I've seen a lot of talk about swapping out the old style 4X4 steering for the later model but I haven't seen anything about the problems with the old style. I just bought a '76 F-250 and I am in the process of restoring it. I have never seen this type steering and I'm wondering what the major problems with it were. If it was always problematic I will upgrade. If not, I would like to keep it original. I like the steering on my '78 F-150 much better but I have had to replace every piece of it over time as well. Anyway, i was just wondering what the advantages of a steering upgrade on the '76 would be. Oh yeah, I'm new here, any replies would be welcome. Thanks.

 

I think the main problems with the power assist type steering is that the cylinder is prone to leaking, the cylinder is somewhat vulnerable to trail hazards (if off-roading is your thing), and there are too many hoses for my taste. The problem with the upgrade is that it's not a trivial thing to do and the integeral power steering box is really expensive -- plan on spending about $500 on it if you don't have a core. I'm personally planning on doing the upgrade on my '76 f250 4x4, but I need to become employed first to afford it...

 

Just to expand on the accurate observations of trixie----There are (3) basic parts, the control valve which can be either a Bendix type , or the Garrison type , (2) the slave cylinder which is just a bi-directional hydraulic piston and can ALWAYS be rebuilt(mine cost 315) when I got it back , and(3) the 4 hydraulic lines.......The major problem is finding parts for the contol valve---As far as I know there are 0 sources for new parts---I was just lucky and found a completely rebuilt bendix type on ebay for 250------At first it didn't seem too work correctly----but after i eventually worked All the air out of the sytem , it functions quite well----If you are going too spend your hard earned Moola---My advice would be too buy the parts for the updated and conventional ps system!!!A rebuilt ps pump will run about 65 with your old core , the ps box , rebuilt will run bout 300 with a 200 core , the draglink connecting both front tires will run about 240 from LMC in kansas---If you don't have an LMC catalogue-(800-222-5664)---you should call and get one---they have pics of the various ps systems so you can differentiate between the various ps systems from each year(70---79)------Don't waste your money on rehabing the old parts----keep the old going till you can afford to buy the new parts and then do the conversion!!!!!Sparky has an excellent article in the tech section about this very subject----Mr. JS Workman has some very good pics of the conversion he did in his gallery!!!!!sorry for the long post!!!fd :-X11