Power Steering (yet again)

[shdnobetter]

Got it off ebay . A company called XKUT , part #5952.

http://stores.ebay.com/XKUT

It looks like they have some nicer ones than I bought for $20 more.Ive reemed @ a half dozen holes and mine is still like new.You would get less chance of chatter with the spiral one...

Thanks again!

[shdnobetter]

OK, ok; I promise not to try this stuff again after 11 hrs. traveling and 3 beers! The previous post wasn't supposed to have the pics; this one was!

[shdnobetter]

Tonight I made up the steering shaft between the column and the box. I still have to take it back out, smooth the welds, bead blast it, & paint it.

Here is the shaft in place. I plug welded it to the splined section at the rear, and plug welded it and face welded it to the u-joint at the front. It's not going anywhere.

I used the splined section plus about 2" of the '90 shaft (top), and the u-joint from the '01. They were joined using 7/8 ODx.125" wall DOM tubing bored to 11/16 ID.

An overhead view of the new steering shaft.

This shows the support bearing and UHMW insert I machined to hold the bearing in the column. I slit the column tube so the band clamp would clamp down around the insert and bearing, and a dab of Loctite keeps the shaft from spinning in the bearing.

Next up; replacing the bronze cone upper steering knuckle bearings, then the drag link, pump, and hoses.

[jimmy]

Very nice, Great minds think alike. I bought a Nissan box a while back to use but with my wide wheels on a powerwagon I still had pitman arm problems. So I tried six other boxes before I settled on the 78-79 ford 4x4 3/4 box. Its a mirror image of the nissan box, but is not metric and pitman arms from almost anything will fit. My other hang up was reaming the pitman arm out far enough for large 4x4 tie rod ends. I was waned about useing rod ends be cause they don't hold up in daily driver service--- Just what people are telling me. Also did you box your frame or use a plate on the inside--- I've seen lots of frames crack, including factory applications. Not trying to tell you what to do just something to think about.

My posting is in the powerwagon page littled Front Spring Eyes, I origanaly asked a question about front springs, then it spun into 4 pages of steering box.

Nice work!, The Nissan box looks like it may fit a 2WD better? My brother wants PS for his 69 d100.

Check out my build, scroll through the pictures because they are not in order
http://jims69dodgeproject.blogspot.com/

Jimmy

[shdnobetter]

Thanks, Jimmy. No, I didn't box the frame; I just didn't get the feeling that it was necessary. I may yet put a plate on the inside, though.
Did you have or see clearance issues between the pitman arm and the tire at right lock? Mine is close, but these Pro Comp wheels have a lot of offset to the inside (is that negative or positive, I can never remember?), so I would think most any other aftermarket wheel would have even more clearance. My hunch is there wouldn't be too much difference between 2wd and 4wd, but it's hard to say without measuring.
I don't have a problem with reaming out the end of the Nissan arm; it's only a net increase in the diameter of the hole of about 2mm or .080", once I find the right tie rod ends, that is.
I have scrapped the spherical rod end idea for the drag link, though; they won't allow a steep enough angle for the drag link before binding, so I'm on the hunt for the right tie rod ends: 1.5" taper per foot, 1/2" or 9/16" thread on the tapered stud, and 3/4-16 thread for the tie rod.
I'm also looking for tapered roller bearings for the upper steering knuckles; $90 for a pair of the bronze units doesn't appeal to me.

[nfury8]

Nice! That is exactly how I pictured things lining up in my head when I looked at the Toyota IFS box.

[jimmy]

Yes, I have medium dish wheels, and the tires would just hit. I was going to live with it, but then I installed a 92' Dana 60 with Cummins springs and it turns sharper--alot sharper. Some day I'm going to get rid of the 16.5'sx9.75 wheels and I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have problems. I also wanted to keep all the tierod ends the same size to keep it all as strong as posible. Spokane - Eastern Wasington, North Idaho, and Western Montana Roads are the worst roads in the country. I just feel better about keeping things strong.

Maybe truck frames don't crack other places like they do around here. Do people in other places have that problem?
Big tires, bad roads, and cold temperatures can really brake things.

Once again -- Great Job... I'm glad their are great Power steering options out their for sweptlines.

Jimmy

[shdnobetter]

Thanks, you guys!
I've ordered a Moog ES375R, which is supposed to have 3/4-16 thread on the shank, a 1.5"/ft. taper on the stud, and a shank offset from the jont body. Also a Moog ES258R, with the same thread on the shank, same taper on the stud,but using a 1/2" nut on the stud. This will reduce the amount I have to ream the Nissam arm. The ES375 R will go on the steering arm; with its offset it should make the drag link almost horizontal. If I wasn't on the cheap ('nother baby due next month) I'd buy a 3/4-16 LH tap to make the link's length more adjustable.

[shdnobetter]

Change of plans:
I've decided to go with a crossover setup. It's so simple to do it would a crime not to! I'm looking ahead to the day when I can lift this thing 4" or so and I think I should plan for more articulation than stock; I think the short 13" long drag link I would have with the first plan would produce too much bump steer.
Summit has some very high-quality-looking chrome-moly rod ends in 3/4-16 RH and LH thread, with 5/8" bores for $30 each. I'm thinking, get two of each and some more 1" DOM tubing, spring for the 3/4-16 LH tap, then fab up a new tie rod and drag link. The drag link would have to have a very gentle "S" bend in it (approx 15 deg. each way) to keep the rod ends at a good static angle, and I would only be boring the holes in the knuckles and pitman arm to 5/8". On the pass. side the lower end of the drag link would attach to the top of the arm on the knuckle, and the tie rod would attach underneath, like it is now, both using the same hole. Does anyone see anything wrong with this plan?

