Power steering.

Ol' Ron

Ol' Ron

Well-known member
I'd like to know if anyone has installed pS into a 42/48 Ford. Before you get your ire up it"s for my grand daughter.. My international truck has a complete 42/49 Front end, with Saginaw 525 steering box. For me the steering is OK, in fact it;s quite easy to steer, except when parking. However, The Family cars all have modern cars with PS and a much shorter turns ratio. The 525 has almost 5 turns lock to lock. Going to a manual 3/4 turn box would make the truck just too hard to steer. I can;t drive due to my eyesight and it would be nice if I could have this cute little girl drive me around. Engine is the 280 econo engine, sounds nice.
 
Ron do you think a steering assist like they had on a 74 Comet would work? I think they even had them on older Fords. On them one end was mounted on the frame and the other end was mounted on the tie rod and hoses went from the cylinder to the pump. That was it
 
Mid 60's Nash and late 50's to early 70's Fords had power assist cylinders that had a linear control valve built into the cylinder so you can use the present steering. The cylinder can hook up several ways but usually the easiest is to the pitman arm.
It's much easier than changing the whole steering box.
This setup was very popular on race cars back then.

Marv beat me to it. I should type faster.
 
Some jappas had electric assist power steer , I think Suzuki if you can find such a thing in the USA .
 
I used a Saginaw 605 power steering box from a GM mid size used from the 70s up into the mid 80s on my 40 Ford. If you already have a 525 box on there the 605 will bolt right up. The 605 is longer so the steering shaft will need shortening.
 
Marv said:
Ron do you think a steering assist like they had on a 74 Comet would work? I think they even had them on older Fords. On them one end was mounted on the frame and the other end was mounted on the tie rod and hoses went from the cylinder to the pump. That was it
Click to expand...
I used a setup like this on a 53 F-100 25 years ago. The assist cylinder attached to the tie rod and it really worked good. I used a Ford power steering pump that was common then same one that was on my 85 Ranger pickup. The entire setup was brand new and sold by a 53-56 F=100 supplier out in California,mayby Mid Fifties or something like that,had a bunch of pretty girls in their catalog. It was not cheap but I was determined to put power steering and also air conditioning on the flathead,drove it to Pidgeon Forge F-100 nationals in 1991 for its maiden voyage. Wish I had it back, tried last year.
 
For the 42-48 Ford you can get a bracket from Chassis Engineering that replaces the stock bracket and allows you to use the 525/605 steering box.
 
Thanks guys, the 525 does't need power assist. Steers pretty easy as is. However the turns ratio is the problem A quicker ratio n a manual boxwould, however, make it a bear to drive for anyone including the little blond. Now you say the 605 will bolt right in? What kind of ratio does it have? I'll Googlr it.
Thank you very much
 
I see there are several versions of this box, one of witch look good. I have about 6" to play with. Thanks again.
 
I have a power box from an s-10 on my 36. A "z" box is what you would want because it's only about 3 1/2 turns lock to lock. They also came on Camaros and Firebirds. Should be a direct bolt in.
 
The big (800 something??) and the little 605 fit same bolt holes...see how much clearance you have, otherwise main choice need is to get one of the quick ratio ones.
They both came in slow and fast ratios, you need one from police, 442, z-28, etc to get quick response. They can take forward or rearward pitman arm mount, most have pitman to rear, turn it around to be like '48 Ford.
Amount of travel differs...some I messed with (Z-28/Firebird late 80's, I think) had too little travel for what I was doing, travel is limited by big inserted washer in top of box and nubs on end plate at other, easily tinkered with.
I think Speedway and a number of specialist places sell rebuilds with the fast ratio gears if local junkyards don't have the right stuff.
 
Thanks Bruce. So, as I understand it the S-10 has the same bolt pattern as the 525?? I hapen to know where one is, I wonder if the owner will miss it.??
 
johnny said:
Listining to the conversation I ask how does one work the horn wire to keep the original horn ring?
Click to expand...

Make a slip ring, like below. DD
 

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Can a Power Assist Cylinder arrangement be fitted to an early 32 to 34 Ford without changing the stock steering??
 
The horn contact seen in V8 Coopman's post, was found in WWII Willys jeeps. (and because Ford built the GPW) those have a ford part number. They were also used for years on smaller Clark fork lifts, among other things.
The slip ring is insulated from the column. The wire runs through a hole into the worm tube and up to the horn button.

Trevo, that sounds messy.
 
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Bluebell, sadly im not built like Popeye have gone as far as I can with my steering box wifey cant drive the car a pity really, power assist sounded good.
 
Bluebell said:
The horn contact seen in V8 Coopman's post, was found in WWII Willys jeeps. (and because Ford built the GPW) those have a ford part number. They were also used for years on smaller Clark fork lifts, among other things.
The slip ring is insulated from the column. The wire runs through a hole into the worm tube and out the bottom of the box.

Trevo, that sounds messy.
Click to expand...

Actually, the wire runs through a hole into the worm tube and out the TOP of the tube so that the horn button can complete the GROUND. The whole idea of this conversion (in the case of OUR old Fords) would facilitate using the original column when the original gearbox (with the wire originally passing-thru and out the bottom of box) is replaced by a more-modern gearbox. I should have initially enclosed the third pic (seen below) for a bit more clarity of wire path. DD
 

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For those who might be interested, Limeworks has a retro horn kit. I'm using one on my '34. It eliminates the pesky Pep Boys plastic horn button under the dash.
Check it out at Limeworks.com
 

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