Manual to power steering gear Steering,

[burb1085]

I know the conversion from manual to power steering is pretty straight forward. Change out gear box add pump, brackets, and hoses.
My question is, if my truck is a 79 C10, does it matter what year the gear box is? Is the only difference, between 73-80 vs. 81-87 , standard and metric hose fittings or does it bolt up differently, different pitman arm or anything else? Trying to get all info together before I start tearing it apart. Thanks.

 

[ali_c20]

The 2wd and 4wd steering boxes are different. They use different pitman arms. Otherwise they should swap without problems. Have you thought about a quick ratio steering box ?
https://www.gmsquarebody.com/threads/squarebody-steering-box-id-and-interchange.3991/

 

[HotRodPC]

Manual Steering was never an option in 4wd.

But yes, to the best of knowledge, the boxes will bolt right up and interchange, then add your pump and hoses. You'll notice the Manual box has a longer shaft sticking out of it to make up the length difference to the intermediate shaft since the box is shorter.

I was wanting to go back to manual steering at one time in a truck I wanted to make a street strip truck. Didn't want the weight of all the power steering not to mention less **** to hook up and in the way since you usually pull engines and work on Street/Strip trucks frequenlty, not to mention the parasitic hp loss to operate the pump.

 

[burb1085]

I have an 87 C20 Suburban factory quick ratio power steering gear and one from an 85 C10. The Suburban C20 seems a bit larger (maybe not) . Hopefully the pitman arms fit the same.
I thought about keeping the manual steering, but when I go to park I get those "learn how to drive!" looks.

 

[HotRodPC]

I have an 87 C20 Suburban factory quick ratio power steering gear and one from an 85 C10. The Suburban C20 seems a bit larger (maybe not) . Hopefully the pitman arms fit the same.
I thought about keeping the manual steering, but when I go to park I get those "learn how to drive!" looks.

For sure, if it's not a race truck, I'd for sure want the power steering too.