The box you need is off the Toyota full sized 4x4 pickup with solid front axle, 1979-84. It must look like this: Here they are getting difficult to find and the price is going up accordingly.


If you can't find a used box (used boxes are not usually a problem, these boxes are built quite strong and have very few wear points. Rebuilt boxes are available from Mid Fifty and others but are quite expensive and usually require a returned core. If buying a rebuilt box and the install kit, it may be more economical to purchase the newly manufactured power steering box being offered by CPP and Mid Fifty. This is a brand new box and is a direct bolt in so does not require a separate adapter mount like the Toy box. I have not seen one of the new boxes in person, but it looks like it may be a little more compact than the Toyota box.

 

If i order parts from Mid-fifty

Part #:4623 - Toyota Conversion Pitman Arm
Part #: 4621-MAN - Toyota Steering Box

Assuming i need the mounting bracket kit they do also?

Or can you link me to what you mentioned above. I just want to sort the steering out for the time being. Will be going IFS before the end of the year.

Will i need anything else to fit and get it connected and working? Last thing i want to do is order something, then find out i missed something and have to wait for shipping accross the pond etc.

Cheers

Jay

 

Yes, there is more + options. I have a doctor's app this AM, will answer later today. hold on, a day is better than mistake.

 

The Gals at Mid Fifty are very knowledgeable. I doubt they would
let you forget anything if you ask them and tell them your story
when you place your order.


And welcome

 

Jay, OK I'm back. I think I understand what you are trying to do, but IMHO and experience I think you are taking the long, expensive, hard (wrong!) way to get there. by selling your daily driver before ever receiving your sight unseen project truck and expecting to be able to use it as your daily driver immediately. I'm sorry if I might offend you, that is not my intent, but I honestly think you sawed off the limb you were sitting on before realizing you were over an alligator pit. Even if you pay to airfreight all the needed parts in, don't miss anything you can't get locally, have the facility and equipment, skill, help and time to work on the truck full time, you will be very fortunate to have a safe, dependable, and not very "pretty" truck capable of being driven as your only transportation in less than 6 months, if you find more hidden mechanical issues and/or try to drive it (and do emergency repairs as needed) while working on it, at the same holding down a full time job, that estimate becomes a year or more. IMHO worrying or even thinking about painting it at this point is WAYYYY premature and indicates a lack of realistic and organized planning/thinking. That truck, just from the pictures, needs a whole lot of more critical work before paint. The visible work shows it was done quickly with little experience or care, so I highly doubt it is any different underneath/inside. Plus doing and then redoing work shortly after makes no financial or labor effort sense (wouldn't make sense here in the states, much less there) unless you are (extremely) independently wealthy, don't mind wasting a lot of money and are hiring the work done. If that is the case you should have bought a completed/driving truck. I would highly recommend stepping back, buying, borrowing or renting another temporary daily driver for the next 6 months to a year, reassessing this project, formulating a realistic and viable build plan (see my post in this topic: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...1955-f250.html for my recommendation on how to develop a build plan)

Now that said, lets return to your questions on steering parts. IMHO putting in a Toyota manual steering box only to turn around and rip it out again makes no sense. If the objective is to tighten up your steering, first you have to figure out what is at fault. just from experience it is likely the OEM steering box is the main culprit, but worn kingpins, drag link, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, spring eye bushings, shackles and shackle pins are also all likely to be worn out and in need of replacement, along with possibly an incorrect alignment, worn (and/or bias ply) tires can be at fault/major contributor. If it is a worn steering box, you can buy a shop manual and follow the instructions to adjust it to see if it can be improved (caution: over adjusting can cause the box to stick/freeze up causing a loss of steering control) and wear out completely in short order. Rather than putting in a Toyota manual box as a quick fix (the steering column will also need to be modified and you will lose the horn button functionality, but the column appears to possibly have already been modified in some unknown way to mount that ill fitting steering wheel, which may require replacing the column completely??? plus the Toyota manual box has virtually no later resale demand/value.) it would make far more sense to buy a rebuilt stock OEM steering box from Mid Fifty and bolt it in place in a couple hours at most while rebuilding the reast of the front axle. At least there is resale demand/value for good OEM boxes from both 53-55 F100, F250 restorers as well as people building earlier traditional style hot rods.

 

If you are going to retain the beam axle, then while you are ordering parts, for the safety of yourself and others around you, order all the replacement brake parts front and rear, a new dual chamber/circuit master cylnder and new both hard and flex brake lines, hoses. along with a set of brake drums. The drums you have can possibly be turned and reused, but it may be difficult to find someone with the necessary equipment and skill to do it there. Are you starting to realize this is not an overnight low budget project yet (no matter what they show/say on TV)?

 

The brake system has been fully refurbished and they work well. The gearbox and clutch work well and are very smooth and the engine is smooth and pulls well etc. It "appears" my only issue right now is the steering.

After spending some time around it, it looks to me like someone has purposefully given it the current look, the bodywork and chassis are in remarkably good condition and only rust i can find is on the leading edge of the hood.

Given the paint work a miss this weekend as when i dove into the wiring yesterday it was a bit of a mess and it made me uncomfortable, So i removed it all and started from scratch. New loom, new switches, relays, most of which i had lying around already from previous projects etc. The truck runs and drives again etc and im now happy with the wiring in place, Im still to finish wiring up the lights which i will hopefully find time to do tonight or tomorrow.

As for the IFS swap...Im unsure if i will still go ahead with it or not. I wasn't expecting the handling to be as good as it is on leaf springs, I've been pleasantly surprised minus the 'exciting' steering. So instead i may just opt for some traditional lowering options and hold onto them.

