F350 steering box upgrade

[Hagan]

The ‘99 and newer ones are more plentiful for sure but there’s some adaptation to make it fit our firewalls and master cylinders. The bolt in choice is a complete system from a f-superduty otherwise there’s will be some retrofitting required. I believe there is a pretty comprehensive thread up in the stickies at the top that covers most of it.
Also know that the hydroboost unit can be rebuilt on a bench with average tools so long as the accumulator hasn’t failed which is pretty rare. There’s a company out there that specializes in the kits that provides all the seals to accomplish this and it’s isn’t too expensive.

Piratejack.net

 

[chillman88]

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if all the vans didn't have the Saginaw pump. Our 85 E-150 302 had real easy steering, and I don't remember it whining.... and I put a TON of miles on the one we had. Either that, or we were lucky and had the worlds quietest C2 pump.....

I think they did.

The pump isn't the issue, it's the brackets that it mounts to that are unobtanium.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

it's the brackets that it mounts to that are unobtanium.

I remember a few years back, someone was talking about trying to make some new brackets but couldn't find any for patterns.

 

[1mouse3]

Is it worth trying to swap to a Saginaw pump or should I just get a reman ford pump

You up for a challenge?

I remember a few years back, someone was talking about trying to make some new brackets but couldn't find any for patterns.

This is what has served me well for around 11k miles

One-pump-to-rule-them-all

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It's worth it if you can find the brackets. They're a better pump. I'm still running the stock pump on both of my trucks just because the brackets for the Saginaw pumps are hard to come by.

I wouldn't spend a fortune on the upgrade though.

The pump isn't the issue, it's the brackets that it mounts to that are unobtanium.

Past me did not take no for a answer and had to have this pump...

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It might not be helpful but here's a pic I took of the Saginaw pump and bracket on my IDI E350.

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Yes and the 90s I6 has this pully, all you need is this braket and a steel plate along with some "fittment" cuts.

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You brought this up as well

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A page talking about it... http://chrisb.users.superford.org/Bronco/Projects/Saginaw_Swap/Saginaw_Swap.html

I got a braket like this for the a/c off a 7.3 I pillaged for parts, may see if can make something work at some point with two plates.

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It honestly wouldn't surprise me if all the vans didn't have the Saginaw pump. Our 85 E-150 302 had real easy steering, and I don't remember it whining.... and I put a TON of miles on the one we had. Either that, or we were lucky and had the worlds quietest C2 pump.....

I have a square body hydroboost saginaw pump, it is valved different and has the higher psi. I can pinky steer like a old cadillac even on the brakes in silence, noise of the engine is a differnet story.

The hydroboost off a F-super is what I used and got a cheap compression hose made with two fitting ends.

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This is the can off a 60s bbc from a truck and the one I have now is off a chevelle, both work how I went. Stuffing itto a 3/4 hose was a bit leaky, so had someone weld on a hose bung.

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[jrollf]

I assure you you would regret it. Take the belt off the pump for a couple hours and let us know if you still feel that way

FYI I'm running a Lares box on mine. Nothing special. Redhead or Blue top if you're planning on keeping the truck. I heard rumors Blue top is a spinoff, someone at redhead didn't like the way things were going and started their own. Not sure if it's true, but it's what I heard.

I have the redhead steering gear box and replaced the steering shaft with a Borgeson, farily expensive, but I've never driven an OBS with as tight/nice steering as my truck has now. About 30K miles on them and still as good as the day I installed everything.

 

[chillman88]

I have the redhead steering gear box and replaced the steering shaft with a Borgeson, farily expensive, but I've never driven an OBS with as tight/nice steering as my truck has now. About 30K miles on them and still as good as the day I installed everything.

I just made a 500 or so mile trip today. It's getting more and more apparent that I'll need to do something about mine before too long!

 

[david85]

with that said, the +05 box and arm is an EASY swap, and i gained SO much more angle than the old leaf sprung d60.

I went further and modified/put in an f450 05+ pitman on my box, to compliment my f450 front axle swap, and WOW that 45* steering is NICE

Would the 05+ steering gear work on the obs dana 60?

 

[Daniel McCurdy]

A little of topic but today I was able to get my truck up to 55 I used a gps speedometer and in 5th gear it was doing about 2000rpm. That's shows to be a 4.56 gear as I have 33in tires the axle was out of a 08 f250 did they come with 4.56 gears. When I had the diff cover off I saw 410 on the gear but that didn't math out correct considering the rpm and speed

 

[TNBrett]

Your tach may be off. I was in the same situation as you, convinced I had 4.56 gears. When I got my Tech Time unit, I realized that my tach was off. Fortunately for me I had a spare cluster already. I swapped the tach portion out and it was much closer to what my Tech Time was showing.

 

[aggiediesel01]

Would the 05+ steering gear work on the obs dana 60?

What I remember is that it will bolt to your frame but you have to drill out the holes larger and the input shaft is splined the same, but the pitman arm may have to be reamed for the D-60 rod end or have a conversion busing installed and the fittings on the box are metric so you have to convert your line ends to metric fittings.

 

[Daniel McCurdy]

What about the ford c3 power steering pump can they be fitted on an idi. They flow a lot more and have a lot more pressure. There a rotary vane style pump so they should be a lot more reliable.

 

[chillman88]

Actually... These are rotary vane pumps stock.

What did the C3 pump come on?

 

[Daniel McCurdy]

They came on 6.0 powerstroke and some vans

 

[chillman88]

They came on 6.0 powerstroke and some vans

Hmmm. I feel like I remember reading about them. I think there was someone putting those guts into our pumps but I can't remember who. I could be mis remembering though.

 

[typ4]

Make sure if you go super duty box to get an 05 up. The earlier ones will break the pitman shaft and then you take out 3 parked cars.
I have never seen an OBS box break unless huge tires were involved, then it was a rock whack issue, so Ill stick with stock.