Hello,
So I used to frequent this forum when I bought my 2004 F150 Fx4 brand new... I sold the truck this year....

I now want/need another truck.

I have always been into old cars, and have restored a few myself.

I'm looking at a 64 Ford F100 that is for sale locally. The body is not super bad.
The interior sucks, the seat was replaced with two captains chairs from a van or something. Because of this, they put a small little steering wheel on the truck.

The motor has been replaced with a mid 70's 351. Seems to run pretty well.

The steering was changed over from original manual to power steering.

The kid that is selling it, said that the power steering gearbox blew out. It leaked two quarts of fluid per day.

He replaced it with a manual steering gearbox. And threw the power gearbox in the garbage...

From here I have two questions:
If I were to buy this truck...
1) What power steering gearbox will work in this application?
2) Is it possible that the pressure from the 70's steering pump was too great for the power gearbox that was installed (I don't know what year the power gearbox was)

With the combination of the small steering wheel, and no power steering the truck is almost undrivable. I know. I tried to drive it and darn near hit two parked cars. It is crazy hard. Not only is it impossible to turn, it doesn't straighten out when you let go of the wheel. It keeps in the position.

I looked a the gearbox and noticed that the bolts connecting the steering column were bending from how hard you have to crank on the wheel to turn the thing.

I'm torn. I would like to buy this truck since it seems like it would be a great "dump run" truck, but don't want to sink a million bucks into getting it road worthy.

Any Thoughts?

 

There was no power steering gear box for a 64. Are you certain its a 64. If it has a solid monobeam axle it is, if not you most likely have a 65 or 66 which are esentialy the same body.
The 64 had ram type power assist that attached to the manual steering box. They still sell it for about $1000. With the factory 17" wheel and the manual box I have no problom driving my 64. At a dead stop on concrete though you get a workout however.

There is a toyota power steering modification that can be used on the 61-64 trucks but I would rather eat a $**t sandwich then put a rice part on my american iron.
If it is a 65 or newer truck you can use a saginaw PS box off of a 70's ford truck for around a $120.

Look closely, You may have a heap or a jirry rig that you wont be happy with.

 

I am wondering if the kid who has it did the power steering conversion or if he got it that way. Usually you can take the power steering out of a 73-79 truck and swap it in on the 65-66. I have to wonder how much was changed when they did it.

 

Actually, a Bendix box was available from 65-early 69, 69 and up used a Ford box. The 65-68 manual steer trucks have a longer steering shaft than the factory poweer steer trucks. If the wheel doesn't return very well, the PO may very well have cranked down the adjustment screw on the box and the gears are binding. Can you post the VIN so we know if it was actually a 64 or 65?

 

1961/64 F100 2WD's have front leaf springs.

1965 and later F100 2WD's have Twin-I-Beam front suspension, front coil springs.

This truck...as described...is gonna be an expensive rolling pile of miseries to fix all the sins. Has been modified with parts from who knows what?

IMO, you should look for something else.

 

Yeah I am starting to think I want to go that route...

It just seems that this *could* be a really decent vehicle, with a little (or a lot) of work.

I asked the seller to send me some pictures of the steering set up, perhaps he will and I can post them here.

He seems very motivated to sell (I wonder why....)

Perhaps, if the price is super right, I'll take the gamble and try and get this steering figured out. Who knows.

The motor seems strong and it's sitting on about $600 in new tires.

I've had and driven manual steer vehicles obviously. There is definitely something wrong with this one. I'm not a small guy, but I can barely turn the wheel when moving. When stopped, forget it. You'll snap off the bolts on the steering wheel before you'll get the wheels to turn.

It's a shame this was done to this truck, the body is probably a 8/10 if I had to guess. Typical rust in typical Wisconsin truck areas.

I'll keep looking. If anyone in the Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago area have a 50's or 60's drivable pick up in the 1,000 - 2,000 range, look me up. I'm not looking for a show car, but I don't really want a rust bucket either. I've seen quite a few lately in my price range, but they're gone by the time I get a hold of the seller.

 

You may also be able to talk to some of the resto shops or other FTE members that have converted to indepentant suspensions to get an idea how much their take offs cost. Just a thought to keep from passing on a descent project that may not be too bad of a deal if you are patient.

It sounds like the steering linkages are binding due to misaligned parts.

 

I wonder if the kin pin(s) might be frozen on this one. That could be the cause of the hard steering and possibly why the previous owner ruined the power steering gear. My 66 SWB which I sold had a king pin that wasn't frozen but was rusty and corroded. The binding in the king pin coupled with the high mileage worn out steering gear (manual) made it a real treat to drive home on I580 through the bay area.

 

I have had my '66 for over 30 years, and have done a lot of easy bolt-on upgrades to it using '73 - '79 parts trucks,
If I were you, I would
1. Hold out for a '65 or '66. You get the old-school look but the later school technology.
2. Get a rust free one from out West or down South. The money you spend on transporting it will be far less than the money and time what you will spend in repairing a rotted out truck.