Steering hose routing questions (1 Viewer)

[llih]

Hi All
At the point of getting the hoses made for the Chevy power steering. Been looking & trying to decide which would be the best way to route them. I replaced the front engine mounts with the Firestine ones to give clearance for the steering shaft and to free up ps pump mounting holes on the sbc. Moved the radiator foward as close to the front grill as possible. Installed a 3000cfm electric Volvo fan shroud. After studing the placement of the ps pump, the existing hoses exit the back of the pump and point down. From the pictures I have seen here in the tech section it appears that the majority of conversions have the hoses coming out of the gap between the frame and the front apron to the box. It appears that on my 40 that the hoses would kink trying to route them between the steering shaft and frame. Does anyone have some pics of hose routing that they can either post or send me? I am using the pump and brackets off an 80s chevy truck, so the ps pump is mounted to the waterpump, exhaust manifold and head. I was hoping to keep the hoses as close to the top of the frame as possible. I will try and get some pics posted on one of my web pages asap. Also I tried a search at autozone.com for the hose mentioned in the tech section with no results.
Thanks Brad
honchocho@yahoo.com

 

[dgangle]

Post pics so we can see what you are talking about. I had a hard time finding someone to make my hoses because of liability, I assume. Some suggest getting them from your donor vehichle. I wasn't that lucky and went the customer route. My local GM dealer parts drones cringed everytime I walked in the door.

Find an old school autoparts store with a passionate/knowledgeable parts guy. You know, the kind of place that's cluttered, dirty with a squeaking floor? I want to kill myself everytime I walk in the big box autoparts stores. They're great if you are looking for fuzzy dice or chrome exhaust tips. You've gotten this far in your project by being creative. Don't stop now and good luck.

 

[cardinal fang]

Take a walk through the pick and pull looking at GM older vehicles. Custom made lines are $$$. The one line I had made, blew apart on the trail! Never again with those custom made stuff. Modifying older lines is easy, but you need a line that is at least close to the configuration you need.

 

[bustanutley]

Factory lines off my 80s XJ at pull-n-save fit perfectly.

 

[theo]

Here's a poor quality photo. The pressure hose has a few inches of rigid steel tubing at each end that tend to hold both hoses in place once I tightened the fittings. I changed the departure angle of the return line fitting on the back of the reservoir - by heating and bending - to match the way the pressure line lay.

Both hoses pass over the steering shaft and exit between the frame and bib, like you describe.

Custom hoses are only as good as the shop that makes them. Mine seems bomb-proof, but it has less than a thousand miles on it.

 

[camcruiser13]

if you can wait ill get you the autozone part number i used, you have to do some bending of your own on it but it works, go to my pics under sig line and look at the photos.

 

[llih]

Thanks all
Don't have any pics yet ( camera was loaned out) . I noticed that some seem to route the ps hose thru the fender well just behind the shock tower. The hoses pass along the outside of the tower and across the inside of the fender to the box. I haven't seen any pics that show the hoses outside the tower, but a couple of the pics in the tech section seem to point that they are ran like that. Does anyone run them like that? Pros/cons? I would really like to keep them inboard and protected if possible. Theo thanks for the picture. It looks like your engine sets a little closer to the firewall than mine, so you may have more room between the pump and the front grill. I will try routing the old hoses I have on the pump the way your pic shows and see how they work. I didn't think of running them over the top of the steering shaft. Camcruiser 13 if you get that part number I would much appreciate it and I will check out you pics.
Thanks again
Brad

 

[llih]

Camcruiser13 I just checked out your photos and noticed that you ran the ps lines out thru the space in front of the shock tower. I didn't think there wa enough room to push them thru there. I will check it out on my 40 tomorrow.
Thanks
Brad

 

[65swb45]

On the ones I installed most recently, I went with a hose kit from Downey Off Road and routed them outside the shock tower, but inside the fender. Looped them up high on the inner fender skirt then back down to the corner of the bib. Cut about 1/4 of an inch off the lower left corner of the bib so that I wouldn't have to bend the sheit out of the elbows coming off of the steering box. Hope that makes sense.

 

[zebrabeefj40]

My FJ40 came with adapters to convert the box and pump fittings to AN. The PO had made lines with the fancy red/blue anodised AN fittings and braided hose that you see in Summit/Jegs. The fittings split in half from the pressure of the steering system and the hose was extruding though the stainless braid. That was cool to see but I like my steering system to hold fluid instead of spraying jets of it across the driveway.

I then had NAPA make me a pair of hydraulic hoses that fit the AN adapters (standard stuff here; nothin special). Hoses cost $50 for the pair and are likely to last the life of several trucks. I was able to route them up towards the top of the shock tower to go over the steering shaft then back down under the cover of the fender skirt near the bib then turn to hit the top of the box using a couple 90 degree elbow hose ends. Woody shows the AN adapter fittings in one of his posts in the hardcore section...

HTH,
Nick

 

[woody]

-6AN fittings, adapters, and 36" of 2500psi hose from Summit was ~$70 delivered....for my application, that's enuf hose to keep 1/2 for a replacement...

If your pump runs the earlier type compression fittings, check with your local parts store for the long Scout pressure hose...the short ones work great for the Scout PS conversion, the long one for the GM conversion....DO plan to sleeve the hose around the frame/bib area with some heater hose to prevent chafing... (I don't recall part numbers/years, but hopefully they have specs there...)

 

[paranoid56]

heres a little write up i did for making your own (with the proper hose and fittings for use with power steering)
http://www.off-road.com/tlc/tech/pshoses/index.html
Shane