curse the man who invented power asist stering

Guys if you are going manual do a complete manual swap. Dont do half a job. Leaving the power box with no assist isnt only a bitch to park but its not safe. If you get in a panic situation I guarantee you wont save it with no assist. The manual box is a different ratio than the power. If you were able to use the power box without assist Ford wouldnt have done it and saved a ton of money. The didnt do it for a reason. People would die and sue Fords ass off.

IMO the manual box drives a lot better than the power but if I had the choice the rack would be in it yesterday.

 

how hard are the manual steering boxes to find and how much are they?

 

i drive on a dirt road and one time when i had no power steering i was driving about 35-40 and coming to a stop i lightly touched the brake when i hit a small sand pit on the right side of the car, RIPPED that steering wheel right out of my hands! could of broke my arm if it was in the wrong place. there was nothing i could have done. my car was on 2 wheels for a little while. i ended up stuck in the ditch.

I've never seen a steering wheel spin that fast before.

 

ummmm, maverick not ranger 4X4..... JK

 

You can buy a rebuilt steering box for $140 http://www.stangerssite.com/GBrebuilding.html

 

At this point ... I am going to say you have never tried this ...

My tiny wife drove the car on the highway and really liked it. Never felt unsafe ... just don't ask her to parallel park it.

I have always felt safe at speed with my combo of power box with no assist. It is only at very low speed that it gets heavy.

If you are going fast enough to be in a "panic situation", you are going fast enough to steer it well. I will not be changing mine anytime soon.

 

there is a big difference between feeling safe and being safe
idk what the ratio difference between manual and power gear box's are but im sure if you were under the car and tried to turn/steer the tires by hand it would be much harder to do with a manual gear box then a power box. with a manual box you have a better mechanical advatage over the road. if your brakes were to fail only on the left side and the right side locks up your going to need all the help you can get to hold the steering wheel. believe me this has happened to me.

 

If the power steering ratio is better than the manual ratio, I'd want the power steering ratio regardless of power/non power brakes.

Just my 2 cents.

No brakes and harder to steer doesn't sound fun to me.

 

All my pencil neck buddies have a hard time parking/driving at slow speeds with my disconnected power steering Comet(I did the bracket for headers and when it snapped off, I said the hell with it lol)

 

i think you misunderstood me.
it would be easier to steer with the manual gear box then it would be with the power gear box with no assist. also i said nothing about power brakes. sorry if i didn't make myself clear.

if one side of the cars brakes were to lockup and not the other side the car will swerve to that direction.

 

i wish some one would post an article about converting to a rack and pinion steering using junk yard parts. i want to do it sometime but im not sure what kind of car i could get the rack off of.

 

My daily driver is a factory manual steering car. I purposely put a '76 power steering box on it to get the quicker steering. I love it, no way I would go back to the manual steering box. On the contrary to some posts here, I know that I have much better control of the car with the quicker ratio steering. My car is a daily driver, I put 24,000 miles on it last year. I have actually been in situations where a "panic" maneuver at highway speeds was necessary more then once, with both the manual and power steering boxes. I can react more quickly and confidently with the quicker ratio. Though for inexperienced drivers, I wouldn't recommend it, because they themselves would likely be panicking and the quicker ratio would make it easier to over correct.

I personally don't have a problem steering the car at all, as long as the car is rolling. It doesn't matter if it's only 3 mph in a parking lot, as long as it is rolling I can steer it fine, though at a dead stop it takes a little effort, after a while it becomes second nature to anticipate and steer the car only when it is moving when backing out of parking spots and whatever.

If one side of your brakes locks up at any decent rate of speed, you're going to have a very hard time controlling the car regardless of the steering box. I'd wager the bet that you would be heading for the ditch before you even realize what's happening, the steering wheel would possibly be ripped right out of your hands.

 

glad to hear from someone that actually done it both ways. now we know

 

Yea. I just don't think it's right to say leaving the power steering box on the car is half a$$ing it when converting to manual steering. I think it's a matter of personal preference more then anything.

 

Actually over the past 20 years I have probably drove a few hundred vehicles in this condition. We usually fix them though. I believe I am more than qualified to justify my post. Otherwise I wouldnt comment.
I dont post to start a who's right who's not thing. Its just my advice based on a lot of years in the trade at the dealership level with a ton of cash spent training me. I now help to train our apprentices with courses I develop through the dealer. I troubleshoot for 3 dealerships and two general shops. Yet I still enjoy to give my opinion/advice to guys who need it. Thats not too common in our trade. This forum gives me a chance to help and learn (lots of experience on here) about our cars. Go ahead and drive your car how you like with whatever set up you want. You have tried it and dont mind driving it so go for it. As for the original post who isnt sure what to do I still suggest a full swap to manual.
A panic situation could be low speed when a kid runs out in the road.