Steering gear woes... Replacement options.

[pontiacgp]

You must have been coming from the beer store in this picture...

 

[Longroof79]

That's a good looking wagon, man.
I'm glad to hear that you're getting alot of use out of it...besides towing your T-bucket.
I'm sure with it's new LS powerplant you enjoy driving it even more so.
Thanks for sharing the pics. Always nice to see more wagon guys coming aboard.

 

[CrackedHead]

Sorry CrackedHead I have no information that will help you on this topic, but you may be able to help me out. Can you tell me everything about your air conditioning set up?

Everything huh... Well I don't want to get to far off base here, as I'm looking for info on the power steering gear. Here's the basics:

Holley bracket 20-134
Holley spacer kit (for truck accessories) 21-3
Sanden SD5 compressor (Also known as the 508 compressor)
Corvette idler pulley (97 Corvette - 12564401 - Dayco 89059)
Lingenfelter rpm-003 used as a RPM switch to turn off the compressor above 4000 RPM.

The hoses were made at a local parts store.

Everything else is stock on the car.

You must have been coming from the beer store in this picture...

I'll just say I wasn't on the brakes, those are the tail lights on

That's a good looking wagon, man.
I'm glad to hear that you're getting alot of use out of it...besides towing your T-bucket.
I'm sure with it's new LS powerplant you enjoy driving it even more so.
Thanks for sharing the pics. Always nice to see more wagon guys coming aboard.

The T-bucket is a friends car, we went to a local car show once like that. It was a bit sketchy and wasn't repeated.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

[Z48LT1]

Slick wagon. RockAuto has two models of steering gear boxes for '87 Monte Carlos by three different vendors. The Cardone boxes have helpful information, including number of turns lock to lock: for the version "with sport package" the number is 2.5 - 2.7; "w/o sport package", 3,0 - 3.5.

Looks like an easy selection to me.

Cheers - Gary

 

[pontiacgp]

I'll just say I wasn't on the brakes, those are the tail lights on

I wasn't taking about the tail lights, I was referring to the tail almost dragging on the ground with presumably a load of beer in the wagon....

 

[CrackedHead]

That was actually on the first power tour I took. The back was loaded down with tools, clothes, and 5 cases of beer We took a bit of a detour and went down the tail of the dragon, that's from one of the photographers that line the road.

 

[Texas82GP]

What power steering pump are you using? Are you using the 6.0 truck pump? It would have a metric bubble flare on the pressure fitting, so you'd need a custom pressure line to conect to a box with inverted flare fittings anyway, so why not use an F41 gearbox (think MCSS, GN, 442). They are readily available and so is the pitman arm. Short of a custom pressure hose, it's a bolt on swap.

 

[CrackedHead]

What power steering pump are you using? Are you using the 6.0 truck pump? It would have a metric bubble flare on the pressure fitting, so you'd need a custom pressure line to conect to a box with inverted flare fittings anyway, so why not use an F41 gearbox (think MCSS, GN, 442). They are readily available and so is the pitman arm. Short of a custom pressure hose, it's a bolt on swap.

I am using a stock truck pump. I removed the fitting from the 301 pump and swapped it with the truck pump fitting. Then I used a stock line.

Why not use a quicker ratio box that fits I guess is my question.

 

[Z48LT1]

I'm anxious to hear answers to CrackedHead's question too. What do people who have made the quick ratio swap think of it? Did it rock your world? Inquiring minds want to know!

Cheers - Gary

 

[UNGN]

Before swapping in a new box, verify the steering wheel is straight when the flat on the box input shaft is straight up. The best gearbox has play off center, so centering it should always be first. The steering wheel and tie rods need to be centered on gearbox center.