I am going to post some of the most recent stuff here…
One of the hardest parts of this conversion was mounting the Saginaw box in the correct position. In this case, the tensioning bolt for the P/S pump overlaps the A/C compressor that I have for onboard air.
This setup allows me to set the P/S pump tension and then adjust the compressor tension and lock them both down.
Building a pump that works took parts from three different P/S pumps. Initially I threw it together with a pump I had laying around. It worked but was crazy loud. In 2021, a rebuilt pump was $48 CDN. It didn’t seem worth it to throw in another used pump at that price.
Long story short, it was failing after three years and about a thousand miles. So I bought another. In 2025, prices have more than doubled. A rebuilt pump was $110 and a new one was $123.
The new pump claims to have fixed many of the problems these pumps have… time will tell. It came with this test report:
Pressure relief works out to a hair under 1500 psi. 1500 seems about dead on where I’m wanting.
I know it means little to no road feel… but that’s what I need. The quick version is that my nervous system is a mess. To protect it, my muscles go into spasm when they fatigue to limit excessive motion. The problem is then compounded because the muscles in spasm put pressure on the nerves. The result is a no win cascading effect. So… easier to steer means less fatigue and less spasms = happier overall.
Back to the steering…
In 2021 I crossed paths with
@ToyotaMatt here on Mud. We ended up discussing the steering conversion and he said he would custom fabricate a curved line to fix a leak I had. Because I was using a can for the P/S pump from an old Chevelle, the low pressure return line is pointing the wrong direction. The cans (housings) from the two other pumps wouldn’t clear the engine block.
So, I sent Matt a sketch and shortly afterwards a box showed up with this custom part, OME style hose clamps, and some other swag. I had cut up some steel high pressure line to make it work in the short term. Well replacing the pump and flushing the system made it a good time to put in the custom line Matt fabricated.
It’s a perfect fit.
