So someone asked me where they find their steering box. Pretty basic for some, but the only dumb question is the one that is not asked.
This is a 1971 Toyota Landcruiser Steering Box and is currently manual steering. In the picture below I added info about the steering box, the coupler and the shaft. You can also see no hoses, so it is manual steering. They shaft connects up to the column and eventually the steering wheel. Every vehicle is different, but you get the general idea.
The question here involved converting to a power steering box and how that would go. Power boxes are almost always bigger in size. The first thing to notice is that there is plenty of room for a bigger box. You could modify everything here to fit a power box without much trouble. You would need to change the coupler and pitman arm. You would also need a steering pump, bracket and hoses.
We did the article a few days ago on Ram Cylinders and got lots of questions about the Control valve. When did they use that? What is the difference between the two? How do you tell?
Control valves are very popular in industrial applications. As you might guess, they are used to control the flow of anything, primarily hydraulic (fluid type things). They can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You probably have a few of them in the house and don’t even know it.
Read the previous article for more about when they were used, but basically it is a manual steering box with a power assist setup.
In the car or truck, the control valve can easily be identified by the 4 hoses going into it. They ram cylinder only has 2 hoses going into it. Two of the hoses go to the steering pump, one pressure and one return. The other two go to the ram cylinder, same again, one pressure and one return. The control valve also is also typically fix mounted on the drag link, but does not have to be.
The control valve takes the pressure from the power steering pump and uses it to push the ram cylinder. The ram moves the steering wheels back and forth as needed. It does not control the direction of the vehicle. That is still controlled by the steering box which takes command from the driver and changes it into diretion of the wheels.
You can see in the picture how all those hoses can cause this to leak frequently.
So I got this interesting question. What is a Ram Cylinder? Why did they even use it?
All cars were manual steering up to 1950’s. Starting in the early 1950’s, manufacturers such as Saginaw (now part of Delphi) experiemented with external valves, known as a control valve to give assist. This was extremely complicated for the time, but solved a major problem. Car Makers could not make cars much bigger because they were simply too hard to turn. Any assist would change the whole landscape.
So this setup used 4 steering parts. The steering pump uses a pulley to draw power from the engine and then pressurizes the system. The steering box that turned steering wheel movement into direction change of the vehicle. Then the control valve and ram cylinder to pressurize the wheels back and forth.
The upside is that it worked, it is much easier than manual steering. The downside was because of the number of parts and hoses, it was notoriously problematic. These are very common leakers. Starting in about 1957 with the Cadillac Deville, they introduced integral power steering. This moved all of the ram and control valve functions to inside the gearbox. This greatly helped with defectives.
What is a reverse rotation steering box and when is it used?
A Reverse rotation steering gearbox is when the output shaft turns at the opposite direction to the input shaft. This is done by changing both shafts inside of the box. The input shaft for reverse rotation would need to be connected on the opposite side of the output shaft. This will enable the shaft to turn in the opposite direction.
Reverse Rotation Gearbox is used on most Chevrolet Van Steering Box and on some Dodge Van Steering Box. Most cars put the steering gear behind the front axle. This is considered standard. These vans have very forward chassis designs and thus the steering is ahead of the front axle and unless you want the van to steer opossite, you will need the box to be reverse.
The other reason for reversing boxes is hot rod or specialty applications that are pushing the steering ahead of the axle. Many of these people will have gearboxes changed. Some gears can and some cannot be converted. The Dodge Ram Steering Rack cannot be changed, but many other applications can be changed over. Call Discount Steering at 1-800-617-4492.
One of the quickest and lightest ways to put steering in your hot rod or other crazy new vehicle is a vega steering box. You can now buy these new for under $200 which makes them a great choice.
My favorite reason for using these is that they require no steering pump, so they are fuel efficient. They are the smallest and lightest Chevrolet Steering rack or box ever made. In this era of high oil prices and $4.50 gallon of gas, you need to be thinking fuel efficient. I don’t recommend you go pull out power steering on every car, but worth thinking about on a repair or upgrade.
You will need to build your system with a pitman arm and inner tie rod ends, but those are straight forward. If you have a light weight car, you need to consider this.
So a straightforward question today. What to do with a leaking power steering rack? You can try a leak stop but you are probably doing more harm than good and it won’t last you very long. The only real option is to replace it. Some rack and pinions leak more than others. Jaguar steering rack are notorious for leaking. Here’s an old joke for you.
Q - Why didn’t Jaguar build computers?
A - They couldn’t find a way to make them leak
So the answer is really to replace the part. Its not really that hard to get to if you can get the car raised up. Buy a good part and try and do the work yourself.
So you’ve tricked out the Mustang or the Camaro with the big engine and pretty chrome everywhere, but how does it steer? One of the big upgrades currently is to drop in rack and pinion steering conversion kit and give it a modern feel.
If you have an old ’stang, I highly recommend the Mustang Steering Rack conversion kit because it gives you the best blend of muscle car and handling.
This is probably true for any classic car. Browse The Steering Store website for more applications. One tip on these, based on some feedback, is to definately get the column. Usually gives you a tilt column which is a nice upgrade, but more imporantly it makes it easier to install.
Quick tip on adjusting a Mercedes Steering Gearbox.
The adjustment screw is very sensitive so go only 1/8 turn at a time. Turning the screw in will ‘press’ the bushings and the box will tighten at the center. Going counter clockwise with the screw will ‘release’ the bushings and the box will loosen at center. You are not tightening a box, but generally moving the pressure point. So you will tighten at center but release at the ends of the gear.
Be very careful and drive for a few days between adjustment. At a certain point the bushings will be gone and you will have to replace the steering box.
Ever thought of doing a Power Steering Conversion? Many classic cars and trucks can add power steering fairly easily. It takes a bit of work, this is not assembling furniture, but if you are mechanically inclined you can do it easily.
There are 2 ways to convert. One is to go from steering box to a power version. The other is to go from a steering box to a rack and pinion setup. The power gear box will be cheaper, but the steering rack version will be better.
