Electric power steering evolving? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter greenbeast
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I talked to a number of people about electric P/S while researching a conversion for the wife's '82. I talked extensively with the manufacturer. A couple of things to think about... I was told by Justin at Red Line that it pulls a lot of amps. If you are running a stock alternator, you'll probably want to upgrade. I would also have had to rebuild the stock box before installing electric P/S. I nixed for those reasons and because the wife didn't want to do any butchering on her Miss Scarlet.
I had Classis Cruisers of Salida install P/S using a Saginaw pump and rebuilt Toyota mini truck box. It looks factory. They had to add a custom mounting plate to adjust for a slight angle difference in the box vs. stock. Drives great. Good road feel. Only had a short experience with the new P/S because we had to pull the seats for some upholstery restoration. Can't wait to play on some rough trails. Cost was $1,550 installed out the door. So, it was a bunch cheaper than electric.
I had Classis Cruisers of Salida install P/S using a Saginaw pump and rebuilt Toyota mini truck box. It looks factory. They had to add a custom mounting plate to adjust for a slight angle difference in the box vs. stock. Drives great. Good road feel. Only had a short experience with the new P/S because we had to pull the seats for some upholstery restoration. Can't wait to play on some rough trails. Cost was $1,550 installed out the door. So, it was a bunch cheaper than electric.
Downey
SILVER Star
There are some down sides to any power steering conversion choice (electric, mini truck, FJ60, saginaw), but well worth the conversion no matter what. What I like about the Saginaw swap is it eliminates middle men in the system, fewer tie rod ends, consequently less slop or components to cause slop.
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I think Noah installed one. Screen name eludes me at the moment. It should come up in a thread search of this forum. Something like @73guppie
I did not use Racer65 kit but built it myself.
I love it so far.
I'm gonna say it depends on how you plan on using you cruiser.
I run 33's and wheeled it pretty hard at Rausch Creek for the CMCC in July.
Only issued I had was on hard downhills, while turning I would blow the 30 amp fuse. I put blame on myself because the unit is rated for 50 or 60 amp fuse. I have since upgraded the fuse. When the fuse blew I was back to normal manual steering. Quick stop, replace fuse and kept rolling.
It performed flawlessly otherwise.
I'm not sure how well it will do with larger tires but I think it will handle mild stuff with no problems.
For every day driving it is great .
I am doing a Sag on one of my others that gets wheeled harder. The plus side of electric it is a bolt on conversion when bought as a kit. Half a day and you have powersteering. HTH, Jeff
I love it so far.
I'm gonna say it depends on how you plan on using you cruiser.
I run 33's and wheeled it pretty hard at Rausch Creek for the CMCC in July.
Only issued I had was on hard downhills, while turning I would blow the 30 amp fuse. I put blame on myself because the unit is rated for 50 or 60 amp fuse. I have since upgraded the fuse. When the fuse blew I was back to normal manual steering. Quick stop, replace fuse and kept rolling.
It performed flawlessly otherwise.
I'm not sure how well it will do with larger tires but I think it will handle mild stuff with no problems.
For every day driving it is great .
I am doing a Sag on one of my others that gets wheeled harder. The plus side of electric it is a bolt on conversion when bought as a kit. Half a day and you have powersteering. HTH, Jeff
Some clarifications are in order. He is specifically asking about the EZ Electric Powering Steering on City Racer's website. You may have spoken to the DIY kit manufactuer ePowersteering, which is a different company and different system. The manufacturer for the Racer kit is in the Netherlands. Also, Redline does not sell the kit in question.
There is definitively no need to upgrade the stock alternator. The power output is controlled by a torque sensor. It only applies the necessary current on demand, unlike a traditional system that is taxing the engine all the time.
The steering box is un-touched by the EPS setup. Your decision to rebuild it is independent of EPS. In fact, I have not heard of anyone rebuilding the box as a result of putting in an EPS.
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Here are some folks with the kit:
@adistler1
@Bones
@thecrazygreek
You can also talk to Jonathan Ward's TLC, which has installed several units.
@adistler1
@Bones
@thecrazygreek
You can also talk to Jonathan Ward's TLC, which has installed several units.
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- Thread starter
- #9
Thanks, no wheeling strictly around town driving for the wife.
as Racer said, i bought and installed one in early june. straight up install. half day of work. i would definitely want a second set of hands to maneuver shaft in engine bay. other than that, it simple. direction are clear. it tucks away nicely, so good that if you don't know what you are looking for you would think its factory. had two hardcore classic car guys that don't like resto mods, look at install, and had no idea that it wasn't oem.
as for driving, its a dream. i have a toyota oem set up on my other 40 and much prefer the EZ power steering. wife likes it better too. best part, if it fails, you go right back to manual steering. in the two month i have had it, no failure. mostly street, forest service road driving. a few adventure off road with no issues.
roger is a great guy to deal with. he stands by his products, and quick to answer a question.
andy
any questions feel free to contact me.
as for driving, its a dream. i have a toyota oem set up on my other 40 and much prefer the EZ power steering. wife likes it better too. best part, if it fails, you go right back to manual steering. in the two month i have had it, no failure. mostly street, forest service road driving. a few adventure off road with no issues.
roger is a great guy to deal with. he stands by his products, and quick to answer a question.
andy
any questions feel free to contact me.
thecrazygreek
A.K.A. TheCraftyGreek
As mentioned I installed this kit in my 78.
