It seems that this topic is somewhat unclear and little confusing at times.

I have 73 f100 4x4 with manual steering box and power assist ram cylinder which i have rebuilt with new gaskets along with a power steering pump. Now i have a leaky power hose and it seems that the control valve is sipping tiny bit of fluid as well. (lucas dresser should work i assume). In any case, i wanted to see if i could convert my manual box into a Siginaw power box. (i have coils in the front and 4" lift).
Any recommendations?

Nick

 

1973/75 F100 4WD & 1973/77 F250 4WD with Power Assist P/S use the manual steering gear box because it has nothing to do with Power Assist.

 

Do you mean the integral PS gear as used from 76-79 half-tons 4x4s?

 

Yes. Did i get it wrong to say to get rid of manual box and replace it with power steering box?

 

No.. I'm just confirming since the comment above muddied the discussion.

In any case, I did a manual steering to integral PS swap on my 73 4x4 using a 78/79 steering system - gear, tie rod & drag link, and steering shaft.

Your drum Dana 44's steering arms will require reaming because the later tie rods studs have thicker shanks. Based on my parts comparison, disc-equipped Dana 44 steering arms have more meat on them than our drum-equipped Dana 44s. The reamer ya need is 7°... available from Speedway Motors or ya borrow one.

On my rig, I used the 78/79 steering shaft and had to grind a flat spot in the steering column shaft because the column shaft is fully splined whereas the donor shaft is a single-D.

Third, the new steering box location will align directly with the front crossmember and the two rear bolts will need to be really long. I sleeved my frame... a total pain in the azz.

If I were to do it again, I would use a 2WD steering gear and modify its internals so the pitman arm points rearwards. That way the gear mounts well forward of the crossmember basically the same position as the manual box. A longer and different steering shaft will be required since the integral box uses a rag joint. There is a link in the Tech Info Compilation on how to reverse the sector shaft.

To note, model year 1976 is the only year half-ton 4WDs used the integral system with an FE engine.

 

Thank you for a thorough description.
Sounds handful. I am not in the position to sleeve my frame just yet or as other members in the forum drilled new holes yo instal their conversions and mods.
The way i figured it since there is a power steering box available i could replace the manual box with little modification, but as you pointed out it needs a much broader modification.

At this point i am just done with rebuilding my power assist steering and the only thing that worries me is the steering cylinder sitting almost underneath the front axle with shaft being exposed (i am putting a boot). If not careful being off road that thing might be bent or worse - torn off and it is a $500 replacement.

Nick

 

Hio silver - would you mind posting some images of your p/s system - if you have any. We have same year vehicle.


On the other note... we have this website that claiming the manual replacement with just a box and a rod...
http://benchworksteering.com/product...ng-conversion/

And I read your posts from 2014 HIO Sliver about this website. What are your thoughts about it?


Thanks

 

Sleeving is recommended because the frame section for the rear two holes ends up on a slanted portion of the boxed frame rail.

The most important pic is below... the rear two holes are sleeved.. the bolt for the forward hole was snaked into the boxed section and simply nutted... no sleeve.

This pic below is from early in the swap but you can see the gear's relative position to the coil bucket. Whoever owned this rig before me fabbed up a dual shock mount by welding a plate on the forward side of the coil bucket and a tab to the front of the C-bracket below. Hokey and totally unnecessary with how stiff these trucks ride.

I did my swap for $353. Compare that to the Benchworks system and you may understand why I chose this route (I also wanted to pay off my mortgage as soon as possible!). I scored the steering gear but it turned out to have lots of play. There was a Redhead Steering group by about a year ago and was replaced... all is night and tight now.

Oh, a last note.. your oil filter is horizontal, right? Well, the integral steering box below and a spec-oil filter will share the same space so either a 90-degree housing is needed or a shorter oil filter... I went with the latter with an Motorcraft FL-300.. the FL-1's little brother.