After 10 years of progressively ****py service, the 2nd stock steering box in my 49 Ford coupe went south. It hung up at full lock in a left hand U turn. Luckily the road was wide and there wasnt any traffic, as I drove around in slow circles (3 of them) before it freed up with a loud snap! Pretty sure Im done with stock steering boxes and am looking for alternatives and some insight. Heres a little background: The car has a rebuilt stock front suspension with Fat Man dropped uprights, Trick tie rod/idler arm kit, disc brakes, air bags and aftermarket sway bar. 350 engine, 350 trans. Plan is to go back to coil springs up front whether I put a front clip in it or not. It may sound crazy to some but the one major criteria I have, other than being able to drive the car again, is to keep my stock steering column and shifter. A steering conversion has been in the back of my mind for quite some time, but now its time to pull the trigger and do it. Ive used the search function until my eyes bled and here is what Ive gathered. My options and concerns: 1) Add-on rack and pinion. Im told this doesnt allow the use of the column shifter and doesnt look like it will clear my rear sump oil pan.. 2) Manual Volvo box. The catalogs say that this is only for Flathead and SBF powered cars and its not clear from the pics Ive seen if column shift linkage can be used or if box will clear a SBC supposedly boxes are hard to come by also. 3) S10 clip. Im a little concerned with the front mounted steering box interfering with the radiator location. Car has a single bar grille and the radiator is visible, dont want to shove it off to one side or have to buy another one. Narrow track width would also require new offset wheels to move everything back out where it belongs...strain on wheel bearings? 4) Mustang II. This might be my best bet, but pricey. $2600 for a Fat Man hub to hub frame stub. JW Rod Garage has a hub to hub kit for around 1700, but its not a welded stub, anyone ever done one of these? (Ill probably start another thread about this one). 5) Jamcos Toyota box conversion. I havent been able to find a post on this since October 2011 and they dont show or even mention the kit on their website. Did it just never happen? 6) There was a company a while back planning to offer a 605 conversion, but I cant find them now. I know they actually made a 605 conversion for 57 up Fords any info? 7) Rebuild the stock box. In its 30,000 mile original shape, the steering was slow and a bit sloppy and the older I get the more that would bother me. Now that and the box is broken (full ½ turn of play) with no adjustment left, it may just be total junk inside. Thanks for any thoughts, comments, experiences, etc...that might help clear some of this up.
Call Chris at shoeboxford.com. Get it rebuilt. Also you can do the r & p Install without losing you column shifter. You will have to fab a few parts but can be done. Also you will have to get a split pan. I think what matter most is how far do you want to go from the originality of your car?
Also when I bought my coupe he had a r & p setup in the box to install. At first I was going to install it, and saw that the use of the shifter would be lost. But then I had mapped out a way to keep it, also there was a few others that had kept it and chimed in. In all, the lose of turning radius was sad to be lost, is what got me most. I sold it to someone of the board, he said he got it in and it worked great. So its kinda of like one of those everyone has different experiences. Before you make the jump, specially into heavy mods like cutting the front clip, see if anyone is near by with the mod that you could test drive their shoe
i'm looking to do the same and a response to 5: tried to call jamco for info and ....? number 6: the 605 was for the later fords so no help there. be sure and post anything you find out.
For some reason I think that Fatman Fabrications sells a Chevy Cavalier power steering unit that can be used. Also, a friend of mine used a Volvo steering box in his 50 Ford with the flathead engine. Here's some info: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/50-ford-tudor-pwr-steering-conersion-66477.html and here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=253457&highlight=volvo+tech and here: http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0902sr_1949_1951_ford_steering_motor_mounts/index.html and here: http://www.shoeboxford.com/members/forum/openthread.cfm?forum=1&ThreadID=28816 and here: http://www.shoeboxford.com/members/forum/openthread.cfm?forum=1&ThreadID=27733 and when you get time, here is some good reading about other shoebox owners steering box problems like yours: http://www.shoeboxford.com/members/forum/openthread.cfm?forum=1&ThreadID=15253
Im running a stock flathead, I did the volvo box swap, made my own bracket, I also used the stock steering shaft however it was cut down and I used a chrysler pacifica steering joint, it had a collapsable steering joint which has some play when you go to to fit everything. Car handles good, nice tight steering.
on my '51 i turned around the front axle and installed a rack and pinion with brackets and spacers that fit into the straight axle. cut off the steering arm but save the tie rod hole. mustang 11 tie rod ends work great. borgseon sliding shaft works perfect. cost: rack and pinion off ebay 69.00, tie rod ends 16.00, steering shaft 35.00. cost $120. easy steering with no slop or bump steer. now you have extra money for beer.
sorry i thought we were talking f1. well if you ever get anything with a straight axle you now know how to do it.
