1952-59 Ford been working on my adapter plate

ok, my mother inlaw decided to drive out today.since we arnt best freinds i went to the detactched garage. i took a couple hours today and started working on the adapter plate . i started with a pieace of 1/2" plate steel . i picked it up somewheres. free to me. it looks like it was off of a railroad crosstie. without the guides. cut it with my band saw to 5" x 5 ". then matched it up to the box and marked my first hole. drilled a 1/2" inch hole in it since the jeep box bolts are 12 mm. bolted it to the box and marked the other 3 holes for the box. end of first day. heres the link to the pictures, im normaly in such a hurry to do work and dont take them time for pics.

http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa99/old_ladys_mad/55 ford fairlane/steering box adapter plate/

 

Are you sure the plate is thick enough ? I guess you work with what you have and I really don't think it will bend or break being that thick !

I also see you had the "little boss helper" out there keeping an eye on you to make sure you aren't slacking on the job ! Keep the pictures coming so we can see how things work out .

Jim

 

well i was thinking i might go with a 3/4" peice if needed. lol. yepy my little helper was just watching today. she dont do well with loud noises. but thats ok she was there for moral suport, and she was in the garage learning. ill try to get the other three holes finished tomorrow morn. but wont be able to go any farther till i get the old box off the frame so i can mark those holes. i still need to go to the fastners place to get the 12mm taperd bolts.

 

I was kidding about the 1/2" plate ! That should be plenty thick . A 3/4" will be too thick to work with.

Jim

 

i was kidding too, im a smart ***. i think the ones that come with the kits are 3/8. i might have cut the plate to short judging by the picture. i might have a 3/8 sheet at work . sheet being 4 foot by 8 foot. the 1/2 inch is hard enough to work with . since i dont have a drill press or a set of drill bits . im using unibits to drill them . probably have to have the taperd holes done at a machine shop, since i dont own a bit. might buy one if i can find one at the right price . some one told me today he knowed where there is a bare frame i might be able to work off of to finish it without tearing mine apart for a long down time. im trying to find out if there might just be a frame section i could get and bring home .

 

All you really need is a piece of 1/4" steel and that will be fine . Then take the steering box and the piece of metal with you to the other frame and use a marker to mark the holes to be drilled . You will also see what mods if any you will have to make . That way you will have everything ready to go when you do the conversion . Once you have the plate made and bolted on the frame , make a gusset to weld theplate to the frame . The steering box will be on the other side so the gusset will be out of the way plus it will give alot more strength to the adapter plate !
Well at least that was my idea on what I was going to do to mine !

Jim

 

Hi Guys! Keep up the godd work! I am thinking on doing the same on my Crown Vicky and i am looking forward to follow this project
Vicky!

 

well i myself dont think 1/4 is thick enough, but thats me . you cant weld a guset from the plate to the frame if you want to be able to remove the box if it has a problem. the taperd bolts bolt the plate to the box. then the the plate gets bolted to the frame. making the taperd bolt hiden between the frame and the plate . which is why there taperd in the first place to make them level and smooth. i have a plan. im going to make a aluminum plate or 2 since it easier to work with . and go to the junk yard where the frame is . and drill the plate on the frame, with the box on it . and use the aluminum plate as a template for my steel plate.

 

OK , I see what you are talking about now . If 1/4" isn't enough , a car frame isn't any thicker I don't think . The frame might be 3/8" . You will have to check the thickness out . Yes a 1/2" would be better but I will wait to see what you come up with and go from there . I guess I was looking at the plate a different way . I figured the plate would come high enough off the frame and the box would be on the same side as stock , then I was going to weld some gussets on the back side to add for strength . If you had to remove the box , then you shouldn't have to remove the adapter plate , right ? That was why I was thinking about the welding .
Anyway I can always get some thicker steel to work with when the time comes .

Jim

 

well the way a box is originaly on a frame the bolts go all the way through both sides of the frame . there is sleves or tubes in the midle of the frame to keep it from collapsing when bolted tight , esentialy giving you about a 3 inch thick peice of steel.
ive seen frames brake on trucks and jeeps before that were just single layer frames. i do tend to go overboard when i do something, but better safe then sorry. think about the pressure that will be exerted on the plate if turning the wheels while stoped. not much resistance while rolling . but while stoped its alot.thats how i decided on my thickness.

 

That is one of the reasons I was going to put gussets on mine ! I like using them and they really do strengthen up corners or pieces that stick away from the frame .
You know you could cut another piece of box frame and weld or bolt on the top of the original frame to strengthen up the steering box that way too . If you did that , couldn't you just bolt the steering box up like that ? Then you really wouldn't have to make an adapter plate . Unless the steering box needs to be mounted off the frame a little .
Just a thought .