Easy install, works great. I ended up setting my sensitivity to low. I did add all new tie rod ends just to tighten things up and it needed them anyways.
It's a spendy kit but easy and fast to install and i really like the on the fly adjustability which no other kit method offers.
Good luck.
Easy install, works great. I ended up setting my sensitivity to low. I did add all new tie rod ends just to tighten things up and it needed them anyways.
It's a spendy kit but easy and fast to install and i really like the on the fly adjustability which no other kit method offers.
Good luck.
- Thread starter
- #12
I do like the sensitivity idea!
I stand corrected. I talked with epowersteering and not City Racer, but Justin at Redline did mention the need for a possible alternator upgrade when using the system from epowersteering.
I love it. I installed mine outside in the dead of winter so it was kind of tough getting the motor positioned where it needed to be. The way it came from the factor, it was at too much of an angle, upwards. I did have to cut out a portion of the cowl to make it fit and there's a lot of grinding I had to do on my brake pedal to give me the clearance. There's a bolt that hits it and you've gotta grind it down until it clears. It is super sensitive and mine is usually set pretty low.
Sorry - bit late to the party.
I've been running EPS for a while (but not the EZ Dutch system Racer65 sells). EPS does NOT require a rebuilt steering box. With or without any system you need a tight/functional steering system in good shape for a multitude of reasons. Rebuilding a worn out steering box is not butchering anything. IMO there isn't a LESS intrusive way to install power steering then EPS - I could revert it back to stock in a matter of hours. It's so simple and works great (again - assuming you had a good manual system to start with).
The alternator upgrade suggestion is likely b/c of me....I worked with Ken at ePowerSteering and during the back/forth I mentioned to him I was going to upgrade the alternator as part of the upgrade. It may not have been strictly required.....but when I saw it had a 50 amp fuse and factoring headlights, radio, and other power draws I decided to have the original Toyota alternator re-wired to a higher amperage (roughly 100 now). My FJ40 project was a first for Ken - it's probably information that was passed on b/c it's what I did (for right or wrong).
Regarding the strength of EPS - there is now a 1960 Unimog 404 using Ken's system. I used to own a 1971 Unimog, if EPS can be used on a Unimog it's more then capable for a FJ40 running big tires. I suspect the weak link on the FJs will be the rest of the OEM system - not the EPS. That's where the saginaw system shines as it eliminates/simplifies the system w/ stouter components. For most of us EPS is more capable.
(FYI - I documented my build here.)
I've been running EPS for a while (but not the EZ Dutch system Racer65 sells). EPS does NOT require a rebuilt steering box. With or without any system you need a tight/functional steering system in good shape for a multitude of reasons. Rebuilding a worn out steering box is not butchering anything. IMO there isn't a LESS intrusive way to install power steering then EPS - I could revert it back to stock in a matter of hours. It's so simple and works great (again - assuming you had a good manual system to start with).
The alternator upgrade suggestion is likely b/c of me....I worked with Ken at ePowerSteering and during the back/forth I mentioned to him I was going to upgrade the alternator as part of the upgrade. It may not have been strictly required.....but when I saw it had a 50 amp fuse and factoring headlights, radio, and other power draws I decided to have the original Toyota alternator re-wired to a higher amperage (roughly 100 now). My FJ40 project was a first for Ken - it's probably information that was passed on b/c it's what I did (for right or wrong).
Regarding the strength of EPS - there is now a 1960 Unimog 404 using Ken's system. I used to own a 1971 Unimog, if EPS can be used on a Unimog it's more then capable for a FJ40 running big tires. I suspect the weak link on the FJs will be the rest of the OEM system - not the EPS. That's where the saginaw system shines as it eliminates/simplifies the system w/ stouter components. For most of us EPS is more capable.
(FYI - I documented my build here.)
I installed mine and sourced the parts myself. I have had it for a year and would do it again in a second. Best $120.00 I have ever spent.
$120 vs $1800! Wow @Bowling4$ ! Have you ever documented that build? I would be really interested to learn how you did that. (an probably everyone else) 
It really is cheap. Sadly I didn’t document the build. I guess it’s time to do a write up.$120 vs $1800! Wow @Bowling4$ ! Have you ever documented that build? I would be really interested to learn how you did that. (an probably everyone else)
Did you ever document the conversion?
No sadly I did not.
