still without a manual over here. anybody have experience removing the steering box from a 63 f100? i have the pitman arm off, and have the 3 frame bolts off, just sprayed everything down with degreaser to get a better view of the box itself.

to remove just the box, do i need to slack up the steering shaft, or should it just disconnect and then rotate the box out of the way? depending on how much work its going to take, i may just shim the output shaft to get rid of all the slack and rig it long enough to go pick up the fsj front components for the swap.

thanks in advance,
trin

 

Trin you have to pull the box and colum as an assembly. The steering shaft does not separate. Remove the floor shields and rubber flap gasket. Removing the steering wheel will give you more room to manuver. Remove the box to frame bolts then the support strap under the dash. Pull the box toward the engine to clear the pitman arm shaft from the frame, then rotate the box as you pull it up through the floor. It's a PITA but it will come out. Rich, BTW welcome to FTE

 

thanks for the welcome.

here's what i have so far... busted up tierod, am going to bend it back into shape soon, and the steering box is.. who knows :P right now i have 6-8" of play in my steering wheel, when i torque the wheel, i can see the pitman arm shaft move up and over..

all i need is for the steering to last about 1200 or so miles, then i am removing the front axle, steering box, etc and replacing it with a kaiser fsj front axle and steering assembly.. i guess my main scenario i need input in right now is:

i measured the hole in the frame at 1.45 inches, pitman arm shaft at 1.15 inches. with how much trouble it is to remove the steering boix, and seeing as i only need it to function for 1200 more miles or so...

if i were to take a piece of 1/4" mild-steel plate, drill a 1.25" or so in it, find a piece of copper tube that will fit the hole and slide over the pitman shaft, then spot weld it to the frame.. would that hopefully tighten up me steering and last long enough for the trip?

the truck is now running great, still have to play with the clutch a bit as it hardshifts and when clutch is released it slips a bit.. but for the most part i am ready to make the trip to pick up the fsj front end, and some other parts, and pull my jeep back to san antonio to work on it.. so need to find a way to tighten the steering up a bit without dropping much money into it, as i won't be using any of the components that need fixing after the trip.

trin

 

Trin it sounds like the pitman shaft bearings are sloppy. I don't remember how adjustable it is. I would avoid using backyard engineering on my steering system. It would be easier and safer to pull the box take it apart fix it and reinstall it than to fabricate a bushing where the shaft passes through the frame. The steering box is really simple to take apart and put back together. The whole job can be done on a Saturday.

 

k, will see what i can do this weekend then. the rain out here has pretty much brought everything to a standstill, i'm thinking of considering the weekend a loss and just working on getting all the stuff together for the exhaust relocation. need to move it to the driver's side in order to clear the new t-case and front driveshaft.

 

Excuse me for not paying closer attention but are you making it a 4X4. IS the Kaiser FSJ some kind of jeep?

 

yeah, kaiser jeep wagoneer, either that or an older IH truck, am going to replace my front axle, wheel and brake assembly, and steering with the donor parts. the jeep may be an automatic, if so its a dana 21 t-case, which is relatively useless to me at this time, so will probably stash it away for a desert kart project with full time 4wd. the ih however should have a dana 18, 20, or 300 in it, which will work quite well for my purposes.

main reasons i didn't want to pull the steering box if it's going to take a while and keep it out of commission is, 1) replacing all the front components anyway, 2) short on cash, 3) shorter on cash now that the clutch in my daily driver decided to take a vacation without me, 4) will probably be even shorter on cash tomorrow since my gf's car just decided to pop up a check engine light after driving in the rain all day. i figured fabbing a bushing would take me an hour or so at most, and should last long enough for a round trip to pick up the donor parts and my spare vehicle from big bend.

the truck is a 2wd 63 f100, unfortunately the junkyards in my area have outrageous prices for anything they consider classic, no matter how trashed it is, and all the 4x4's i have found are missing the tranny, t-case, and front axle assembly. second unfortunate event is, i live in an area that is mainly bentonite and need the 4wd to get through the canyon areas and river roads.

 

So you are doing a four wheel drive swap. The steering box you have is shot. Simple there are no safe band aids to fix it either.

