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I had a friend give me what he claimed to be a 65-66 power steering box. He said it was a direct bolt on swap to get away from the manual box. Can anyone here confirm this?
Todd, dittos on what Dave said. The work to change it is going to be about the same, so I would recommend you get a Saginaw/Ford gear from a 73 or later donor. It is a much better setup with cheaper parts should you need them.
Bendix steering box is same length as original manual steering box but wider, may be an issue if intend installing hedders. The Saginaw/Ford box is longer. Post pic's of both. Have a 65 F100 with floor shift and installed the Ford steering box and required minor refab at firewall.
If column shift and decide to go with the Saginaw/Ford box; either go with a later model steering column, or shorten the original.
Like jowilker says, the later swap is prob the best choice, and you get the bonus of loads of cheap, reliable parts. I choose that path, and have never had an issue. the hardest part is making the column shorter. Other than that, it's virtually a bolt on. I used the stock column in my truck, a floor shift, and simply cut it down, cleaned and squared up the flange, and welded it on the end of the steering shaft. Goes without saying that this needs to be the best weld you can make or buy. If I remember, I used a collar from another steering column to support the lower bearing and keep the shaft from walking up and down. It really wasn't too bad to do. That was years and years, miles and miles, and three engines ago...lol. If I could ever figure out how, I could snap a pic of it....
RocketMonkey28, The donor column will bolt in as well. I am running a 76 column in my 66. The dash cuff is different as is the wiring but minor issues. I used longer bolts at the dash, and had the column figured out & rewired in about an hour. The cuffs can be swapped. One day I might get around to installing a tilt that I have collecting dust.
I often suggest that Slick owners find a donor with the engine/tranny combo like that they want their truck to end up with. A little bit of research and patience can take a lot of worry out of an upgrade. IMHO
1958/64 F100/250 2WD's were offered with Ford dealer installed P/S only.
Ford did not offer any P/S in 1965 for F100/250 2WD's, either factory or dealer installed.
1966 was the first year Ford offered factory installed P/S on F100/250 2WD's.
The Bendix P/S Gear was used, also used on all 1967/68's and on 1969's before serial number D96,001.
1969 from serial number D96,001, all 1970 and later used Ford P/S.
P/S was not offered on F350's until midyear 1969, all used the Ford setup.
I own a 1962 F100 with NON p/s. If this was a factory option how hard is it to convert it to a Factory P/S setup? I noticed that LMC trucks sells all of the replacement parts for P/S. Could I piece together a system and do the conversion myself? Has anyone done this?
The way I read ND's post, the PS units on the pre-64 trucks were "dealer installed" not factory installed. You can buy a power assisted setup from Classic Performance Parts, but it's about $900, and that's not including the pump, pulley's and brackets.
I own a 1962 F100 with NON p/s. If this was a factory option how hard is it to convert it to a Factory P/S setup? I noticed that LMC trucks sells all of the replacement parts for P/S. Could I piece together a system and do the conversion myself? Has anyone done this?
Originally Posted by NumberDummy
1958/64 F100/250 2WD's were available with Ford DEALER installed P/S only.
P/S was not a factory option...it was only available at the parts counter.
Prolly less than 2% of all of the F100/250's total production had P/S installed.
Chances of finding one of these trucks today with P/S is slim and none.
NOS parts for these setups are also slim and none.
The stuff that LMC sells will not work with the dealer installed P/S, which was actually Power Assist P/S.