Another steering thread.

[diesel4me]

I have a question--
Since it is possible to put a 2wd pitman shaft in a 4x4 steering box for crossover steering--could you also put a 4x4 pitman shaft in a car or 2wd steering box ,to use in place of the oem 4x4 box ?..

I have a '66 Pontiac Bonneville steering box that looks identical to a 4x4 one ,other than the pitman shaft,and most full sized GM cars from the 60's and 70's used the same looking Saginaw boxes--was just wondering if that was a possibility--seems to me finding a full sized GM car steering box in decent condition would be easier than a 4x4 one..

 

[Greg72]

I have a question--
Since it is possible to put a 2wd pitman shaft in a 4x4 steering box for crossover steering--could you also put a 4x4 pitman shaft in a car or 2wd steering box ,to use in place of the oem 4x4 box ?..

I have a '66 Pontiac Bonneville steering box that looks identical to a 4x4 one ,other than the pitman shaft,and most full sized GM cars from the 60's and 70's used the same looking Saginaw boxes--was just wondering if that was a possibility--seems to me finding a full sized GM car steering box in decent condition would be easier than a 4x4 one..

Isn't there a pitman arm that is clocked to allow a standard 4WD box to run like a 2WD box??... basically gives you a crossover steering setup without a box swap.

-G

 

[obijuank5]

There are varying ratios and cut of the teeth in the gears. I'd expect car boxes to be different gears but if you swap both sets of teeth it's probably an interchange.

 

[Blue85]

Yes, a car will have a quicker ratio (fewer turns lock to lock and higher effort). Somebody on here was looking for a quicker ratio in their square nose and ended up making it work, IIRC. The 4x4 pitman arm attaches with a through/pinch bolt and not splined everywhere, while the 2x4 box has a nut threaded onto the end of the sector shaft, which is why you can't interchange the arms. As far as I know, all C/K trucks have the same ratio, which is why you can swap a 2WD sector shaft into your 4WD box to do crossover.