Some good info so far. Ive learned that I can use my column shift with the add on R&P but the turning radius isnt good, that Jamco doesnt answer their phone?, that the 605 box may have been just for later Fords and that the Volvo box works well in a flathead application. Has anyone tried to use the manual Volvo box with a small block Chevy? Any more info?
Unisteer makes a power rack and pinion kit. I just started to install it yesterday (7/27/2012). The rack went in easy and fits well with the flathead. The steering column has to be cut 5 5/8ths inches but stock shifter stays in place. It comes with a set of reds headers but so far with everything mocked up I have plenty of clearence with the stock exhaust in place. I wont know until everything gets aligned and tightened down if this will remain true. The only thing you have to supply is the correct size fan belt. It listed for $1249.00 but I was at a goodguys show and got it alot cheaper so thought I would take the leap. Got tired of fighting the steering and after rebuilding the box there was still alot of of play in it. All the other kits mentioned I have looked into and when all said and done cost about the same or more, the stubs look good but with the fabrication involved were about 3 to 4 times the cost of this kit. The only real concern is turning radius, might be greater, but this aint no race car.
I've read about F100 power steering conversions for Mercs. Does anyone know if they'll work in the Ford?
Wink; Your mention of the Reds Headers with the kit makes me think you are running a flathead in your car? Ive got a SBC which makes things a little tight on clearance. Keep posting as you do the installation, Im interested. Pictures?? Mike; Im not familiar with the Mercury steering, but the Ford has a steering box that was unique to the '49-'51's, with a pitman arm that points to the rear...is this similar to the Merc setup?
Hello from Finland I have been wondering this same thing about the steering. I was going to try the overhaul kit for the orig. steering gear, but i`ve been told that it only gets a little better, not good? Is this true if you do the job right? for example the overhaul kit from early ford store is only about 225, so I won`t go broke if I try that. The volvo 140/160 steering gear was one option, but good used ones are not so easy to find anymore and the new box is quite expensive, about 650usd. You can buy them for example from this Swedish store: http://www.cvi-automotive.se/en/articles/2.9343.38498/steering-box-140-lhd-1973 Sami
Ive heard good and bad about rebuilding the stock box. I was told once that there is one major piece (shaft?) that is not reproduced and it can get pretty costly to find a N.O.S replacement, if needed. Can anyone expand on this? The input and output shafts (worm and sector?) in '49-'51 boxes are at approximately a 45 degree angle to each other versus a 90 degree angle in most, if not all other boxes. These boxes seem to wear quickly, possibly attributed to this angle having less gear contact surface. Having never driven one of these cars with very low mileage, I have no idea if the steering was slow and ***bersome when new. This and putting money into a box that may wear out quickly makes me lean away from rebuilding the stock box.
I use a Volvo steering box in my Y-block powered -50 ford and it works great, maybe it wont help you but now you know it works with other than flatheads (and i have headers not original exhaust)
Good to know, time to search for some engine dimensions to find the differences between a SBC and a Y block. Were you able to use the stock column shift linkage?
Are you sure your problem was due to a fault in the gearbox or was it because all your mods to the front end changed the steering stops and put all that load back into the gear? I just experienced something similar in a somewhat different situation (replica railframe sprint car) where the Ross gearbox became the steering stop instead of the studs in the axle. The gearbox didn't like being hard loaded at the extremes of travel and locked up.
Dale, Im pretty confident that its the overall design of the box. When I first built the car (from a stocker) the box was already fairly sloppy. While locating my new shock mounts, checking for brake caliper clearance, I cycled everything lock to lock and the spindles were against a hard stop before I ran out of steering box travel. After less than a year on the road I swapped in a relatively low mileage box from a cream puff, 30,000 mile '51 that was destined to be clipped. This made a big difference in the steering but it was never "great" and got progressively worse over the next 10 years to the point where it was as bad or worse than before the swap.
The 600 series box looks VERY interesting. I dont think mounting would be overly difficult, but the steering linkage looks like it might be a jigsaw puzzle. My biggest question is the pitman arm. Gearheads seems to have the kinks worked out if you can understand the website. If I'm not mistaken the Jamco power steering box is out of a Toyota Land Cruiser. It also looks like a nice option for the money. Space looks a bit tight in the pic. I'll be watching this thread as I am trying to make decisions on parts and mods before the wrenches fly.
So I'm installing the Volvo steering box. I bought fat man bracket and it's the 140. I have a flathead 8 cylinder and im having clearance issues installing steering box. It seems that the box will hit the exhaust manifold. All the pics I see the engine is removed. Do I need to move the engine? Anyone else had trouble fitting it in?
The Jalopy Journal
