Power steering hose

I know it's taking me forever to finish this task of putting power steering on my 71 Commando, but now that I've finally gotten around to getting some hoses on there I see that it is awfully tight in space from where you scre the hoses into the saginaw box. What have some of you guys done and used to get it to fit? There's just not much room up there under that cross brace and then how did you route it?


I thought I'd try to use some old CJ5 lines and re-bend the steel portion, but I think I want to steer away from that route.

Can someone post up some other examples of what you have done?

 

They're even tighter on a Bullnose! Having to fight to get them started every time has lead to a couple ideas... unfortunately I haven't followed thru on them!

I'm gonna look to see if I can source a banjo fitting/bolt to allow for a shorter profile and easier starting (mine won't start unless it's perfect... getting it to that point is just a royal PITA since you can *only* see it from the bottom)

 

not on a Jeepster but here are some shots of my power steering lines.
I bought bulk 3/8 steel brake lines, just straight lengths.
I bent all the angles as my space was just as limited as yours to work with.
I went thru a lot of tubing, twice I got the bends just right and had forgot to put the nut on first.
The nuts are nut the same size, and the pressure side nut can be purchased seperately if you want to go this route.
3/8 is tough to bend and not forgiving when you mess up; best to start over with another length.
In the last pic, you'll see the short Gates HP hose with the gates fittings I used. This is my pressure hose and it's length is about 12". I now carry another short length of this hose in case of failure as the fittings are reusable if needed.
I you want to borrow the benders and try it yourself, shoot me a PM.
Other than time consuming, it's nice to be able to do this yourself while making all the correct angles and bends you might need.

 

So you just did the double flares yourself? And your standard Harbor Freight tubing bender did the trick? My problem is the #7 inverted flare fitting on the PS gear is right up close to the frame so that 90 degree bend coming out of the top of the gear needs to be as close to the nut as possible. I like your idea though and I think I'll try that route since I have a few to do. I just came from a local Hyd. hose shop and he told me to pre-bend a coat hanger in the shape I'll need and he'd do the flares and so on. May as well do it myself.
Your piping and hose look very professional by the way easy rider

 

not any HF benders in my collection....
I have several, 5 or 6, depending on what I'm trying to do
some work better than others
if you've got an inch of clearance, that shouldn't be a problem
and yes, I have the flaring tool as well.

 

In the last pic, you'll see the short Gates HP hose with the gates fittings I used. This is my pressure hose and it's length is about 12".

Where did you get the gates hose?

First time I saw one that looked like I could fab it up.

Thanks

 

it was bulk Gates hydraulic hose that came off of a spool .
It's cloth covered but has wire and rubber underneath.
I'll see if I can get the numbers.
The hose fittings were Gates as well.
I'll warn you it was about $50 for 3' of hose and fittings...not cheap.
I chose to keep the hose short in length, yet easy to get to in case of failure.
The company I bought the hose from say they have never seen it fail in a power steering system.
It's rated for much, much, more than what the sytem can produce.

 

try paraflex hydraulic hose a lot easier to work with. most commercial hydraulic shops carry it.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

Well,
I got my lines bent today and I think I'll be happy with the routing.
I also broke my double flaring tool, apparently it wasn't up to the task of working with the steel tubing.

 

Here are some pics of my 67 fram with power steering without the braces and my 71 frame with the braces. The 67 uses factory hoses but on the 71 I used a 73 Commando hose available from Autozone for around $26.00 part number 91578. I had to bend the line slightly to keep it running up the frame rail like I wanted but did not have to make the bends on the ends or flares. Hope it helps.






-MM

 

Thanks MM.
I was a little leary about getting a hose from a 72 or 73 because the front end is different and I feared it would be to far off to try and fit, now I wish I had run that route it would have been way easier.
Ah well.

Lemme share what I've got so far:

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc87/bigalrock/71%20Commando/steering/steering%20hoses/IMG_0028.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc87/bigalrock/71%20Commando/steering/steering%20hoses/IMG_0031.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc87/bigalrock/71%20Commando/steering/steering%20hoses/IMG_0032.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc87/bigalrock/71%20Commando/steering/steering%20hoses/IMG_0033.jpg

I'm going to take it over to a hose shop near my office on Monday to have them flare all the ends and then I'll make up the short portion of hose to connect them, 10" or so. I have mechanical re-usable hose ends for that. Once I can mount the hard line to the gear box I figure I can make some final tweaks in the line for fitment. I was also going to use some kind of clamp arrangement to secure it to the edge of the radiator mount.

