Electric steering column

[richy246]

Good morning I have a 1962 Willys station wagon fitted with a 350sbc that I,m improving and I already have a disc brake conversion but the steering is by a ross steering box which wasn,t brilliant from new, my question is would an electric steering column be strong enough to turn the wheels? Its roughly the same as a Land Rover effort wise.I can,t fit power steering as the exhaust headers get in the way and its too expensive. What column would you good people recommend?

[froggy]

The only conversion I've done on a steering box car is a t2 vw and it works fine . The gearing will be low to start with so the motor isn't working hard to turn it

[froggy]

Corsa b is the easiest to package but the c will work if you have enough space to get it in

[composimmonite]

I wanted to do that with my Mahindra MM540 (basically Jeep CJ5 chassis) and after asking the question was left with opinion that not viable. Can't remember people exact argument but it was enough to make me forget the idea. Think about it - what bigish 4x4 has electric PAS - none that I can think of. If manufacturers still fit power steering box or rack instead of a far cheaper electric column then there must be some sound reason why.
I'm now going with a ZF power steering box off a Volvo 164. It fits in place of the idler box so is in front of the engine. I assume your set up is like my current with link from steering box, that is behind / side of engine, to the idler box ? If so you need to look at how other people fit PAS and you will see that very few keep the power box in the same position as the manual item with relocating further forward to the idler position being the most common method.

[chairchild]

from a manufacturer viewpoint - a 'leccy power steering column wouldn't give enough oomph to be considered worthwhile. Hydraulic can be specced to give a feather light touch to steer, which is what you'd want in a luxury 4x4.

the corsa column would work, and would indeed reduce the effort, but not as much as a hydraulic one would. So I say - go for it A little effort reduction, is better than none!

[froggy]

The steering wheel will be on the large side and the gear ratio will be quite low to start with . The common ones I do are talbot campers which can be up to 2800kg kerb weight . The corsa column can go from lock to lock with the vehicle parked with hardly any effort so I don't think the motor would be any more stressed in a lighter van .

[Clamity]

Sept 9, 2014 14:31:18 GMT composimmonite said:

I wanted to do that with my Mahindra MM540 (basically Jeep CJ5 chassis) and after asking the question was left with opinion that not viable. Can't remember people exact argument but it was enough to make me forget the idea. Think about it - what bigish 4x4 has electric PAS - none that I can think of. If manufacturers still fit power steering box or rack instead of a far cheaper electric column then there must be some sound reason why.
I'm now going with a ZF power steering box off a Volvo 164. It fits in place of the idler box so is in front of the engine. I assume your set up is like my current with link from steering box, that is behind / side of engine, to the idler box ? If so you need to look at how other people fit PAS and you will see that very few keep the power box in the same position as the manual item with relocating further forward to the idler position being the most common method.

Rav4s and Grand Scenics have pretty beefy electric columns. These and the Corsa and MGF ones all come from the same factory, NSK. I guess the control units ought to be more or less interchangeable but I can't find any info about that on the web.

I have been looking into fitting power steering to my van for a while, and I get the impression the column from a non-ABS base model Yaris might be the right one for me. Being Toyota, there's a small chance the thread and splines will match my wheel, and the Yaris column is one of the more physically compact ones. If it comes from a car without ABS, the ECU only requires a basic speed signal and although it has CAN bus it's apparently happy without it connected. The AE86 in this video (about the 2:45 mark) has the Yaris column EPS mounted on its side, and there is a useful thread here about retrofitting them.

[composimmonite]

Sept 16, 2014 14:14:49 GMT Clamity said:

Sept 9, 2014 14:31:18 GMT composimmonite said:

I wanted to do that with my Mahindra MM540 (basically Jeep CJ5 chassis) and after asking the question was left with opinion that not viable. Can't remember people exact argument but it was enough to make me forget the idea. Think about it - what bigish 4x4 has electric PAS - none that I can think of. If manufacturers still fit power steering box or rack instead of a far cheaper electric column then there must be some sound reason why.
I'm now going with a ZF power steering box off a Volvo 164. It fits in place of the idler box so is in front of the engine. I assume your set up is like my current with link from steering box, that is behind / side of engine, to the idler box ? If so you need to look at how other people fit PAS and you will see that very few keep the power box in the same position as the manual item with relocating further forward to the idler position being the most common method.

Rav4s and Grand Scenics have pretty beefy electric columns. These and the Corsa and MGF ones all come from the same factory, NSK. I guess the control units ought to be more or less interchangeable but I can't find any info about that on the web.

I have been looking into fitting power steering to my van for a while, and I get the impression the column from a non-ABS base model Yaris might be the right one for me. Being Toyota, there's a small chance the thread and splines will match my wheel, and the Yaris column is one of the more physically compact ones. If it comes from a car without ABS, the ECU only requires a basic speed signal and although it has CAN bus it's apparently happy without it connected. The AE86 in this video (about the 2:45 mark) has the Yaris column EPS mounted on its side, and there is a useful thread here about retrofitting them.

The Rav 4 & Grand Scenic have steering racks so not really a direct comparison to a heavy 4x4 or van with steering box. Not sure if it makes much difference but years of experience driving vehicles with manual steering box you can get some massive muscles due to the effort required that I've never had to exert on any rack equipped car.

[Frankenhealey]

Must think about one for the Goddess

[claymore]

Sept 16, 2014 16:29:04 GMT composimmonite said:

Sept 16, 2014 14:14:49 GMT Clamity said:

Rav4s and Grand Scenics have pretty beefy electric columns. These and the Corsa and MGF ones all come from the same factory, NSK. I guess the control units ought to be more or less interchangeable but I can't find any info about that on the web.

I have been looking into fitting power steering to my van for a while, and I get the impression the column from a non-ABS base model Yaris might be the right one for me. Being Toyota, there's a small chance the thread and splines will match my wheel, and the Yaris column is one of the more physically compact ones. If it comes from a car without ABS, the ECU only requires a basic speed signal and although it has CAN bus it's apparently happy without it connected. The AE86 in this video (about the 2:45 mark) has the Yaris column EPS mounted on its side, and there is a useful thread here about retrofitting them.

The Rav 4 & Grand Scenic have steering racks so not really a direct comparison to a heavy 4x4 or van with steering box. Not sure if it makes much difference but years of experience driving vehicles with manual steering box you can get some massive muscles due to the effort required that I've never had to exert on any rack equipped car.

Are you saying that a steering box is harder to turn than a rack that has the power steering not working:, my Volvo was pretty hard to drive at the gathering without the power steering working