The Ford factory 4x4 61 to 65 F100 and F250 4x4s 61 to 66 use a Gemmer 335 steering box. This is a stouter box than the standard ford integral shaft box. needed for the added torque placed on the box when the front wheels are pulling. The box you have is toast. The only fix is to use a Gemmer box in a four wheel drive application.

This same 335 Gemmer box was used in trucks all the way up to F600 It was also used in B, and P series trucks. A stout unit.

Garbz

 

Garbz how are you likin Phoenix. Could Trin use a power steering box from a newer donor.

 

yep, the steering box is toast, the bandaid approach is for a 2wd application so that i can make it to big bend to pick up all the stuff to perform the swap, and pick up my spare vehicle since i am effectively stranded right now. i have a jeep cherokee sitting on the land right now that is running, but needs to be towed back to my current location (around 500 miles one way), also have a motorcycle sitting out there that needs the front brake rebuilt, so..

the truck currently is 2wd, the plan right now is to use the front axle (dana 27 i believe), wheel and brake assemblies, steering components, springs, shackles, etc off the jeep (i believe the jeep has power steering). grab the t-case off of the ih truck as it should be a dana 18 with pto and hopefully dual stick. relocate my exhaust down the driver's side, cut the steering shaft at the steering box and weld a universal joint to the end of it, link that to the power steering... and if all goes well, end up with a pretty decent trail rig / daily driver.

keep in mind that when i move back to big bend full time, my daily drive consists of 15-20 miles of dirt roads, washes, creek crossings, and a canyon + maybe 5 miles on paved roads.

i would have preferred to use the steering and 4wd components off of another ford f100 or f250, but i already own the jeep and the ih donor vehicle, and if i dont use them for the swap they will just continue to gather dust in a field. i know for a fact that the drive, steering, braking components on both donors are in very good shape as they were driven up until their engines blew and people got tired of working on them. i know i will have to have some pieces fabbed for this swap, but in the end, it should be a pretty decent ride.

 

I looked at your gallery thats going to be a sweet 4X4

 

heh the story on this truck is semi-amusing. i owned a 1985 F350 with a 460 engine, dual glasspack exhaust, 4 speed towing transmission (i could almost hit 75mph in 4th gear with 37" rear tires), holley 4-barrel carb, etc.. i paid 1200 for it from a ranch supply place here in texas, it was originally used at bandera downs as a horse trailer hauler. spent around 600 bux and a few hundred hours working on it, finally got it up to around 11mpg on the highway, which isn't bad considering i was at about 6mpg highway when i bought it.

Used it out in west texas for a year or two while moving supplies, towing vehicles, etc. then had to come back to san antonio to finalize my divorce and take care of some other business. I decided i wanted a new project, something that got better mileage, but was old enough that i wouldn't need a scanner to work on it out in the desert when i return. hit craigslist, and saw this one for trade. i got yelled at for 2 days straight after i traded titles and let the guy drive my truck away, which isn't bad considering all i had to go on were the pictures he had posted (2 blurry photos) and the assurance that the engine had been rebuilt about 2k miles ago.

my current girlfriend ragged on me most of the way to pick the 63 up, but when she saw it, her tone changed instantly, she fell in love with it... i popped the hood, checked the oil and coolant, got in, choked it, and it started right up.. let the choke out part way and got out to close the hood and do a once over before driving it the 50 or so miles back to san antonio.. on the way to san antonio, i was a little depressed that i could only get it up to 50mph or so, until i pulled in and parked it. at that point my gf informed me that i was doing 70 on the open stretches

my brother hates fords, with a passion... he is a jeep and classic vw person, when he got home and saw it, his comment was "if you modify this thing like you modified your jeep, i will lose all respect for you and probably kill you", so i guess he is now a convert

long story short, fred (guy i traded with) and myself are both very happy with the trade, he ended up with a great tow truck so he can find more vehicles like this to partially restore, and i ended up with a really beautiful project. mybrother has offered his welding expertise and knowledge of 4x4 systems to help me redo the front drivetrain, and with my old semi-useless knowledge of repair techniques i hope to fill all the holes from the body molding and such with lead plugs and keep the look as close to original as possible. once i work out all of the drive and steering issues, i may start working on removing the dents and such, but i may just fill the holes and give it another primer coat. i think a touch of wear on a truck this old does more for it's image than a full restoration, but then again, i am partial to old work trucks looking like they actually did some work at some point