run power steering w/o belt?

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68 A

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i dont like the feel of the power steering, the car tends to easily wander with it. I took the belt off the power steering pump the other day and i like the way that feels alot better.

I am not going to convert it to manual right now or i will never get to drive the car, i will wait to winter if i do it.

Can i drive the car without running the pump? Is it going to hurt the steering box i have in the car now? or will there be no mechanical problems?

Thanks,

Steve
 
i dont like the feel of the power steering, the car tends to easily wander with it. I took the belt off the power steering pump the other day and i like the way that feels alot better.

I am not going to convert it to manual right now or i will never get to drive the car, i will wait to winter if i do it.

Can i drive the car without running the pump? Is it going to hurt the steering box i have in the car now? or will there be no mechanical problems?

You can drive it but it's not very good for the pump or steering box (read long term). I would suggest driving it with the belt on but tighten that bolt on top steering (see link http://www.firmfeel.com/powerst_abe.htm)

That nut and set screw at top can take out some of the play, but money says it's getting old and it's time to rebuild or replace.

Thanks
 
I don't like the feeling of the power steering wandering either... that's why I ordered up a manual steering box ;) I was told by many an old Mopar mechanic that removing the belt is NOT good for the power steering box.
 
i've seen the price for a new manual box at $400, but i haven't looked around too much yet.

if i'm gonna spend $400 on that, why not just drop $1,200 and get a rack and pinion setup...

thanks for the info!

Steve
 
i've seen the price for a new manual box at $400, but i haven't looked around too much yet.

if i'm gonna spend $400 on that, why not just drop $1,200 and get a rack and pinion setup...

thanks for the info!

Steve

Or you could just get an AlterKtion K-frame with the rack and pinion option for few thou more. :) 'Aint hot rodding fun?
 
haha, it certainly is. i bought the car 3 years ago to drive and do a little work on while i restored the Barracuda. Now i have $13,000 in the dart (it still needs body work), i've driven it 500 miles, and haven't touched the Barracuda.

its a big snowball...

Steve
 
i have a cure for that wandering


I always hated the feel of Mopar p/s myself ....then I learned how to correct it by accident. Now my car steerswith the proper feel to it. I replaced the steering box with a rebuilt one from Advance Auto for $100 ....But I forgot to swap out the restrictor from the old pump to the new one and by the time I figured out that it was still in the core unit they had shipped it out . So I made one out of a piece of brass and since I didn't know the orifice size I just started with a guess and then enlarged it from there. By pushing it into the return hose to the pump it releives some of the over pressure to the gearbox and gets rid of that over assist feeling. I have owned this car since 1970 and hated the way it steers- even rebuilt the front end twice -no improvement- replaced the gearbox with used ones for abody and a b-body ...no improvement -and spent a fortune on alignment and frame shops looking for a problem.... then I get forgetfull and it cures it all....lol8)
 
i have a cure for that wandering


I always hated the feel of Mopar p/s myself ....then I learned how to correct it by accident. Now my car steerswith the proper feel to it. I replaced the steering box with a rebuilt one from Advance Auto for $100 ....But I forgot to swap out the restrictor from the old pump to the new one and by the time I figured out that it was still in the core unit they had shipped it out . So I made one out of a piece of brass and since I didn't know the orifice size I just started with a guess and then enlarged it from there. By pushing it into the return hose to the pump it releives some of the over pressure to the gearbox and gets rid of that over assist feeling. I have owned this car since 1970 and hated the way it steers- even rebuilt the front end twice -no improvement- replaced the gearbox with used ones for abody and a b-body ...no improvement -and spent a fortune on alignment and frame shops looking for a problem.... then I get forgetfull and it cures it all....lol8)

Can you give more details, size of the hole,pushed it in the return hose? I'd like to try this on mine. Thanks
 
if i'm gonna spend $400 on that, why not just drop $1,200 and get a rack and pinion setup...


because i haven't seen a $1200 r&p set up yet that works properly.


best thing for the $400 to do is buy a firm feel stage 3 box. i have a few friends with them and they love them. will putting one in jamies dart one of these days.
 
I had a Firm Feel box that leaked, then went with a Steer 'n Gear unit and been happy ever since. I don't know exactly what they do with them, building them tighter somehow, but it works. My steering is straight and solid with with no overboost or wandering whatsoever. May be the best money I've spent on the car so far.
 
