Power steering kit

[Mkeller131]

Got the power steering kit for my 48 pw from VPW. I have cut and ground this easy fit bracket for 2 days. It will not clear the master cylinder for the brakes. Can somebody point me to some photos, videos, or advice on what the heck to do!? This "kit" is a joke.

[Mkeller131]

Ok, i see no replys so I would assume no experience doing it. I will post my assembly photos for anyone to check. This is NOT a direct bolt on kit when installed on a 48 PW. The bracket supplied must be highly modified. The bracket supplied is also extremely poorly made. The photos will show it is not even close to square and the holes for the power steering pump to mount are not spaced correctly nor are they aligned correctly. That is the first problem to overcome. Please see the photos of the modified bracket. On the 48 you will have to remove the bracket for the lower hood shield and weld it back on when you finish. You will also need to remove one of the bolts from the rubber bump stop for the springs. The bracket must be shortened to accomodate a double framed area towards the back of the frame. The gusset must be removed to clear the master cylinder for the brakes. The brake line must be capped off on the end and moved to the bottom port on the master cylinder. The bracket must be ground down at the area where it hits the plug in the end of the master cylinder.

Next,since the bolt holes will not line up on the bracket, the holes were overdrilled and the mounting points on the pump itself were drilled out. We used 7/16 bolts 2 1/2 inches long grade 8 with washers and nuts to secure the pump to the bracket. You can see from the photo the bracket is not square to the pump due to extremely poor fabrication of the bracket.

Now, once you have spent 3 days doing all that and grinding out the frame (get a good 4 inch angle grinder and make sure it has the safety guard and handle with it as well as a face shield for you) the assebled system should bolt right in. NOT!! Now you need to move the brake lines that run inside the frame and.....it still wont fit. Now you have to remove the starter, and remove the steering column since you have to cut it to fit. We are up to this step but need a crows foot wrench to get a starter bolt out so we cut it off there today. Ill post more as we complete it.

[Mkeller131]

Photos

[Mkeller131]

photos

[Mkeller131]

Additional Photos

[CSCameron]

Thanks for taking the time to post your project. I am interested in doing this conversion some day so it is appreciated. Here are some links you might not know about...

Snake River PS Conversion...
http://www.snakeriver4x4.com/psteering.php

Ugly Truckling PS Conversion...
http://www.uglytruckling.com/pw_power_steering.html

Hope those shed some light for you. Please keep posting your progress!

Clark

[W_A_Watson_II]

Who has looked at/Done the Electric PS converison?

[Greg Coffin]

Mkeller, I think you and I are living parallel lives. I bought a bracket from Snake River 4x4, and it's identical to the one you have. I'm having similar issues as you (though I don't have a factory master cylinder in the way), as well as other issues, so I decided to make my own bracket.

My truck is a 1944 WC63 6x6 with a 1957 PW cab and Dodge 318. The engine is a little close to the left side frame rail, and the Snake River bracket simply won't allow the Saginaw box to fit where I need it. So I'm designing my own bracket, and I'm going to have a local water jet cutter make the plates for me. I'll weld it all up and hopefully everything will work just fine.

Here are some of the changes I am making compared to the Snake River bracket:

- Squared up the mounting plate to the face plate. I can't for the life of me figure out why they have a 5 degree tilt to the mounting plate, but I'm pretty sure it's intentional. This will allow the sector shaft to stick out a little further from the frame, which will give a little more clearance between the pitman arm and the frame.
- Cut a relief notch in the bottom of the mounting plate to allow the brake and fuel lines to pass under the bracket, rather then swing out around the bracket.
- Centered the pitman arm shaft in the factory hole in the frame (the other bracket has it lower by 3/16" +/-)
- Realigned the mounting plate so that the steering box is now parallel to the frame. This puts the steering column shaft right where I need it in relation to the column slot in the firewall (which is a 3-1/2" offset from the inside of the frame rail on my truck).
- Made the pitman arm hole smaller to allow more material above the hole. The hole in the mock-up is a little off, but it will be good when the plates are cut.
- I will be adding a triangular gusset to the bottom of the bracket, but it will have a relief notch in it to allow the brake and fuel lines to pass underneath.
- I will drill and tap the mounting plate for the two 3/8-24 bolts that hold the inner fender bracket to the frame.

