does anyone know of a kit to install a Volvo steering box to shoe box ford. Is it still around? What year steering box? any help would be appreciated. jeff
try looking at jamcosuspension.com,they used to advertise this kit, another option would be to have the existing box rebuilt. I had redheadsteeringgears.com do mine for a little under 300 bucks.
How does it drive with the stock box? I was hoping to make improvements and make a driveable car using mostly stock components. I dont know how bad the stock steering box is, yet. thanks for the info, I'll check with Jamco. jeff
did you adjust it? some seem to be worn out when all in all the only thing wrong with them is they need be adjusted. my books are at the shop, but there are four bolts on the bottom of the box that come loose. i dont remember which way you "clock" the box to tighten it. the box is actually two halves . also there is a adjustment nut at top. I want to say there is one more way of adjusting it... of yeah, make sure it is tight to the frame! i have had two shoe boxes that the box was ready to fall off!
Who needs a kit? Brickster tells all... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124380&highlight=volvo Hank
im sure my 53 box was the same as a "shoebox" and that thing was just fine to steer. it was nice and tight and totaly stock. easy to turn...well paraleel parking kinda ****ed but tahts just because its manual not power but yeah, if the stock steering was as nice as mine was i wouldnt even think of bothering with it
I put the Volvo setup in my '50 about 10 years ago. It was probably the best improvement done to the car. The problem with the '49-'51 boxes (different from other year fords) was in the engineering by ford. If you look closely you'll see that they tried something different. The input shaft and output shaft are not at a 90-degree angle like most all boxes. Its more like 60-degrees which for reasons I don't understand, caused premature wearing. Oh yeah, Fatman used to make an Idler Arm kit that uses adapts to a late model idler arm. That makes a big difference too. I also added a rear sway bar from PST engineering (designed for a '66 ranchero) and now the car handles like a late model.
Thanks special ed and reggie, talking with reggie was what got me interested in this swap. I will have to check out the brickster post to see how this is done.
My car was a nightmare to drive at highway speeds. With the stock box (not in good condition) you had to constantly be up on the wheel and you couldn't take your eyes off the road for a second. Now with the Volvo box it's a dream to drive, well at leat the steering is. Good luck on what ever you choose to do Brick PS- Hey Henery, What's happen'n ?
ihave a 51 shoebox and it has 29,734 original miles, How gay for telling that detail right? NO! it is not worn out and is a good example of how GOOD the car actually steers and drives. Just have your stocker rebuilt or buy a rebuild kit and do it yourself, its not that hard. CG early ford parts has all kinds of stuff for early fords.
Fatman has the bracket. The boxes are available at your local wrecking yard. I think there are some in cali that specialize in older volvo. Rod
I will have to check to see the price on the Chubby Man bracket to see if I would want buy vs build. Does anyone know if Borgeson sells a bracket. Hey Hotwheels, I forgot, how much did you lower that *****in shoebox? thanks to everyone for all the help.
according to the fatman web site, the ford steering arm works on the Volvo box. I didn't find that to be true. If you look at the first picture in the tech I did you can see a visible difference. Brick
I'm not exactly sure of how much I lowered it. I used Fatman's dropped uprights and then cut 1/2 of a coil on the front. The rear has posies leaf springs (I think a 3" drop) and then added a 1" lowering block.
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