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Awesome thankyou! You said non powerstereing but this one has it but pulley not hooked up. Haven't tried. Gear box seems extremely loose tightened box up and helped a little bit.
Rings with a split in them? Those are safe. The two part where one entire rim, almost half the wheel, "snaps" together like Tupperware--those are the potential problem ones.
Is yours titled as a '73?
I'm not sure how PS worked on that year--if it was linkage assist or integral.
Yup the ones with the split rings. You know I thought it was but now I gotta go dig the title out to verify. Solid dump truck for the most part short of the semi bouncy/ shaky front end. Just found tie rods, drag link , and king pins. Located a steering box where I'm at in alaska but I think its a power steering box. Manuel box sounds like less of a headache as I'm already driving it as a now power steering truck
I own substantially the same truck as yours. The HF54 power steering box has a sort of sleeve valve on the input shaft and if you don't have oil pressure to it, there is like almost a half-turn of slop at the wheel. Don't over-tighten the sector gear lash adjuster, it's very easy to over-tighten it.
Scroll to the bottom of this post and click on the link for a short video clip; see how much the steering box's input shaft moves up and down when turning? That only happens if the engine is off (or you have no power steering pump pressure). When running, the sleeve valve moves axially a little, lets fluid flow to the assist piston, and the sector gear moves; there's never any chance for that much lost motion.
IOW, fix the PS pump and a lot of your lost motion in the PS box goes away. I know from experience on this one. If you're running a HF54 PS box without a pump feeding it, that's a real handful as you're moving that wheel a whole lot for nothing.
Now, bad news: if you really want to replace that PS box, it's a helluva lotta work. The shop manual for '73 says you need to take off the cab transmission cover (which means cutting up the floor mat, as a 50+ year old mat will not survive being removed/reinstalled), remove the floorboard around the shifter and park brake, loosen the front engine mount, unbolt both exhaust headpipes, remove the bellhousing mount bolts, jack up the engine/trans and shift it to the right side as far as you can, in order to drop the HF54 out the bottom. There is simply not room between the left frame rail and the V8 exhaust manifold to R&R the box. The F700+ don't have this problem because there box is mounted on the outside of the frame rail.
I bought a replacement used PS box from another '73 F600 but never replaced mine, because most of the issue I had was due to an aftermarket drag link stabilizer that was not mounted properly. I removed it, and 90% of the "loose steering" issue went away. I didn't have loose tie rod ends, pitman arm end, or kingpins, all the issue was that aftermarket "shock absorber". Pics here.
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If you really want a replacement PS box, I'd sell mine. It's heavy! Shipping from "Seattle" to AK would be kind of expensive, but I'd crate it if you want.
But I doubt you need to replace it, unless you ran it for long with the sector screw too far in; that'll chew it up pretty fast, PS pump or not.
I have a like-new paper reprint of the '73 Truck shop manual that covers our trucks, and I'd make you a deal on that, too. I now use the PDF version pretty much exclusively these days.
Rings with a split in them? Those are safe. The two part where one entire rim, almost half the wheel, "snaps" together like Tupperware--those are the potential problem ones.
Is yours titled as a '73?
I'm not sure how PS worked on that year--if it was linkage assist or integral.
I'll look for more info.
So I dug the title out it is a '72. Power steering added on later? Idk was it an option to add on at factory?
I own substantially the same truck as yours. The HF54 power steering box has a sort of sleeve valve on the input shaft and if you don't have oil pressure to it, there is like almost a half-turn of slop at the wheel. Don't over-tighten the sector gear lash adjuster, it's very easy to over-tighten it.
Scroll to the bottom of this post and click on the link for a short video clip; see how much the steering box's input shaft moves up and down when turning? That only happens if the engine is off (or you have no power steering pump pressure). When running, the sleeve valve moves axially a little, lets fluid flow to the assist piston, and the sector gear moves; there's never any chance for that much lost motion.
IOW, fix the PS pump and a lot of your lost motion in the PS box goes away. I know from experience on this one. If you're running a HF54 PS box without a pump feeding it, that's a real handful as you're moving that wheel a whole lot for nothing.
Now, bad news: if you really want to replace that PS box, it's a helluva lotta work. The shop manual for '73 says you need to take off the cab transmission cover (which means cutting up the floor mat, as a 50+ year old mat will not survive being removed/reinstalled), remove the floorboard around the shifter and park brake, loosen the front engine mount, unbolt both exhaust headpipes, remove the bellhousing mount bolts, jack up the engine/trans and shift it to the right side as far as you can, in order to drop the HF54 out the bottom. There is simply not room between the left frame rail and the V8 exhaust manifold to R&R the box. The F700+ don't have this problem because there box is mounted on the outside of the frame rail.
I bought a replacement used PS box from another '73 F600 but never replaced mine, because most of the issue I had was due to an aftermarket drag link stabilizer that was not mounted properly. I removed it, and 90% of the "loose steering" issue went away. I didn't have loose tie rod ends, pitman arm end, or kingpins, all the issue was that aftermarket "shock absorber". Pics here.
---
If you really want a replacement PS box, I'd sell mine. It's heavy! Shipping from "Seattle" to AK would be kind of expensive, but I'd crate it if you want.
But I doubt you need to replace it, unless you ran it for long with the sector screw too far in; that'll chew it up pretty fast, PS pump or not.
I have a like-new paper reprint of the '73 Truck shop manual that covers our trucks, and I'd make you a deal on that, too. I now use the PDF version pretty much exclusively these days.
yea im going to go find a belt that fits and see what it does. Previous owner new very little and took poor care of it. I have put tons of hours and busted knuckles making her road worthy. Never really put a rush on it as i assumed it leaked or was faulty if it was disconnected
As to OEM or add on power steering--all I know is the MPC lists the front axle codes with notes indicating w/ or w/o PS, axle material, some optional equipment etc. Actually "C" is not listed for '72 in the MPC, but is listed in the Shop Manual as 6,000 lbs capacity with no notes.
If you work on the front axle, you should be able to find numbers etc. on the back passenger side giving you identifying info.
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