cheap small dainty steering boxes

My dad has ran into a problem and needs ideas for steering boxes .....Cowl steering will take up to much room .And the 48 ford box hits the starter .There is a upull it yard near him .Im not up to date on new stuff....

 

An F1 or F100 box are about as "dainty" as they come.

 

Early Mustang box is nice for side steer.

 

Use a 37-48 Ford car box mounted ala Mustang for side steer, much smaller than a Mustang.

 

Agree...54-56 Ford pickup...small, quick, easy to install.

 

PETE! How dare you call the old Hot Rod standby...dainty! Shame on you!
LoL

48 Ford hits the starter? I would have figured it to be farther ahead then that to keep the tierods aligned, but you guys are experiencing the issues so I certainly won't argue!

Vega???? (Yeah...i know.)

Straight axle car of course....hmmmm......

Most of the older foreign cars that had boxes used a long shaft to reach past the rail so thats not too good for you.
Early 60's GM cars had a small non-power box but people would just call it a Vega box anyway...

Post a few pictures of what your into!

 

I'm having the same dilemma with my t-bucket. what about a reversed corvair box?

 

This is for a T also............Any new **** that has a small box........................

 

Corvair is easy on Ts

 

Problem is new **** don't use boxes!

 

VW bus have nice small steering box.Some of the early imports had cool boxes as well.Many were cross steer tho. Dodge had a neat steering box on there 30`s and 40 cars.

 

Suzuki Samurai (mounted on it's side). Chucked it up in a lathe and turned most of the brackets off, then put a sleeve thru the frame that it fits into. One bolt on a heavy tab holds it all in. I didn't invent the idea, I stole it from a 1916 National Indy racer I used to work on.


*Sorry, I remembered I added a second tab off the crossmember (just visible in front of the box) and used one of the 4 top plate bolts to reinforce it. It had a slight amount of flex with just the one bolt. I've seen these hung below the frame on a triangular mount (to get the steering shaft angled up), but it looks kinda clunky, and this car is WAY too low for that....

 

Volvo made an all aluminum box in the seventies and eighties that I have used a couple of times in the past. It mounts up above the frame rail and the pitman arm points down so geometry is pretty good on the typical early ford front end. Anything Volvo before rack and pinion are basically the same. They don't look too bad polished either.

 

The aluminum reversed corvair is the lightest and smallest, or this, a vintage steel ross box they were used on boats, ford jeeps and all sorts of vehicles. They were a favorite in the 60's and 70's for drag cars and i think someone made repops also. I see them on ebay occasionally.

 

They really don't come much smaller than the stock Model A Gemmer box. A little notchy, but it's hotrod, right? I did a thread on them awhile back at http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=199148&highlight=gemmer+steering

 

there's a bmw unit lots of folks are using for colw steering, but I'm not sure of the year/availability

 

Call Speedway Motors 800 979 0122. Might have another option and have good tech.

 

They're getting harder to find but still turn up once in a while in the u-pull-it places--look at the steering box from a '60-'66 Ford Econoline van or '64-'69 Dodge A-100 van. Both are designed for a push-pull drag link that runs to the left spindle. The Dodge A-100 van box uses the same guts as a non-power GM Saginaw box. Both are fairly compact size, both used to be popular on T-buckets.

 

heres what i was told is a "vega" box. takes very little space! almost disappears behind my headers too.

 

Thanks for all the replies He's going to stick with the 48 ford box and go the expensive route and use the mustang 4 cylinder ,Only problem is the trans has not been tested ,He has a known good motor and ****** combo but the starter hits the box .Chevette...And the ford motor will have to be rebuilt ...........

 

Dude, what the HELL happened to that frame rail??!!

 

the jack*** before me thought it needed "clearanced"... apparently, there oughta be some kinda test in the BIG****INHAMMER department at harbor freight...

 

I used a Tracker box in my rail. It is long and allowed me to mount it far enough away from stuff and the shaft still reached.
Don

 

That doesn't look like BFH damage. I think the PO chewed on it.

 

how are some fellas tucking the f100 box in there? the shaft (im sorry i dont know what to call it) sticks out so far! running a small block and 350 automatic in a 29 coupe and im STUMPED for sterring. looks like everything will hit my trans bell housing or my oilfilter. i hear stock isnt good enough so any one got any pics or info on stuffin some boxes in there?

and sorry, im not trying to highjack the thread fellas. just kinda looking for the same thing

 

I am building a T with a 2.3 mustang motor, look at Spirit Ch***is. They use a vega mounted in an unusual manner that seems to work well. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

 

Here's a pic of an F100 box in a 30 A frame in the stock location..
350 Chev engine and T5....No clearance problems at the transmission.
There was some casting flash on the block at the oil filter area..A few
strokes of a file cured that.

 

I used an early 70's Toyota Land Cruiser box on the Beater....

 

hey pete, thats stock location? i dont know if theres a difference but on my 29 a, my box is farther foward and hits the side of the motor

 

somebody mentioned the BMW box .these come on 68-74ish 1600 and 2002 models.had one as cowl steering in my T and another in my hot rod pickup as straight steer.work great ,no slop, great mounting tabs on them,aluminum,around 50 -100 bucks.check 2002ad.com for more info