As for another vehicle, Fortunately i use a motorbike for my work commute etc and the truck is just for fun/bad weather/weekends at the moment. Its hard to say at the moment if theres more work involved than i expected because whichever way i look at it, its still amazingly basic, barn yard engineering which i love.

I race an Evo in the MLR Sprint series, and as you'd expect from a complicated modern car, working on it isnt nessesarily the easiest, the wiring loom involves hundreds of wires running to the ECU, AYC and various sensors etc and it can quickly become a nightmare. It blew my mind yesterday when i was going through the wiring and with only two wires coming into the cab, you can start and run the engine.

I've spent a fair bit of money where i didnt expect to, namely new seals and anti-rattle bits for the door windows, an altman latch kit as my passenger door latch/star was worn and hard to shut even with adjustment and i could relatively easily pull it open (Didnt fancy a passenger leaning on it :/ ) . I went ahead and order'd the Dakota digital dash from Mid-fifty to update the interior and give me better gauges etc.

 

Hey Jay,
Shoot us some more pics when you get a chance. I'd love to see what the interior looks like. Stay out of the rain over there & enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend. It really sounds like you got a good truck.

We replaced our stock front end with a Mustang II unit - not sure I'd do it again. I'd take a shot at rebuilding & tightening up the stock front end. I do really like having front disc brakes though.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

The disc brakes are the appealing factor. Jaguar front ends are abundant here and the conversion looks pretty straight forward if your a dab handy fabricator. (Luckily i am).

The interior matched the outside lol..the seat was torn on the drivers side and springs almost non existent. The roof however has a lovely diamond stitched leather piece...lol.

Clocks werent working..as they werent bloody connected. It did have newish carpet down, but it was wet and a little manky looking as the heater had been leaking. Pulled it all out, order'd some dynamat etc to line the cabin with. Im trying to find a suitable replacement seat..something out of the rear of a car, Found a nice audi unit, recarro, heated with fold down arm rest and cup-holders...Bonus! Just need to measure it to make sure it'll fit properly.

The heater is being replaced with one of these jobbies


Connect the water pipes, bolt it to the firewall and connect the fan and your done. has two dedicated outputs for the demisters and two more for cabin heat. Should do the job nicely.

Will post some progress pics in the next few days, aswell as starting a thread. Im doing everything at once at the moment between cabin refurb and re-wiring lol.

Cheers

Jay

 

Jay, I apologize if I offended you. I really do try to help wherever possible. I agree, the stock suspension is actually much better than given credit, just because it is basic (but solid) engineering. It has obviously stood the test of time! I have been a nationally ranked autocross racer for over ten years, so good handling is something I can appreciate and I had already been planning switching my 56 to IFS before I had even seen it with my own eyes, but after driving it home from west coast to east, about 1800 miles, except for the steering I was more than satisfied with the ride and handling of the beam axle! My truck has new reversed eye lowering springs, all new kingpins, New tie rod ends (and heavy duty tie rod), new drag link bushings, The steering was scary(!) when I got it, a combination of the worn stock box and aftermarket hydraulic ram type power assist. The steering wheel had > 4" of free play at the rim, and with the "all or nothing" ram assist controlled by a mechanical set of valves on the drag link had a mind of it's own!
The Toyota PS box conversion fixed all that! Today tho with the significantly higher prices and developing rarity of the Toyota boxes I would recommend the new CPP power steering box over the Toyota box unless you can still get used Toyota boxes there inexpensively. The new setup is Mid Fifty's 400 series power steering upgrade part # 4614-5356 and lists for $535.00. This is a newly manufactured box and directly bolts in. If you are keeping the beam axle you are going to want power steering.
I really like the Jag IFS conversion especially if done with the matching IRS, but they are much more difficult to find here and a whole lot more work for the actual gain on the road. As you know a good high quality set of shock absorbers (spring dampers or whatever you call them) also makes a major difference. What area did your truck come from?

 

I went with the stock suspension after several years of planing a streetrod, I guess I grew up and found the basic low tech suspension appealing. Also went with a new CPP 400 series box. Chassie is just about back together, as we speak.
I have however heard that some people had.problems with the 400 boxes with low power steering force and reluctant to self centre, all indications of dirt in the system or other reason why the drain valves to stick,....... I have seen some debris coming out of the steering box (not mine) I am not there yet. Looks like debris from manufacturing. I guess it not that common but it exists.

If you want to check out a restored stock suspension with a lot of pictures Google "Dinnerhillspeedshop"

Good luck

 

You didn't offend me fella, I understand how it comes across and looks like i haven't thought it through at all. lol. Which is semi true, just fortunately iv worked on and driven lots of old cars so know what to expect, and with the bike im not totally reliant on the truck. Im hoping in a few weeks, it will be ready and in good order to use daily.

With the re-wire well underway and steering parts on order i think im in decent shape minus a few annoying oil leaks iv discovered.

Iv decided to go for the 400 series. The upgrade to power steering and the 2.75 turn to turn ratio will be a huge improvement.

 

Hello jay,
Welcome to truck ownership!! Had my 55 f100 few years now still not finished.
Where are you based in uk.
I'm also on mlr v500 evo.

 

Hello Jay, and welcome from California.

If you go the Jag front end route, will there be any issues for you finding one that is left hand drive?

I have my 52 driving...I went with the IFS route and a manual rack steering. That is one area that I may re-visit. I really wish that I'd gone for the power rack during the build.

Good luck...keep the pics coming.

Dan

 

Thats a fair point actually Dan that i'd overlooked. They will be right hand drive :/

hmmmm...seems my best option if i did go that route would still be to order a kit. Thats frustrating. lol