 

Success! Well so far, I still need to make the return assembly.






And hook up the bell coupler, pitman arm, etc... R)

 

Hey, what'd you use for the return hose? I went to autozone yesterday and ordered the pressure hose for my 70. Guy asked me what engine size (for the 73 part) and I said "225 buick", and he said "what year buick that come out of"...Of course, then I forgot that we were talking about a 73 hose, so I replied that it was stock, to which he smugly told me that it wasn't, and turned the screen around to show me (like a computer is always going to be right!). I corrected myself, and told him that it was for my 70, that I had a part number from my helpful friends on the ecj-5 board

 

looks good and professional
the return hose can be just plain old 3/8 hose, not much pressure on it at all
you may have to trim the "tit" off of the steering gear shaft to get the bell to go on.

 

Yeah, the steering shaft has already been modified for the bell coupler. I hope the pump and the gear are tight both being used and the pump came from the pick your part. I think I'll put a PS fluid filter in the return line as well. I'll sure be nice to move this Commando, been sitting in the same spot for a couple of months now. When I picked it up the manual steering box was locked up so I might look into seeing what it would take to fix. I'm sure some would find it useful somewhere. It's a Saginaw box. Think I'd be wasting my time?:?

 

I've had this project on the back burner for the last month but I need to finish it up. I've run into two problems, one halfway expected and one not even considered. The power steering gear drips fluid from around the bell coupler shaft. It looks like I can get a shaft seal kit and replace that one and the pitman shaft seal at the same time.
The other problem I didn't expect, but since the manual gear and the power gear put the pitman in different locations, my tie rod from the power steering gear to the passenger side knuckle is just a bit too long.
Anyone know of a good source for a shorter replacement? And a good method of taking a measurement so I could get one made? I see Herm makes custom lengths.

 

how much longer ?
I didn't run into that.
can you make up for the difference by turning the tie rod ends in further ?
are you sure the box is centered ?

 

Oh I'd say an inch or two. I've taken up all the adjustment in the tie rod too. The pitman arm only goes on in one position due to the spline / flat spot spacing. Am I using the wrong pitman? Am I doing something stupid? What do you mean by centered?

 

I think the problem is in the pitman arm that I am using. I have one from a later model CJ7 and its splines are offset a few degrees from a pitman are I have from a FSJ. This causes the wheels to be turning to the right a slight bit when things are centered and all bolted up, and of course the stop on the d27 knuckle bottoms out right away. When you turn the wheel all the way to the left you don't get full left turn out of the wheels. I took a look at my CJ7 and the PS gear is mounted at an angle to the frame a bit, not parallel or nearly parallel like the commando. Having seen that I understand why the CJ7 pitman arm splines are cut a few degrees off center.
Am I off base here?
What pitman are you guys using on your rigs?
I have one from a FSJ but it is about an inch shorter than the manual pitman arm. The CJ7 arm is the same length as the manual arm.
The FSJ arm has a replaceable bushing/sleeve it looks like in the pitman arm hole, you guys seen that before?

I guess this Commando is my test bed for all my trial and error tribulations as I am going to convert 2 CJ5's to power steering as well.

 

I thought all CJ7 pitman arms were flat? Yours has a slight drop. I really don't know, just wondering. I'm using a flat CJ7 arm, or at least I thought I was, maybe it's from a FSJ or Waggy. I see where you're going with the CJ7 box being mounted at an angle, makes sense.

I replaced my steering box with one made after 1981 so it had o ring fittings, and had to have new ends made. I got the hydraulic shop to do it since they were making up the hose anyway, they just duplicated my old line, and I tweaked it to fit.


I changed stuff so much I'm not sure what I have now. I have replaced seals in a TJ box before with poor results, the shaft was scored and it still leaked. I took a CJ7 box apart to reseal and dropped the ball bearings, just wasn't worth it to rebuild in my mind. There are sites that walk you through the rebuild process. Here's one:

http://www.fourwheeler.com/techarticles/drivetrain/129_0801_saginaw_steering_box_rebuild/index.html

Good luck!