I also ground off the two lugs on the barrel of the steering box so I wouldn't have to notch the frame so much. I still have to cut the big notch for the upper mounting lug. I spent days trying to figure out a way to lower the box, or change the angle of the box so that the lug would slip under the frame, but both options created more problems than they solved. So notching I will be.

I have yet to fully install the bracket and box yet. I've been reluctant to notch the frame until I was absolutely sure I had to. I hope to fit everything up this weekend, make any final adjustments, and then send the drawings to the water jet cutter. I hope to have the plates back in a week.

[Mkeller131]

**** fine work there Greg. We are indeed living a parallel existence. I hope to at least get the steering box mounted in the truck before Monday. I agree on that tilt on the bracket, i have no idea why they did it. It throws off the entire geometry. Keep us posted how your build progresses.

[Greg Coffin]

Thanks Mk. I have a thread on the 6x6 in the 1 ton PW section. The steering has been a big issue lately, and I want to get it wrapped up so I can get back to putting the truck together.

[vcpowerwagon]

I did not want to remove metal from the frame either. I decided, much like Chris Case to bend the frame up to allow the new bracket and power steering box to fit. I also went with Greg Coffins Dual Master set up. I think dual circuits is worth the upgrade. It is a safer way to go. Under the cab M/C mount will allow the stock peddle setup in the cab vrs hanging peddles. Also you do not have to fit the "new" PS mounting plate around the original M/C location. I am at work and was unable to get a close up picture of the fit. This is the best photo I had showing the area in question. I will take a better one when I get home. The mounting bracket for the P/S box is another story. Mine is from Vintage also. It will have to be reworked. ps: IHC M2-4 loading the PW frame before the powered coat.

Happy Thanksgiving

[Mkeller131]

Can you tell me where to check out Chris Coffins double master cylinder setup? Sounds like something I would like to do.

[Greg Coffin]

Undercab Power Brake System

You can see all the details here. Feel free to email me if you want other info, just click on my name on the upper left part of this post.

Best,

[Mkeller131]

Update

Ok, here is an update. After many hours of grinding and fitting, I was finally able to mount the steering box and connect the pitman arm. Next, I turned my attention to mounting the alternator bracket (I am changing to a 12 volt system) and the power steering pump bracket. Seemed really simple in the directions. Just unbolt and bolt back on right? Wrong. Here is the big issue. My block is not held together with bolts. Everything is a stud and a nut. Guess what you can't do to a stud. Make it longer. The only way to do that is to remove the entire stud and get longer studs. I was changing my water pump anyway as it was leaking so I put the new one on and guess what. It is not the same thickness as the original (this is a 1948 model). The studs from the block are too short to go through the housing. In addition, the alternator bracket has to bolt down at one of the water pump studs. Since they were too short, it was not going to work. I happen to have a stud removal tool. Out it came. The first stud cracked right out. Guess what happens when you try to remove studs from a nearly 70 year old engine. The second stud snapped off in the block. Next, I had to remove the fender on the passenger site, the hood, and then the entire radiator assembly so I could drill out the broken stud at the water pump. Once I did that, I was able to get longer bolts and just bold it down. Easy bolt on kit right!! So now the entire front end sheet metal has been taken off. Next I tried to mount the power steering pump bracket. Guess what. The heads are held down with studs. Again, you can't make a stud longer, all you can do it remove and replace. We now already know what happens when you try to take a stud out of a 70 year old block. So that was not going to happen again. Instead, I had to take the bracket for the power steering pump to the machine shot to get it milled down. It was 3/8 inch steel that was to mount on top of the head. I have had it milled down to 3/16 inch thick, so I would have 3/16 inch of threads on the head studs to mount the **** thing. I haven't picked it up from the machine shop yet. Also, I had to have the alternator adjusting arm cut off and the offset installed the opposite direction. The original direction put the alternator arm touching the power steering pump bracket where a bolt has to go so it was not going to work at all. So far, I could have just picked a random car from the junkyard and it would have fit better than this kit from VPW.

[pambrosio]

Looks like a real pain. Shame the components are not so bolt on. The steering gear looks good in place though.

So I'm designing my own bracket, and I'm going to have a local water jet cutter make the plates for me. I'll weld it all up and hopefully everything will work just fine.

Greg, if it works out for you is there any interest in renting out that template so I can attempt to mimic it? If not I'm probably going to build my own once I get a box, but that would make things easier. Doing the research and seeing the issues with the fitment of the premade brackets I think staying away from them might save some frustration.