Power Steering

I'm a new A100 Pickup owner. I'm looking for advice on adding power steering to my 1966 A100 pickup. Any ideas on where to start?

Congratulations on the pick-up.

Unfortunately, there are only a few conversions that I have heard of that work well. Hopefully Nate can give you some guidance.

The manual steering on these As doesn't require that much effort if the front end is in good condition.

I recommend AGAINST the P/S. This was an option on the A-vans in 69 only on V8 automatics. My old TRAVCO Family Wagon had P/S. There is absolutely no road feel whatsoever and it felt like I was gonna drive off of the road. No problems with the system except leaks. I removed it and added a manual drag link and it steered 110% better.

Hi all,
Am new to this site having just bought a camper van in the UK. I would like to fit power steering to it along with disk brakes. I bought a kit from the states for the power steering but it came with a steering box that is going to be difficult to fit to the van. Does anyone know of a way round it using alternative parts or would anybody have the necessary parts required that they would be interested in selling?

Thanks,
Pete

I need some input on power steering. My '69 wsds parts van has a complete system, Should I move it to my '67 pickup or just sell the whole setup to offset the price of the van??

Never seen one. Can you post some pics?

I'll put some pics up late tomorrow, I have to drop the belly pan first.

Hi All. After running an Xplorer Campervan (a bit of a heavy beastie) for eight years without power steering and then fitting the factory power steering system, I've realised that the power steering suits the camper van. I only cruise at around 55 mph and at that speed, the lack of feel of the power steering doesn't really cause any problems. On the plus side, parking is much easier and its easier driving around town. This is particularly useful in England where one town seems to run straight into another one!
However, I ran a pick-up for seven years and there is no way I would have fitted power steering to that. For starters it didn't need it and cruising it at higher speeds (which I did), could have resulted in it drifting around a lot.

Terry in the UK

Thanks for the info Terry.

67a 100 pickup wrote:I need some input on power steering. My '69 wsds parts van has a complete system, Should I move it to my '67 pickup or just sell the whole setup to offset the price of the van??

Sell it! I actually had a system I was going to install on a 68 108 camp wagon I was restoring, Untill I drove a friends Explorer. Couldnt feel the road felt like I was on a flying carpet! Very scary didnt like it! So I sold it. If you want to install power steering, Try driveing someone elses first. make sure you like it. Depending where you sell it you will get a few hundred for it.

Thanks for the input, I'll get some pics of the system up here in the next couple of days before I pull it and put it on ebay. Have to go and help lay cement block again tomorrow at my brother-in-laws.

Here are the pics of the system.


lines run from the pump to a block on the draglink


and then to the steering assist cylinder

Thanks for the pics.

Never really understood how a normal power steering system works, much less an assist system. Does the block sense movement then feed the assist cylinder?

BTW - if the steering box (or even the worm gear assembly) is still good that would be worth some cash.

The steering gear box is good, this one is going in the pickup so I don't run the risk of screwing up the blue steering wheel and then I have to do some research on how to separate the gear box from the steering column. I have 2 spares that need to be taken apart, keep one and sell the other one.

the steering wheel is a friction fit to the top of the sector shaft of the gear assembly. it runs up from inside the box to where the wheel is on. a good wheel puller or a rocking motion back and forth will sometimes release the wheel from the shaft but a standard puller is the best. a lot of old steering gears were made in this fashion for whatever reason. possibly one less joint to wear out i guess. i have one spare left and the original one that was worn out. took it apart but nothing to save other than the case but i never threw any of it away. i'll try to post a pic wednesday after work. https://i.servimg.com/u/f88/14/28/55/02/copy_o11.jpg https://i.servimg.com/u/f88/14/28/55/02/copy_o15.jpg

Man, good thing I asked. I thought it should come apart down at the bottom by the gear box, not way up at the steering wheel. I would've ruined a gear box for sure.

there an ugly cuss of a thing and not easy to get out. the tube has the "muffler style clamp" at the bottom and it will move with the help of a midsize hammer. then remove the floor plate and the rest of the attaching hardware and its out. since i started driving my truck in 2002 i am on my second gear. one worn out and broke the pinion in the other. keep a spare if at all possible.

FYI - Detailed blow-up of the steering box:

http://missiondetail.com/Carshowpics/gearbox.gif

It was pretty easy to get out and the pitman arm came right of with about 3 turns on the gear puller . I have been spraying it with PB Blaster for the last 2 days, the stuff is great, especially if you spray the bolts a day ahead of when you want to remove them. Thanks for the blow up.

actually the blow up is for the 1/2 ton gear and not the a-100 van. very close in most areas but still a little different in others. they were known as d-100 w-100 and a few others.