Manual to Power Steering Upgrade
Posted: December 25, 2014, 10:04 am
Merry Christmas Folks! This is my second Christmas with Bernadette (my 66 F100 has a name, as all good trucks should). We hung our anniversary bulb on the tree a couple weeks ago.
So Bernadette is at the shop getting an alignment because I recently completed the upgrade from manual drums to manual front discs. I chose to change out the spindles from the donor 73 to my 66 and had to get her aligned afterward. Just the little bit of driving I have done with it way out of alignment and it seemed to stop very well. I think I will be very happy with this upgrade.
But, now I need a spring project. I want to upgrade the steering. It is fine at speed but, trying to maneuver at slow speed is really difficult. It is made worse because of the lowered front end and the wide tires. I get arm pump like back in my dirt biking days!
I can't find a really clear post on upgrading to power steering so I thought this might be a good place to start a discussion. I want to keep my original column and wheel and would like to keep everything from the pitman arm down. My truck is a 2wd and the motor is a 352. I may upgrade to a rebuilt 302 in the future but we can cross that bridge when we get there. I get really good prices at my local NAPA and they are my supplier of choice so if you have any experience with their parts let me know. I have been looking through the latest LMC catalog so if you want to reference their part numbers that would be great.
So, for the first questions:
1) Will I be able to reuse the parts listed above (draglink, steering column, etc.)?
2) It so, what pump and P/S box should I use?
3) Is there a post with pics on here that I haven't found?
4) Any pitfalls I should look out for?
Thanks guys and God Bless!
Justin and Bernadette
So Bernadette is at the shop getting an alignment because I recently completed the upgrade from manual drums to manual front discs. I chose to change out the spindles from the donor 73 to my 66 and had to get her aligned afterward. Just the little bit of driving I have done with it way out of alignment and it seemed to stop very well. I think I will be very happy with this upgrade.
But, now I need a spring project. I want to upgrade the steering. It is fine at speed but, trying to maneuver at slow speed is really difficult. It is made worse because of the lowered front end and the wide tires. I get arm pump like back in my dirt biking days!
I can't find a really clear post on upgrading to power steering so I thought this might be a good place to start a discussion. I want to keep my original column and wheel and would like to keep everything from the pitman arm down. My truck is a 2wd and the motor is a 352. I may upgrade to a rebuilt 302 in the future but we can cross that bridge when we get there. I get really good prices at my local NAPA and they are my supplier of choice so if you have any experience with their parts let me know. I have been looking through the latest LMC catalog so if you want to reference their part numbers that would be great.
So, for the first questions:
1) Will I be able to reuse the parts listed above (draglink, steering column, etc.)?
2) It so, what pump and P/S box should I use?
3) Is there a post with pics on here that I haven't found?
4) Any pitfalls I should look out for?
Thanks guys and God Bless!
Justin and Bernadette