[shdnobetter]

Picked up a pump from PickaPArt yesterday from an '86 D100 for $15, including the industrial-strength mounting brackets.
Ordered up some chrome-moly rod ends and seals for them from Summit, and a couple of slick adjusters from Foothill Off-Road, that are made by QA1. These have a hex section that's threaded 3/4-16 LH, and a male section that's threaded 3/4-16 RH. One will go on the drag link, to center the steering wheel, and the other will go on the new tie rod for toe-in adjustment.
Project's on hold for a few days; taking the wife to the hospital tonight-baby's on the way!!

[jimmy]

Congrats, Is it a boy or girl? My wife and I are waiting could be tonight or next week.

Jimmy

[shdnobetter]

Thanks, Jimmy! It's another girl; this makes two of each. My other girl (19 mo.) calls herself "Shop Girl".
Good luck on yours!

[shdnobetter]

I have power steering!!! It turns as easily as my '99 Expedition; one finger is all it takes to turn it standing still, and I have about 3 5/8 turns, lock-to-lock.
13" steering wheel, here I come!
I'm probably postponing the crossover steering until I have it lifted; I did an articulation test the other night and the spring comes up to within 1/4" of the bottom of the pitman arm with the left front wheel under heavy compression and the wheels turned to the right. I thought about adding another bump stop, a hard urethane one, to keep the spring from slamming against the bottom of the pitman arm under compression, but for now I'll just run the prototype drag link connected to the stock steering arm.
A local hydraulic shop made up a pressure hose for me with 3/8" female JIC 90 deg. ends, and supplied a couple of adapter fittings for the box and the pump. To my surprise the outlet of the pump is 16/1.5mm thread, just like the inlet/outlet of the box! I used transmission cooler-rated 3/8" hose for the return, with one of the original Nissan fittings at the box.
The good news is the prototype drag link doesn't bind at either full compression or full rebound.
The bad news is the QA1 rod adjusters I ordered for the crossover steering arrived today, but they're wrong! The website of the outfit I ordered them from states that they're supposed to have RH male thread/ LH female thread, but they're just the opposite! The guy I talked to is going to check with QA1 and see what the deal is and get back to me.
Photos to follow in a day or so.

[MountainMoparRobin]

congradulations

[shdnobetter]

I finally have all the stuff I need to do the crossover steering; might start on that this weekend. I'm going for a redesign of the steering shaft, though. I don't like the flex that results from having the flex joint at the the bottom of the column and right next to the u-joint. It was probably all right on the 4-Runner it came from as it was in a different location. The good news: I took a walk through Pick-A-Part this afternoon and came across a shaft from a '98 Ford E-150 van. It has a slick little CV type joint at the top, a telescoping shaft, and a u-joint with vibration isolator at the bottom that will fit the Nissan steering gear input spline with just a little coaxing. The most work involved in using this shaft will be to remove the column shaft and machine the end of it to the same squarish profile that the Ford joint uses- it's something like .550x.550 with one side rounded.

[shdnobetter]

Here's the newest (and last) version of the steering shaft; finally got it installed last week.

'98 Ford Econoline 150 steering shaft before it fell under the saw. Note the cute little double-Cardan u-joint; stock column angle is a little sharp for a single u-joint, so this looked like a perfect solution. I almost got away with simply clamping the 3/4"-36 spline Ford front u-joint to the 11/16"-36 spline on the Nissan box, but it put the joint in a bind.

Ford Shaft.jpg (20.32 KiB) Viewed 683 times

Nissan u-joint with internally splined tube. This u-joint attaches to the steering box.

Nissan U-joint.jpg (19.73 KiB) Viewed 683 times

Splined sections of the Ford shaft. Male spline is hard rubber or soft plastic; absorbs vibration and allows flex between the cab/chassis.

Splined sections.jpg (21.17 KiB) Viewed 683 times

Nissan joint section cut to length, Ford male shaft section cut to length and pressed into the Nissan joint, ready for plug welding.

Shaft before plug welding.jpg (20.82 KiB) Viewed 683 times

Profile of the hole in the end of the Ford double-Cardan u-joint. I machined the end of the stock column shaft to match.

$15 pick-a-part pump from a 1986 D-150. Pump had to be shimmed forward about 3/16"; I think it's due to a difference in the pulley mounting between years; the '71 pulley is all one piece.

Pump.jpg (41.24 KiB) Viewed 683 times

Hose arrangement; the pressure hose is further away from the header than it appears. 16mm/JIC adapter screwed right into the pump discharge port. I had the hose guy clock the ends 90 deg. apart. Return hose is standard stuff, utilized one of the Nissan banjo fittings and 3-4" of the tube.

hoses.jpg (42.06 KiB) Viewed 683 times

Oops; looks like I forgot to add a pic of the shaft painted and installed. Soon to come!