It is my understanding that some of the later (60's-70's?) trucks had a power assist that worked with the drag link. I have a friend looking to install such a system on a different vehicle that has the pitman arm/drag link setup. He does not want a power box but wants some power assist at least. He looked at tractor setups but they have a significant dead spot that would not work on a car. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

mid-70's F250 4x4's.

 

My 76 F250 4x4 crewcab came with such a monster. Nothing but trouble. Even after 2 professional rebuilds it was still a snake. Driving down the highway at 65 mph and all of a sudden it pulled hard to the right. Absolutely nothing I could do but slam on the brakes and hope I didn't smear anybody. I ended up in the ditch with no damage or injuries. It never did THAT again but it was always vague and sketchy. I should have called that truck Christine. IMO your buddy would be better off swapping in a conventional ps box.

 

Thanks for your response. Have any others had similar difficulties with this setup? With some searching I found the retro fit kit to use on other trucks. Can someone explain the basics of how at least it is supposed to work?

 

I'll see if I can find my old info on it. It's a series of springs, ***** and a couple of check valves all wrapped up in a cylinder if my memory serves me. I'll check the garage tonight.

 

Voo Doo, smoke, mirrors and a Ouija board. You must hold your mouth in just the right position when driving or it will dive to the right. Don't forget to sacrifice a goat at moon rise and lay the entrails on the front bumper.

 

The same sytem was used for alot of years by alot of different manufacturers. Both Ford and GM started using the power assist steering in the mid 50's. I think GM continued using it up through the 80's in the 'Vettes. As you already found out Ford used it up through the 70's in the trucks.

I had a 75 F-150 4x4 with the power assist. I didn't like it, it was danged squirrely and the power assist ram hung out in the front of everything and was easy to smash into rocks when you were offroad (expensive)

The ram itself is nothing more than a hydraulic ram. The valving assy that mounts in the steering intermediate shaft ahead of the steering box is the "brains" of the system. It basically tells the system (directs the flow of) the steering fluid to the ram to let it know how much pressure and in what direction to travel.

Do a google search for "power assist steering" and you will find some decent articles. A lot of them deal with hydraulic steering on rockcrawlers but there are also some write ups of the power assist steering. I think there are several articles dealing with installing the sytem on early Falcons and Mustangs.

In my oh so humble opinion You'd be better off fabricating a real power steering system as they have much better driveability and road feel than a cheap imitation.

Good luck
Bobby

 

I had it on my truck when I bought it. On the drive home my wife said it had to go immediately or she would never drive it again. It used a control box that fit in place of the drag link and a hydraulic cylinder attached to the axle at one end and the tie rod at the other.
To keep it from constantly steering one direction or the other, there is a significant dead spot at straight ahead. That compounds any free play in the box (and we all know about the free play in the stock boxes) allowing a lot of wander. The truck would change direction with every bump in the road, a curvy road was a constant battle to maintain desired turn, and passing or getting passed by an 18 wheeler on the interstate was quite "exciting"! There is no progession in the system like modern power steering, so as soon as the control valve is opened you get full power response, so you have to be very quick with opposite correction when making slight turns. Talk about drunken monkey steering...
Highly NOT recommended, especially for the high price.

 

Okay I found the factory literature on this unit. That surprises me because I was sure that I burnt it as an offering when I sold the truck. Voodoo is a powerful cleanser. Let me know if you're still interested and I'll scan and post the 10 pages in my gallery but as you can see by the posts this really isn't a good idea.

 

Thanks to all for your responses. I will pass on your sentiments to my friend-sounds like a very bad way to go. Did Ford get into legal trouble with this setup?

 

Bill,

I don't think there were ever any lawsuits on Ford or GM or whoever else used it. Heck it was used for 20+ years on numerous makes and models so it couldn't have been completely horrible. In the end it was a cheap "band-aid" and a poor substitue for a real power steering system.

Bobby

 

Remember, these trucks were used for work in their day, not for jaunts down the interstate. It was likely fine and better than manual for manuevering at low speeds with a heavy load and trips to town at < 30mph on unpaved country roads.
Lawsuits? The auto industry was god in the 50s especially the big 3. Look what they did to competition that built a superior product like Tucker.