I have been kicking around ideas on how to improve my steering on my 49 chevy I have read a lot about rack and pinionand that prety much powersteering is out if you use the original front end but I dont remember reading about power***ist steering. Does anyone use or used power asisted steering, My brother in law was telling me that is what they have on their tractor and it works great when the bucket loader is fully loaded. Thanks.
Not sure how many people here use it but it was on option on mopars throughout the late 40's through the 50's. I have a 51 Plymouth and a 54 Desoto and I will install the power ***ist on both. You can find generators with the pump on the backside. Then all you need is a ram and hoses then mount it up. I run this type of set-up on a rockcrawling jeep for additional power to turn large tires in tight binds. I hope this helps. ******Knuckles
Thanks for the info and photo. that helps a lot. Do you know if anyone makes them aftermarket or is it a salvage yard search? ONce again thanks. chris
Ford used a similar setup on cars (and trucks) through the late 70's (maybe even early 80's). It was a power ram with control valve. I know Mustang's used it, Ford Fairmont, and others. It could be adapted to other use. Also a hydraulic ram from a tractor (like you said) could be used.
Chevy used a hydraulic slave cylinder power setup from '55-'64 on full size cars, from '62-'67 on Chevy IIs, and from '63-'82 on Corvettes. The up side is that it's adaptable to almost any steering linkage. A guy around here had a '32 Chevy with it when I was a kid.