Jim

 

ok i went to ron pope motorsports, rpm. www.eztbucket.com and had some stuff made today. i had this plate made out of 3/8 plate. he made it while i was there. i took the box with me when i was picking up some m2 strut rod brakets i had made. this is the plate. i need to taper the holes and then drill the other 3 holes for the frame. i wont be able to do those till i get the original box off. but its another step done and he has the plan saved to make more. i can take the plate back when i get it finished or make a template and he can make more easily. he uses a cnc plasma cutter .

 

Looking good . Sure will be nice having good power steering !
When you get the original steering box off , make sure to take pictures of the steps you do . Would like to see what i will be getting into before I do mine .

Jim

 

at what this guy charges , just buy it from him . id say itd be about 20 bucks. these are the ms brakets he made me 3/8 plate . 20 bucks for the pair.

 

Hi old ladys mad. I was looking at your pictures on the jeep power steering box adapter you are making. You are kind of on the right track. I did this conversion on my 54 coupe. I took step by step pictures of how it was done. I showed how to make adapter plate how to modify the frame. They are very clear and easy to follow pictures. Now the only problem is I still can't figure out how to post them. I had planned to post a thread showing all this. You Can pm if there is anyway I can help you or anyone else who would like to do this conversion. One thing you have to keep in mind with a 3/8 plate which is all you need you have to adjust the splines when you modify the pitman arm. If you don't wheels will turn more to the left then to the right box is no longer centered.
Charles

 

To all fellow members who are interested in doing the jeep power steering conversion. I have pictures in my photo album of how I did my 54 Ford. Did the 55 the same way too. This was the only way I could figure out how to put pictures up. Charles

 

Here you go riskybiz

 

Didn't get these two.

 

Does this Jeep box fit the stock column or are you guys using an aftermarket column? If the stock one works, does it require any modifications or adapters, or does this plate pretty much make it all plug-n-play?

 

you have to cut the original column off and put a rag joint or unversal joint style coupler on the bottom of it . or you could swap out the column for another one from the junk yard . when i bought my box from pull a part i got the bottom part of the shaft with mine so i got my coupler to weld to another column. ive got complete pics of a swap in my phot bucket folder . it shows the column modification.heres the link to it.

http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa99/old_ladys_mad/55%20ford%20fairlane/delphi-jeep%20steering%20gear%20on%20a%20ford/

 

Thanks the-stig for posting my pictures of the power steering conversion from my album. The original steering colunm can be cut down and a bearing installed in the bottom end. This will not work if you have a standard shift. Also, if your car is a standard shift box will be in the way of clutch paddle.I went with a after market tilt colunm. I can build cars but when it come to the computer its like I just crawled out from under a rock. I hope this will help anyone who would like to have power steering. The-stig would you be so kind as to pm me on how you posted my pictures I would really appreciate it.
Charles

 

What pitman arm are you guys using?

 

factory pitman arm off your car. sposed to go right on it.

 

Where can you get a factory style pitman arm, as my '54 is missing the box and pitman.

 

I've read that the factory pitman arms fits and I've also read that it doesn't fit.

riskybiz, what can you tell us?

 

what ive seen , if using the older gm box. you need to midify the pitman arm flats.if using this delco/jeep box it fits right on it. theres a couple of guys here that are parting out some cars. im sure they have one for sale. im going to finish this plate so we have a template to go by. but a buddy of mine just gave me the p.s. complete from column to tie rods . off his 64 ford . its sposed to be a direct bolt on just have to dill a couple of holes for the idler arm. so ill put it on and then ill have the box off my car to finish the plate and make a pattern . and if the old ram cyl. turns out to be bad or something ill put it on . back up plan with less down time hopefully.

 

Mark-t The old original pitman arm will NOT fit the delphi box!!! without modifying it. I took a old sector shaft from a junk box. Cut it down to three inches. I removed the threaded area too. I open up the splined area in the original pitman arm with a carbite tip cutter to where the cut sector shaft just started to fit in. I then put both in my press and heated the old splined area with a torch until red hot and started to apply pressure keeping it hot until it opens up to new size. One VERY important thing to remember as I said before with the 3/8 plate you have to move new spline over about two splines in order to keep box centered. If you just align to original it will not be centered and box will turn more to the left 1 3/4 and 1 1/4 to the right.
Charles

 

Thanks Charles, I was afraid that it wouldn't fit.

 

hey mark did i send you the pitman arm pics a long time ago? cause i have what's supposed to be the "mod" to the pitman arm..i just have no idea what's going on the pics cause there's no captioning..

 

Yes, You did send some pics of pitman arms. I have seen the stock one modified by heating it and pressing it onto a shaft with the same spline as the Delfi shaft.