I had a Firm Feel box that leaked, then went with a Steer 'n Gear unit and been happy ever since.


i have a buddy that had a steer and gear in his challenger and constantly had play in it. he hated it. went with a frim feel stage 3 and loves it. personally i hear good and bad about both. don't think you could go wrong either way.
 
I think you have to get the firm builds - stage 3 or XX firm. The other stages are probably not much different than stockers.
 
Setting the caster correctly, and slight toe-in, not toe-out eliminates wandering.

i rebuilt the front end myself and borrowed my neighbors tool to set caster and do the alignment. So i'm sure it is not perfect. I set them to what to book said, but i can't remember if they are set to toe in or out. I'll look into it and set the toe in if it is toed out.


I thought that rack and pinion is supposed to steer and handle better. Must be there aren't any good kits out for $1,200? I dont want to spend that much anyway, probably just get a manual steering box. Wish i had done this when i had the engine out...

thanks

Steve
 
i have a cure for that wandering


I always hated the feel of Mopar p/s myself ....then I learned how to correct it by accident. Now my car steerswith the proper feel to it. I replaced the steering box with a rebuilt one from Advance Auto for $100 ....But I forgot to swap out the restrictor from the old pump to the new one and by the time I figured out that it was still in the core unit they had shipped it out . So I made one out of a piece of brass and since I didn't know the orifice size I just started with a guess and then enlarged it from there. By pushing it into the return hose to the pump it releives some of the over pressure to the gearbox and gets rid of that over assist feeling. I have owned this car since 1970 and hated the way it steers- even rebuilt the front end twice -no improvement- replaced the gearbox with used ones for abody and a b-body ...no improvement -and spent a fortune on alignment and frame shops looking for a problem.... then I get forgetfull and it cures it all....lol8)

I need to do this with my Ramcharger. There's so much boost after I rebuilt the pump and box that I can steer this 5000# truck with one finger. It's a creepy feeling and I need some resistance. I don't recall ever seeing a restrictor in the pump when I rebuilt it but this is a Saginaw box and pump also used in Ferds and GMs.

Like SGB says, do you recall the orfice size you started out or ended up at? I'm also assuming that when you say "a piece of brass" you're saying a cylindrical piece with an OD that matches the return hose ID.

Thanks for the info.
 
haha, it certainly is. i bought the car 3 years ago to drive and do a little work on while i restored the Barracuda. Now i have $13,000 in the dart (it still needs body work), i've driven it 500 miles, and haven't touched the Barracuda.

its a big snowball...

Steve

Yes Steve, It's the snowball from hell. Sure beats car payments and high insurance rates though. :)
 
ya guys I did this a couple years ago so mem is fuzzy . Tomorrow I will pull it and measure it for ya
and a couple of pics too maybe
 
Great, wish I'd known about this earlier. Now I have a new Firm Feel Stage 2 P/S box sitting in my garage.
 
I am sorry I dropped the ball on this one. But here is the skinny. It wasn't the return line but the pressure line I restricted. In the first picture is the fitting on the box with an approx hole size of 3/8 - in the 2nd picture is the adaptor I made with a 1/4 hole size (I also made washers with different size holes to fit into this adaptor to tune the pressure to the feel I wanted) and the last picture is the whole thing bolted together on the box.

reverse the picture order
 
I went to a pump and box out of a cop car in the Demon. Then I added a real (13" as opposed to the Grant 15") Tuff wheel. Set the car a degree past max for caster. It tracks solid with reasonable steering effort. (Would hate to have to parallel park it if the pump goes out.) Using 235/60-15 tires. The best thing I did for wandering though was to re-bush the front end.

On the 73 I'm working on, I plan on doing the same thing with the front end settings. Rather than a Tuff wheel, I have one left from a Dakota that someone took exception to.
 
I am sorry I dropped the ball on this one. But here is the skinny. It wasn't the return line but the pressure line I restricted. In the first picture is the fitting on the box with an approx hole size of 3/8 - in the 2nd picture is the adaptor I made with a 1/4 hole size (I also made washers with different size holes to fit into this adaptor to tune the pressure to the feel I wanted) and the last picture is the whole thing bolted together on the box.

reverse the picture order

Thanks outlaw! I'm going to give this a try on the truck.
 
I'm a little late to the party but if this works....Tech archive it......

And just a thought.. could one use a high pressure fuel regulator to dial up and down the pressure? how much pressure does the steering pump put out??
 
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