fj45 power steering

[UNTAMED]

Hi all .
I have just joined and also just brought my first fj45 with a chev 304 ,my question is does anyone on here fit power steering to them and how much would it cost.

[loosecanon]

yea mate, power steer is a must if youre going to drive the 45, go and grab a 60 series set up mate, it's the best way to go,

[KUSTOMV840]

60 series box, 55 series column and a saginaw pump on your V8 with custom lines made up will work a treat. Thats what I had on my old shorty. I have factory p/s on my current 45 but running the saginaw pump on the 305 chev.

Here is the pump mounted onto my V8 just before the transplant


See http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewt ... 5&start=25 for the write up of my powersteering conversion..

[loosecanon]

WOW!!!!!! that is hot,

[RAY185]

I thought the question was not so much HOW, but more WHO and HOW MUCH?

[KUSTOMV840]

60 series gear and do it yourself about 500 bucks.... For someone to do it, labour ???

[vk7ybi]

Ive seen figures of around $1500 quoted for a drive away 60 PS conversion. Stock works, but 60 is the only way to go really..

[pcman]

yeah drive in drive out around 1500-2000

[UNTAMED]

I thought the question was not so much HOW, but more WHO and HOW MUCH?

Thats it ray ,not that i'm made of money but i dont have the tooling or the know how to do it my self

[UNTAMED]

60 series box, 55 series column and a saginaw pump on your V8 with custom lines made up will work a treat. Thats what I had on my old shorty. I have factory p/s on my current 45 but running the saginaw pump on the 305 chev.

Here is the pump mounted onto my V8 just before the transplant


See http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewt ... 5&start=25 for the write up of my powersteering conversion..

Great looking motor Kustom but is it really that easy ,like does a a 55 series column connect straight up ?? i'm new to this and although i have worked on my own cars most of my life i'm not used to doing mods

[KUSTOMV840]

UNTAMED, click on the 4wda link in the above post. Its shows how I mounted all the box and put the 55 column in. I found it easy enough...

[UNTAMED]

Hi kustomv840 and thanks for the link but no matter how hard i try that site will not let me login for some reason

[KUSTOMV840]

Finally got of my arse and went to the wreckers and scrounged around for some 60 series stuff to do a power steer conversion on my 40. Picked up a steering box, Fj55 steering column (even though its 2inch longer than a 40, it has a spline at the fire wall for uni joint). These are the main parts needed so far. I also got drag links, tie rods etc but after fitting up today found out I didn't need them. I also have the p/steering pump from a holden V8 with brackets. All this stuff only cost me $320! The only outlay i will now have is getting the high pressure line made up from the pump to the box (via intercooler which I will just get off a falcon or commodore etc). Low pressure lines I will just use 5/16 fuel hose and hose clamps as its only a return line. I have to chase up a collapseable shaft with uni's to go between the box and column on the fire wall. The wreckers here haven't got one. I dont feel comfortable cutting and welding the shafts I have to make it fit. I would rather keep it standard parts.

This is how it all looked before I started...


This is the 60 series P/Steering box. These are all the same from the 60 series right thru to the late model 79 series ute. So readily available for this conversion.


Here how the 55 Series steering column looks. It has a spline on the end which allows for the uni-joint to slide on. When changing columns the 55 is slightly longer (will show in later pic) but only by a couple of inches, the plate that bolts to the firewall has to be swapped from 40 column as the 55 is different.


Here you can see that the 55 shaft is a couple of inches longer and the column cover sits out from the dash a bit further.


Here is the P/Steering box vice griped in place. I made sure the pitman arm balljoint was positioned directly in line with the position of the old tie rod from the dampner plate to the left side. That way when the link pushes or pulls it will run parralell with the tie rod from wheel to wheel. The draglink from the pitman arm to the other side is just the one used from the old box to the linkage with the steering dampner on it. I unscrewed the old one from the ball joint on the left side and removed the ball joint from the end of the link I was going to use, then just screwed it on. Using this quite simple method it allows all FJ40 ball joints to be used.




I still have to make up a strengthening plate up to go between the box and chassis and also a backing plate for the other side. I will hopefully get all this finished and stuff before I go back to work on the 8th of Jan. Will post progress up here as I go.

[UNTAMED]

Thank you Kustom that was a very imformative post ,i will read it a few more times and try to work it out lol,but first i probably should chase up some parts i tightened up all the ball joints and such . The sreering is better nut but still lots of slack dont know if it may be the steering damper.

[RAY185]

The steering box is adjustable IF it has freeplay.

[KUSTOMV840]

Thank you Kustom that was a very imformative post ,i will read it a few more times and try to work it out lol,but first i probably should chase up some parts i tightened up all the ball joints and such . The sreering is better nut but still lots of slack dont know if it may be the steering damper.

Your idler box could want a rebuild or adjusting. $60 for a kit and its easy to do. Its just a brass cone bush and some seals. That will make a hell of a difference to your freeplay. If you still have some after that, as posted above steering box is adjustable by a lock nut and screw on the side.

[Cluffy]

I have just done the same power steer conversion on my old shorty using bits of an fj62.
When mounting the power steer box to the chassis, it is necessary to fit some crush tubes inside the chassis rails to prevent the 'box mount bolts from collapsing the chassis tube and allowing the mount bolts to come loose and your steering to fall off on the road. I used heavy wall tube for mine, if you look at the donor '60 chassis you will see this is how the roll out of the factory.
Also in the last picture the 'box is mounted over the standard front shock mounts, leaving no mount point for the shockie.

With the steering boxes the 60 series box will work but 70 series boxes have the pitman arm facing back toward the cab, rather than away from the cab. If you just pull the pitman arm off and mount it forward your steering input will be reversed, very awkward to drive i.e. turn left, car goes right. A 70 box can be used but it needs to be mounted much further forward to allow the rear facing pitman arm to line up with the tie rod/draglinks and will protrude past the headlight panel on the fj.
The final hurdle is that the tie rod end taper inside the pitman arm is bigger than the 40 series ends, i believe you can buy sleeves to fit the smaller ends to the larger taper.
Hope this helps, i can go get photos if necessary.

Note: all these mods are on my '78 bj 40, I dont know if later models run larger tie rods etc.

Craig.

[hj 45]

Just use 75 series tie rods and tie rod ends, note that you'll need the 75 series knuckle arms as well. Problem solved.

[vk7ybi]

To use the 75 arms youll need to make sure you have the late model large pattern knuckles..

[UNTAMED]

Thanks all for your help,i'm getting more confused as i go lol think i'll try the steering box adjustment till i get the money and pay someone to do the power steering,have adjusted the idle box and gone from 315x75x35 tyres down to 285x75x33 and it's much better