does anyone know what year Toyota power box the conversion for the 50's trucks are using, and why the conversion isn't available for the early 60's trucks? Is the frame to narrow or thick for it to fit in the channel correctly?

Thanks! John...

 

Also, does anyone know if the pitman arm for the 50's conversion will work with a '64 drag link?

 

I am working on this conversion myself in my "63. I picked up an '85 power steering box out of a 4x4 from a local bone yard complete with the Toy pitman for about $90. To my knowledge, the 50s conversion doesn't have the same pitman as yours. What I have done is weld the top half of the Toy pitman to the bottom half of my '63. I did this because the Toy box is metric and has a tapered spline and I wanted a good fit. It has been suggested to just go ahead and use the standard Ford pitman and cinch it down tight to the Toy spline with the standard pinch bolt. I didn't like that idea which is why I opted to marry the two pitmans. I made my own bracket after using a piece of plyable aluminum to make a template to get the length and angles I needed to create that bracket. My bracket is made out of 2" x 5/16" steel. I would have liked to have gone a little thicker, but couldn't bend anything thicker. I think it will work OK, but if not, I can go to a shop and have them bend or weld up a thicker piece for the bracket. You can buy a similar set up from CCP but it runs around $400. I have about $160 wrapped up in mine including a Borgenson universal joint which will connect my box to the steering column. When I finally get this finished, I will need to get some power steering hose built with SAE on one end and metric on the other. This will not be a big deal. There is a local shop that can do this for me for about $40. I hope this helps.
Jim

 

Thanks Jim... keep us informed on how it works out!

I'd really like to know how the welded pitman arm works out- I'd be leary of trying that - the arm is under a LOT of stress... Did you sleeve it at all? I wonder how much a machine shop would charge to re-taper the bottom hole in the Toyota arm to fit the Ford drag link? Sounds like a lot safer alternative.

CCP makes a weld-in bracket kit for the 50's trucks, I was thinking about making it work - it would end up being higher than what you spent to get yours going, but it is thicker and all the work of drilling mounting holes has been taken care of...

 

John,
I am also concerned about the pitman's strength, but will not know how it measures up until its tried. I did not weld the two pitman's myself, but I am sure there was nothing special about the weld other than perhaps how the welder put the two together. It was such a great job, I cannot tell where the two were actually joined. The problem with the Toy pitman is that it was not straight like the Ford's, other wise I would have done what you are suggesting. The Toy pitman had some severe angles to it which would not allow an adaptation to it. I suspect I could further beef up the Ford/Toy pitman by adding some type of bracing to the sides of the pitman. That is probably where it would receive the most stress, and it would not interfere with the movement of the pitman as it executes turns. I really hadn't thought about this until just now, but I think it would work well. I am not sure if the CCP bracket would fit the frame. I ordered one once from another supplier who claimed it would work on my truck, but it didn't. It was almost $100 just for the bracket and was no thicker than what I have which is why I have made my own. It is hard for me to spend $100 on something that I could basically build for $5 worth of steel. I perhaps may have considered keeping it if it were a direct bolt in, but it wasn't. Keep in mind that the 5/16" thickness of the bracket is certainly thicker than the metal on your frame. I have to ask myself, if there were extremes applied (?) to the steering, would the bracket bend or the frame? I don't know, just FYI. Please keep me informed as to what you are doing. I know that this topic has been overworked, but if you want to contact me so we don't bore others, I woulod be happy to send you my email. Good Luck!
Jim

 

Jim , do you have any pictures of this steering your putting together? Also is this going on a 4x4 or a 4x2? I'd like to put power steering on my 64 4x4.

 

Jim, are you going to add tilt wheel to this set up?? I'm working on a tilt wheel set up from a Western Star road tractor to put in my 64.Havent got started on it yet but looking real hard and getting meassurements John

 

I will try and post some pictures to the site if I can figure out how to do it. Yes, I do plan use a tilt wheel. I am trying to use a tilt wheel out of an '86 TBird. It didn't have a shifter on the column which is what I want as I have a Lokar floor shifter hooked up to my C-4 tranny. I purchased a wire kit from Ron Francis complete with Ford pigtail ends, so it should be a "plug and play" at least on the column. I am wrestling with trying to find or develop a good set of brackets that would allow me to bolt the column securely to the dash and the floor. I am looking for a neat and clean way to do this. I have put too much time and money into my truck to just "jury rig" something. Don't know anything about 4x4 stuff except to say I am sure the steering set up is not even close to what you would find on a standard 4x2. I hope you begin to make some progress and can post pictures as well. Some of the posted pictures have really been helpful and I would like to share what I have done so far if I can figure out how to get them into my gallery. Let me know some of the things you have planned. Jim

 

My 63 was easy to do the tilt thing - It's on a jeep frame with the steering box up front, so I raised the whole steering colum, no problem. With the stock steering box location under the floorboard (practically) on the 64 I haven't been able to find a stock one that will work - everything is too wide at the bottom and will interfere with the brake pedal. You might just have to shell out the big bucks for an Ididit one...

 

I gave this a good hard look when I had the engine out of my 62. I picked up a box and agree with the ease of making a bracket and redoing the pitman arm. The reason that I stopped there was that I realized that the sector shaft location was opposite of the stock ford box. This puts the Toy box right in the clutch linkage. The only way I can see this working is if you are running an automatic or some sort of hydraulic clutch linkage. I'd like to hear of someone actualy doing this on a standard trans truck.

 

My 64 is an auto, so that wouldn't be an issue for me...

Maybe if you converted it from a cable to the master/slave setup off of say, a late model Mustang?