RichM882
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Well the awful 'Armstrong' steering has been banished. She is a much nicer girl now.....
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Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!
Armstrong Begone.....
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RichM882
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The box and pump came from a W300 airbase fire tender, 1977 vintage. It only had about 6000 miles on it. It had a big block engine in it so I had to make a bracket myself. It picks up two of the front timing case bolts both of which are into the water jacket and one on the cylinder head. It seems to work well.
RichM882
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Hi Bdaman.
The steering is fine and light. The gearing is the same as the original unassisted box so I am looking for a period mopar steering wheel of 14 to 15 inches in diameter to 'quicken' it up a little. No complaints with lock but I am a little concerned with the angle of the steering column between bell coupling and rag joint. It appears a little sharp for my liking. The new steering box is massive and looks like it belongs on a 10 ton truck but a little extra stoutness never goes amiss !!!!
I think your problem could be that the pitman arm on your box could be too short and not giving enough travel for a sufficiently sharp steering lock but I am sure that one of the gurus on this site will have a solution to the problem no doubt. If you take a couple of snaps of the setup with camera and post them on here maybe someone can see the problem. I love my Dodge now and I am sure yours will be a simple fix bro.
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For some reason , the M880a are a bear to steer withoit power assist.
RichM882
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Yes. They are awful without it !!!! The Kaiser M715 that I drive is fine without it though !!!!
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Even a deuce is easier to steer
Bob H
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I plowed snow for a season before I put PS on this one.
(might have been less work just to shovel......)
The PS Box on Mine is leaking badly. So I need to get a new one, but I want to get a proper one. Notice the One I have have operates the pitman in a horizontal plane, not vertical as it look like all of yours do. I can turn far enough to the right that the tire hits the control rod. Left turn, doesnt even get the tire out of the fender well. Super wide turns. If the turning radius was back to correct I would almost go back to Manual steer until it could be fixed properly.
Bob H
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sounds like it wasn't centered when the link between box & axle was attached.
put it on jack stands, unhook steering arm from pitman arm,
verify wheels turn fully & return then to center
pitman arm needs to be perpendicular to the frame (pointing straight out)
adjust length of steering arm to fit.
clean crap off of gear box, a seal kit is a lot cheaper than a rebuilt gear box
your steering box appears to be a 1978 or newer model, which is a standard rotation unit.
It allows for more tire clearance than the 77's had when turning full right,
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Looks like a previous owner got me. The control arm is a fixed length rod. Can you suggest a make & model to spec to get one that is adjustable? Look like if I lost 1" of length it would be about perfect.
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cajuncustom
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just got in a new gearbox today , i cant imagine how nice it will be to have , i drove the truck with the stock tires with no power steering and it wasnt that bad , when i went to hummer wheels and 37 it was **** when i went to 44 boggers it was parked lol im going to try to take a serpentine setup off a newer model dakota and see how that works
Bob H
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Well shucks, the Dodge isn't adjustable like the Chevy.
Anyway, two pics 1st one is stock 1978, turned full left, the connecting rod is 18 inches long.
2nd pic is of a PS box from a 76 Ramcharger on my 77 M884, just used the box & pitman arm.
Or somebody suggested to maybe look towards a tractor control arm?
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michigandon
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Our truck was retrofitted with later model steering not unlike Rich and Bdamans trucks. I refer to it as "'80s steering". Not too long after we got it on the road, the input shaft seal began leaking like a sieve. Since I had no idea what it originally came from I ordered a replacement steering box for an '85 W250. Bolted in perfectly! It was also on less turn lock to lock than the one that came off, so it handles a little better now.
cajuncustom
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I currently have everything for mine , ordered a Lares 997 PS gearbox from rockauto but i am having **** finding a pitman arm for a 32 spline 4 master gearbox , my area all the junkyards only keep 90's and up. so its the one thing im lacking , i call all these places that sell pitmans stock and for lifts they have no clue they cant even answer a simple question about the items they sell.
michigandon
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So you're wanting to put it back to factory? I didn't catch that at first.
Finding the correct pitman might be a bit tricky. I would suggest going to Ramcharger Central and looking for one.
Finding the correct pitman might be a bit tricky. I would suggest going to Ramcharger Central and looking for one.
cajuncustom
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currently putting PS on a m880 manual steer