Finished extracting the power rack and pinion, hoses, pump, and cooler today off a '96 Chevy Corsica my brother was s****ping out. Man was it a pain, I know why I don't work on FWD cars. Had to remove the brake booster to get enough room to get it out of the car. There was an access hole on either side the tie rods run through, and was able to slide the rack and tie rod ***embly out the driver's side after removing the low pressure hose and the steering coupling. I got the complete system, but will probably use a Ford p/s pump and change the end on the high pressure side hose to fit the same. Now I need good drawings of some tried and true brackets that some of you fellow 52-56 Hambers have made and used to fab up some mounting brackets. Here's a pic of what I got. tnrotter
Found this info in a seach. tnrotter http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144647&highlight=rack+pinion+conversion
Looks fairly straightforward. Curious to see if anyone's done this themselves and how the turning circle was affected...
heres the link to the fat man way . what they done was made a simple plate to bolt on where the tierods do on the rack . and it welds to the original draglink of the car . looks fairly somple but if your not a good welder . have it welded by a profesional . i found this by doing a google search a while back . theres all kinds of articles that pop up when you searh rack and pinion conversion for a 55 ford , my car . heres another person that makes stuff just for old fords only www.wurthitdesigns.com well let me go get the link again to fatman http://www.fatmanfab.com/catalogpage.php?page=20
Just don't cut anything up - you may want to go back to stock. There might be a steering radius problem.
The original steering box was missing when I bought this project so I just figured I would go ahead and upgrade. tnrotter
Why don't you try the '99-'04 Jeep Grand Cherokee power steering box, from what I've read they work pretty good. Like Paul2748 said, most of the rack and pinion swaps have problems.
humm , i might be wrong but im pretty sure the jeep grand cherokee is a front steer not rear steer . i would think almost any rear steer box should work , just might have to make an adapter plate for the frame to gear . there is actualy some one selling a gm box on flebay right now that comes with the plate i think but its not free and in your floor . i know the old torinos and such are rear steers and here at the pull your own there normaly is one in there of somekind . and there cheap .
Take a look at Ebay listing number 150406619961, its for a '99-'04 Jeep Grand Cherokeee power steering box and adapter plate to mount it in a '55-'56 Ford. They are also using this steering box in '49-'51 Mercurys, if you look at the Mercury box and the '55-'56 box, they are very similar and I'm pretty sure the Ford and Mercury Pitman arm fit the Jeep box. I recently bought a Jeep box at our local U-Pull-It for $18. If you can't find the Ebay listing take a look at the pictures in my profile.
ok, ill look the next time one is in work and see if its front or rear steer . i know the 92 - 98 grands are front steer for sure , i got one . and it would be kinda hard for the newer one to be rear steer with a drive shaft in the way . i just dont want to turn my steering wheel right and go left .
The '99-'04 Jeep Grand Cheerokees are also front steer. I just checked the one that I bought, when installed in the rear steer position it turns correctly. It will go left when the steering wheel is turned left.
I'm building a '55 ranchwagon for my wife and I've used a power steer box out of an Australian/New Zealand early '80's fairlane . Remembering that the conversion I've done is RHD I would expect a Mustang box from a '70-73 mustang to be the LHD equivalent of what I used. You should find photos in my albums- "Michelles Ranchwagon" album. hope this helps.
old lady's mad so turn the pitman arm 180 deg. you got one on your car now? what about exhaust clearance? Thats correct, the pitman arm will be turned 180 deg. The Jeep pitman will have to be replaced with the stock Ford pitman. I have the Jeep box but haven't installed it on my '55. I dont think the exhaust clearance will be to bad, the bulk of the Jeep box looks like it will be over the frame rail.
I have a 54 Ford mainline the question I havent read about is the stock steering colum. What modifications have to be done or use another colum. I really want to keep the stock steering wheel. I have a 302 and tremec T5 installed already, what problems should I look for.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee will work . I have read and heard of people that have done it before . I am going to do the same swap on mine when I pull the engine for a 302 swap . The only difference is the 2 different steering boxes that Jeep used . The earlier is a longer box than the newer ones and all you have to is make a plate to bolt onto the old box holes and to the frame to get the pitman arm in the correct position . There is some that sell them as a kit on ebay . Would be a boat load of less work too ! As for the stock column , just cut and get a rag joint or Locar coupler to join the original column to the Jeep box . Just a thought ! Jim
ive got my box , bought a few months back from pull a part while it was there for 28 bucks i think . i got the steering shaft with it so i can cut the coupler off where needed . got to make me a plate cant be that hard . havnt decided what to do about a column yet . might use my original . and after looking it over just turn the position of the pittman arm 180 deg. think im waiting till winter to do mine since im finaly getting to drive it some , dont want to down it again right away.
Just use a flat plate and line up the old holes on the frame . The get some new grade 8 bolts . The just line up the new steering box and drill new hole where necessary . Did you get the power steering pump also ? I am going with a 302 in my 55 Ford so I will be able to have Power Steering ! That will be a completely new thing for me ! The Jeep box also has a quicker turning radius also . That will be a huge improvement ! I am also going to do mine this winter when I do an engine swap . Jim
Putting a Cavalier R&P in my wagon, and going with a Chev tilt column. This does affect the turning radius - increases- and have heard if you've got a standard trans, that it interfears with the cross shaft for clutch.
parklane , I have heard of that front swap before . I read that it works pretty good but you need to fab some brackets to get it mounted . Good luck with you R&P . Jim
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