."
again I think that it would only apply to crossover steering.
just check how far each wheel turns to the lock
ron

I put a 1985 cross member in my 60 truck and I see what your talking about.The frame on the 85 is taller than the 60.I believe I can weld the graft in if I can figure out were to put it I read in your post that one hole will line up I also have one hole line up on my 60 if I put it there will it work?