What steering mod would this be??

Can somebody tell me what steering mod the previous owner of this jeep might have been trying to do. This is my first jeep and I'm not sure if I should keep it like this or return it back to stock.

 

Early power steering developed by Polish Division of Saginaw?! Wow never seen that before. LOL

 

seems scarey

 

Looks to me to be something like hydrolic steering. but not.

 

Looks like a power assist ram added to the stock Ross steering. Probably something from a '50s era car, welded to the original tie rods. Maybe look at the very earliest Broncos or ca 1960 Fords? Might be ok the way it is, but you'll have difficulties fixing it if it doesn't. I'd either put the original Ross manual steering back, or convert to either manual or power Saginaw.

 

The first thing that popped into my mind was "suicide by jeep"

 

I've attached a scanned page from my 1954 Motor's manual that shows the 3 styles of ram-assist steering available at that time. Looks like Bendix (Ford) to me, but it may be later than 1954. If you want to keep it, you might try and find a 50s or 60s era Motor's at a library or through a used book seller.

This is a pretty big file - 200 dpi.
http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~reese/ramsteer.JPG

<edit> Note there is also a Saginaw (!) linkage type that was a piston in parallel with the drag link, used in the Hudson Hornet. Ford, Mercury and Packard used the Bendix, Dodge, Plymouth and Nash used Bendix or Monroe or Ross depending on the model. Kaiser used Monroe. GM, Lincoln and Studebaker used the familiar internally-valved Saginaw gear, and Chrysler/DeSoto used the Gemmer, which was a dual-piston design integral with the steering gear.

 

Chevy used this same setup in the 50's-60's my dads 61 impala has the exact same thing on it I just put all new hoses and what not on it.

 

It also looks a little like the Ford truck power steering setup used until the mid-70's.

 

R)

 

Thanks for all the input guys. I think I will take it back to stock (no death wish here). Anybody have a good set of stock rods for a 64 CJ5 they want to sell?

Thanks Rick