Saginaw Steering conversion : Does that looks right? (1 Viewer)

[Kamaro]

As a part of my '79 FJ40 resto-mod, I have decided to upgrade to power steering using Saginaw conversion, I'm now just mocking things up before starting to weld, I have noticed that the steering arm angle is a bit too much, does that look right to you? :

 

[Jetlander]

As a part of my '79 FJ40 resto-mod, I have decided to upgrade to power steering using Saginaw conversion, I'm now just mocking things up before starting to weld, I have noticed that the steering arm angle is a bit too much, does that look right to you? :

Mine sits a bit deeper into the crossmember, but not by much.

 

[B y r o n]

Not sure what length pitman arm you have but maybe a longer arm would help. Here are some shots from my install.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Not sure what length pitman arm you have but maybe a longer arm would help. Here are some shots from my install.

what Pitman arm did you use (ie: what’s the original application) I’ve been looking for years for a longer arm with a slight drop and the direct taper - 5.5” eye to eye is all I can come up with. 6.5” would actually help a lot.

 

[Suntreemcanic]

A longer pitman arm makes the steering more faster because the end of the pitman arm moves more when it is longer. If you are looking for a long arm the pitman arm on a International Scout with power steering is long. I had one on my saginaw conversion and the long arm was almost parallel with the axle. But the steering was real touchy.

 

[Kamaro]

This is a BTB kit that I purchased a while a go, it came with this arm already. I have tried to turn the steering lock to lock and it seems to steer fine, but not sure what the out-of-parallel steering linkage would effect in real driving.

 

[B y r o n]

what Pitman arm did you use (ie: what’s the original application) I’ve been looking for years for a longer arm with a slight drop and the direct taper - 5.5” eye to eye is all I can come up with. 6.5” would actually help a lot.

I bought it from Borgeson, 7" CTC.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

I bought it from Borgeson, 7" CTC.

cool - i wonder would it would take to bend a drop into that... I think the main issue I’ve encountered is that the drag link taper my setup uses seems to only come in a weird thread pitch - so I can either find a pitman arm that’s long enough, with a taper that’s too large (can’t reem it to the right size) or a pitman arm that’s too short with a taper that’s correct.

seems the best approach would likely be to build a whole new drag link to incorporate a more common taper/thread pitch drag link on the steering box side and the standard Toyota tie rod end on the other, But then it becomes an expensive proposition to reduce my steering radius by like...two feet.

that said, even 80-series rigs can “out-turn” me on the trails as it stands.

Anyway, didn’t intend to hijack the thread just always curious how other folks address this stuff