[Chaparralman1974]

2/10/2024 - 4/8/2024
Steering Gear and Carburetor Rebuild
I needed a break from some of the body work, so I decided to begin the rebuild process of both the steering gear box and the carburetor. I am still not 100% sure what I am going to end up with regarding the steering system. I originally wanted to add power steering to the truck, but in order to do so, I would have to graft in a dimple in my totally virgin frame to accomodate the proper steering gear box, as well as source a pump and all of the other components necessary. Another challenge would be the steering arm. My closed knuckle axle has a straight steering arm that would need to be modified in order to work. Given the fact that I want the truck to be as factory looking as possible, I really don’t want to cut the steering arm or replace the front axle. I also looked into the possibility of adding an EPAS system. I may do that in the future, but for now, I decided to just rebuild the manual steering gear. It was not at all that difficult to do. I completely tore down the box, cleaned it, sand blasted and painted it satin black. As this is a standard Saginaw design, and parts are readily available, I was able to get a rebuild kit from Midwest steering and rebuilt the box in short order. I replaced all the bearings, seals, and bushings, and at the recommendation of Midwest steering, filled the box with lithium grease. I did have to do a slight modification to the pitman arm and steering arm with the tapered holes for the tie rods to go into. As they no longer manufacture the one piece tie rod, I had to use the three piece design present on later model 4x4’s. These tie rods are thicker, so I had to ream out the holes using a 7* reamer so that the tie rods would slide in.