I think I found a new combination on the Scout power steering conversion. I'll post up part numbers and such when I catch my breath, but so far it looks good, is aligned and not making odd noises. After fully testing the steering on load, I'll know more.
The truck is a 74 FJ40, with a 69 F engine.
Steering box: I went with the scout power steering over other options. Mini-truck would have been simpler, for sure. I wanted a little more capacity if I ever go with bigger tires, sprung over, etc. I didn't see any real advantage over the FJ60 conversion so went with the scout. I used a late 70's scout box. I befriended a guy on a scout website and bought a unit rebuilt from him. Its a 4.25 turn. The spud to attach the steering shaft was 13/16th. I bought the steering shaft, u-joints, and the bearing seat from Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters. Kurt's kit was the most inexpensive option I could find to modify the steering shaft. I couldn't source ujoints any cheaper. I reinforced both sides of my frame with 1/4 inch plate and put piping spacers inbetween. This is the typical install.
Steering linkages: I am going to run FJ80 TRE. I have a FJ80 TRE reamer. I used a pitman arm from a late 80s wagoneer. This pitman was about the same length as my steering arms, which I thought was the rule of thumb for pitman arm length. Interestingly the stock Scout pitman arm is like twice as long...and looks like a donkey d. I welded the hole closed, then reamed it out to fit the 80 TRE. Linkages were made with 1.5 DOM tubing with 23mm tubing inserts.
Pump. I had a non leaking FJ60 power steering pump on the shelf, have two in fact and a rebuilt kit...so decided to not spring for a saginaw pump and bracket. The saginaw pump with a bracket from orangefj45 would have been a much easier install. However, I kinda like the big can of an air cleaner and didn't want to dink around with having to move it. So..I made it work. The power steering lines were made locally, but not without some difficulty. I'll get the part numbers as they were Gates parts and took the counter guy a while to source.
Steering cooler: I bough that unit online, I think on ebay several years ago. Its actually a honda power steering cooler.
Brackets. The York bracket was originally fabricated by 890man on the board here. I bought it from him several years back. I made my own bracket to mount the power steering pump on the side of the York.
Belts and such: Belt routing took the most time to figure out. I am running a dual alternator pulley on the stock 1F alternator. The pulley came from a 62 series alternator. I wanted another belt option in case I developed problems. So far so good. So, the inner loop runs the alternator, water pump and harmonic balancer, using a stock belt and tensioner. The outer loop runs from the harmonic balancer, over the water pump, grabs the YORK compressor and the power steering pump. The YORK is like an idler pulley unless switched on. Since it won't be on while I am really needing the steering pump, I felt fine. I didn't want to dink with trying to remove the harmonic balancer, having had a bad experience once, so over the years I kept my eye out for one of Mark's Offroad billet aluminum pulley. This extra pulley mounts to the harmonic balancer and allows for these kinds of conversions.
Misc: The five blade plastic fan interferred with the York pulley. I had to space out the fan with about 1/4 inch of washers. This was a knuckle breaker as I didn't remove the radiator or the shroud.
can't think of anything else at the moment...but thought a larger write up would be good for those doing searches down the road....
The truck is a 74 FJ40, with a 69 F engine.
Steering box: I went with the scout power steering over other options. Mini-truck would have been simpler, for sure. I wanted a little more capacity if I ever go with bigger tires, sprung over, etc. I didn't see any real advantage over the FJ60 conversion so went with the scout. I used a late 70's scout box. I befriended a guy on a scout website and bought a unit rebuilt from him. Its a 4.25 turn. The spud to attach the steering shaft was 13/16th. I bought the steering shaft, u-joints, and the bearing seat from Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters. Kurt's kit was the most inexpensive option I could find to modify the steering shaft. I couldn't source ujoints any cheaper. I reinforced both sides of my frame with 1/4 inch plate and put piping spacers inbetween. This is the typical install.
Steering linkages: I am going to run FJ80 TRE. I have a FJ80 TRE reamer. I used a pitman arm from a late 80s wagoneer. This pitman was about the same length as my steering arms, which I thought was the rule of thumb for pitman arm length. Interestingly the stock Scout pitman arm is like twice as long...and looks like a donkey d. I welded the hole closed, then reamed it out to fit the 80 TRE. Linkages were made with 1.5 DOM tubing with 23mm tubing inserts.
Pump. I had a non leaking FJ60 power steering pump on the shelf, have two in fact and a rebuilt kit...so decided to not spring for a saginaw pump and bracket. The saginaw pump with a bracket from orangefj45 would have been a much easier install. However, I kinda like the big can of an air cleaner and didn't want to dink around with having to move it. So..I made it work. The power steering lines were made locally, but not without some difficulty. I'll get the part numbers as they were Gates parts and took the counter guy a while to source.
Steering cooler: I bough that unit online, I think on ebay several years ago. Its actually a honda power steering cooler.
Brackets. The York bracket was originally fabricated by 890man on the board here. I bought it from him several years back. I made my own bracket to mount the power steering pump on the side of the York.
Belts and such: Belt routing took the most time to figure out. I am running a dual alternator pulley on the stock 1F alternator. The pulley came from a 62 series alternator. I wanted another belt option in case I developed problems. So far so good. So, the inner loop runs the alternator, water pump and harmonic balancer, using a stock belt and tensioner. The outer loop runs from the harmonic balancer, over the water pump, grabs the YORK compressor and the power steering pump. The YORK is like an idler pulley unless switched on. Since it won't be on while I am really needing the steering pump, I felt fine. I didn't want to dink with trying to remove the harmonic balancer, having had a bad experience once, so over the years I kept my eye out for one of Mark's Offroad billet aluminum pulley. This extra pulley mounts to the harmonic balancer and allows for these kinds of conversions.
Misc: The five blade plastic fan interferred with the York pulley. I had to space out the fan with about 1/4 inch of washers. This was a knuckle breaker as I didn't remove the radiator or the shroud.
can't think of anything else at the moment...but thought a larger write up would be good for those doing searches down the road....
