steering conversion

[MountainMoparRobin]

I probably shouldn't mention this, however I'm lookin at changing to crossover steering, without getting in too much detail, switch the driver side to the passenger side. the box would come from a Dodge 1500 van from around the 80's, I'll be able to look into this more when I get a place to put the 68 I'm acquiring and take off the front clip to develop it

[magnumcharger]

Check out my webpage:
http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/journal ... &reverse=1

I was going to do it, but changed my mind. However, I still think it could be done - successfully - for the right A100.
Mine was not the right A100, as you'll see.
Now I have the parts, and would sell what I've got for $100.

[Ozdrums]

Magnumcharger.
Sorry I have not replied sooner but I thought this thread was pretty much dead as far as I was concerned and therefore had not checked back until now. Are you talking about selling the Toyota parts that you had previously acquired to do your Deora project? Can you explain why you decided against going this route and i see you are still of the opinion that it is a viable solution for a rack and pinion setup on an A100? If you are serious about selling the parts I would be interested in them. You can email me at Gozoon@comcast.net or I'll give you my cell or give me yours and I will call you.
Thanks
Greg

[Myhomebrew]

I would love to convert my '68 a100 to power steering! this is slick! more pics and part #'s the better ;-)

[sgq700]

In the 70's i used to drag race a A100 van with a 440 in it. I limited the front end travel to 3.5 inches, welded mounts to the straight axel for a pinto rack&pinion,welded end's on the rack for tie rod end's and used 3 steering u joints to couple the steering shaft(you must rotate the rack mount so the shaft points to the front of your truck) and the last piece of the shaft(that couples to the rack) must have a slip spline so it can move with the straight axel. I ran it for years(it went 11.20@120mph) and i drove it to the track. Never had any sterring problems with it! The problem was getting it to stop! If you do this make sure you mount the rack to keep the tie rod's in line. Again, it drove bitchen and was not hard to fab up

[A1hunerd]

So Ozdrums<
Did you buy the rack and pinion and did the story have a happy ending?

[Myhomebrew]

bump

[cargh]

I am trying to reach arvadamopar or MountainMoparRobin. I saw on an old blog you guys were putting a Toyota pickup power steering box into an A100. How did the job go and can you give me more specifics on the installation?!? I live in Colorado Springs and would love to talk with you some time. I've got a 65 A100 pickup that I just put disc brakes on all 4 wheels and another old 65 that's got a 392 hemi in the back bed. I bought it over a year ago and haven't had time or money to work on it. I might have to sell it, the wife says too many toys.

[magnumcharger]

Since this topic was bumped, I just read through it and thought I'd add a bit more information...

I'd considered adding the Toyota LE rack and pinion to my Deora (A108) straight axle. This set-up seems like a fairly good idea, and the Toyota also provides a 90-degree gearbox to change the steering input direction back to the proper alignment for the steering.
On the surface, it sounded like a good idea.
For my project however, I soon realized that it would mean putting the steering box directly in front of the driver was the absolute wrong thing, as the Deora has a front-entrance, and having anything to impede entering/exiting just complicates things.

As far as adapting this to an A100 (or D100), I don't think it's a bad idea per-se. Mounts would have to be fabricated (welded) on the axle itself to hold the rack. Not impossible.
The thing you'd have to contend with eventually would be the movement of the axle, with relation to the steering column. I'd considered buying a Flaming River steering column with a sliding shaft to account for the action.

Meanwhile, I got an S15 power box that does the trick for me, and puts everything in the right spot for entrance, so I'm happy with the results. How that could translate to a stock D100 or A100 is going to be somebody else's post here I guess!

Oh, and by the way...the Deora is coming along quite well! (So all that cutting of the original van wasn't a wasted effort!)