I am planning on put toyota steering box on my 53. I was wanting some opinions on whether I should go ahead an put power steering on or to keep cost down put a manual on it? Would the toyota manual steer easier then the stock box?

 

Anything is going to steer better than stock.

 

Mine steers really easy it will make a difference when turning at a slow pace or stopped. I had manual steering for a few years before I went to the Toyota box I'll never go back.

 

Yes according to those who have done it, the manual box is better than stock, with a quicker ratio and less effort by design than the stock box. Is it cheaper??? IMHO the jury is out on that. The manual boxes are harder to find, and how much lesss then 100.00 (the average cost of a power box) can it be and is that worth it? Used PS pumps are pretty cheap and virtually every engine > flathead has OEM mounts available if you hunt for them. The box mount is the same so that's a wash, and the big stickler is that a prefabricated pitman arm is available for the PS box but not for the manual box, so a 1 of a kind must be fabricated. How confident are you of your machining and welding skills are you to trust your (and your loved ones) life to them? Having to have one made by a pro is very much likely to cost more than buying the PS one IF you can find a pro willing to assume the liability for his work. (they are NOT interchangable) So in the bottom line of things with a little effort hunting down the parts the difference is likely to be < 2-300.00, to me that's a small sum in the big picture of future satisfaction and easily recovered in the increased resale value.

 

Thank you for the info. I will go ahead and go al the way with the power steering.

 

You'll be very, very glad you did! If you need any additional info, I can send you a copy of the tech article Fergusson 777 and I did a while back. It seems to have disappeared from the articles and specs tab.

 

AXracer,
Could you also send me the tech article, I like to keep great articles for my edification and future projects.
Thanks

 

Hey AX, I could sure use that article also.

Thanks, John

 

send me your email addys. click on my user name and click on send email message put steering box article in your message.

 

Hi I see you are going with power steering.I love it and what pushed me over to it was the company I had try to repair the manul steering box. they tired and after reinstalling twice,they could not fix it,so the cost was a wash for me,well just a few dollars more but worth the effort. Good luck and easy steering
Mark

 

AXracer I plan to stay with my stock column. Will I need to use a different column drop then the stock one? I would like your article. I will send my email to you.

 

You will need to modify the stock column to work with the Toy box, but the column to box connection is in approx the same place, so the stock column drop will give the stock steering column angle.
Our article is available online after all, I'm not sure exactly where since the link causes an error message to appear, but this link should take you to it:https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/...60_Trucks.html

 

Axracer,could you please send me the info as well?

 

Heya Roger,
The link in AXracer's latest post is active, I copied the article into a word document and have it saved. Here's a repost of the link for ease of reference:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/...60_Trucks.html
Thanks Again For Posting It AXracer!
Jon T

 

Thanks to Ax and John for putting this stuff on. I'm also getting ready to do the swap on my '54 and this makes the hunting for info easier.