Good job, Bobby! You dodged one on the slag, let me guess -- did you bang your head on the frame / engine when it fell on you?!

I'd put a heat shield on the back part of the manifold and leave the lines as-is.

 

Is there clearance for the pitman arm as it swings back to clear the spring hanger? It looks mighty tight.

 

Ross,
Surprisingly I didn't bang my head, but I almost dropped the grinder on my chest....that would have left a mark

Wayne, Hmm, I'll have to look into that. I think I'll be ok. I think the pitman arm offsets slightly. I'll probably fabricate my own arm much like Walston did on his 60,
1960 Ford F100 4x2 - Pitman Arm for Toyota Gear Box
and if necessary I can offset it a little bit for clearance. Thanks for catching that

Bobby

 

A little bit of progress and a few more steps backwards............
On the upside, it will work.

So, I measured, measured, measured, and measured. Made a template and then bent my 1/2" flatbar to the desired angle. Then cut the lower piece and trimmed to fit. After all that I mocked everything in place and put the power steering box in place.....Here comes the step backwards. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the angle of the power steering box, I think its too steep. Keep in mind that the steering column isn't fixed yet so I still have a lot of leeway as to where it will mount.

Here's the bracket;




And here's a shot from outside the frame. I think the angle of the box is too steep. I think I can salvage my bracket. I can take a bit of angle out of the main part of the bracket. The angled part will no longer contact the bottom frame rail edge but I can make the lower leg longer and have the angled part butt into the top of the lower section (if that makes any sense). That will effectively lessen the angle of the box.

I was hoping to get away with just running a rag joint between the column and the box but its looking like I may need a "U" joint....oh well.


I sure seem to spend a lot of time going backwards.....
Bobby

 

That's how it always seems to go, at least everything I get involved with. I take enough time on a project to either find out there's more to it or what I had just done didn't work the way I planned. It's bad enough when it's a government job but it's worse when it's a job you're getting paid for and then have to add more time than you quoted.

The bracket is looking good no matter what. This kind of stuff can be frustrating but also fun.

 

How is the short, straight piece going to sit over the rivets for the spring hanger?

 

When I set mine up, I cut a piece of PVC pipe that fit over the pitman arm shaft, about an inch or so long, and then put the box in the frame, slid the PVC "bushing" over the shaft, then threaded the nut on so that it held the box in place. This allowed me to set the box at the angle that I wanted, then I made the bracket to fit. This shows it just being held in the frame by the PVC:



I ended up using the stock Toyota u-joint setup with the Ford rag joint piece on the end of the steering column. Only required a very light touch-up with the die grinder and fit together like they were made for each other. Here it is in the final position on the bracket with the Toyota part of the rag joint:

 

Ross, I took some measurements of the rivet locations and then drilled a couple shallow holes in the bracket piece so that it would sit down over the rivets. Sounds good in theory right? but then if I welded it all together, how in the heck would I get it installed over the rivets? so I ground a short channel from the holes I drilled to the far side of the bracket so that the pices would slide in over the rivets.

Wow, thanks for the tip of the hunk of PVC. What a simple and elegant solution. I've beenlaying under the beast trying to hold the box in place, hold the light, hold the tape measure, look at steering column, look at lines, etc.
...not enough hands. The first thing I'm doing today when I get a chance to get back out there is to cut a hunk of PVC. That is great.

Thanks for the tip on the toyo "U"joint to rag joint set up. I have the toyo "U"joint rag joint already, I'll just need to get the GM side of the rag joint that matches my column. I'll have to look at my pile of parts, I might have it all already.

Thanks very much for the pictures, they are a big help

Bobby

 

Sorry Bobby, just couldn't help adding a bit

 

LOL!!

Thanks Bob. As things would have it I did get sidetracked yesterday afternoon with a few cold frosties.

Here's a helpful builders tip: When partaking in cold frosties while fabricating steel parts, pay careful attention to where you set your cold frosty down and in which direction the detritus from your grinding is being thrown. Needless to say, never the two should meet.

Bobby

 

Iron fortified FROSTIES!!! You might have come up with a new health drink

 

Well, I might have been a bit hasty on condemning my new bracket due to the angle.

I took dmack91's advice and whupped up a quickie PVC spacer so that I could position the steering box nice and tight against the frame. It works really well, thanks again dmack91.
So, I layed under the truck and hemmed, hawwed, contemplated, wished for a magic wand, etc. trying to decide if I could salvage what I have or if I had to start from square one.
I finally positioned the geer box with my bracket pieces and decided to hook up the "U" joint and see what things looked like with the column.

I think it will all work together and I'll be OK. There is plenty of room between the "U"joint and the exhaust, etc. WOOHOOO! I don't have to start over

 

That's excellent news! Nice work.

 

Glad to see things are working out for your steering. Now, if the 20" of snow we got in the last couple of days would melt off, I could get back to work and driving mine.

 

Thanks.
I know it sounds silly, but I'd gladly take your 20" of snow right now. We've had very little around here and almost no snowpack up in the mountains.

I think its gonna be another long dry summer....ooph


Next step for me will be to tack the bracket together, weld it up, mark it for holes, drill and tap as necessary.
Bobby