72-93 steering gear interchange.

[YY1]

Hey folks- I picked up a 1980 D150, and after I got it home, the steering gear broke inside.
(while I was driving it!!!)

I understand all 72-93 gearboxes interchange....but all I have found so far at the U-pulls have been 4WD.

These seem to have a stand-off plate between the gear and the frame, and the pitman arm looks like it might be coming off at a different angle.

Will they still work?

Thanks much.

 

[YY1]

Well.....I found three candidates at a local u pull.

I selected the newest truck with the cleanest box...IIRC a 92.

It did fit, but...the lines are different.

The 1980 has SAE flare nuts, and the 1992 has metric fittings with plastic bushings.

The return line can just be cut and clamped NBD.

The HP line...I'm taking to a discount specialty hose maker. If they can swap ends for under $20, I'm there.
If not, I'm just gonna' cut, make a splice with some copper tube and clamp.

Shame, since the "new" line I got is a really high quality woven sheathed part.

 

[bear]

Or you could go back and get the pump out of the 92 . I'm sure they wouldn't want much for it . Just a thought .

 

[bikinkawboy]

The 2 wheel and 4 wheel drive power steering gears are the same except for the hoses-lines. On the 2 wheel drive, the gear box bolts directly to the frame with 4 bolts. On the 4-wheel, the gearbox bolts to a cast iron cradle, which in turn bolts to the frame with 3 larger diameter bolts. The cradle positions the box 90 degrees off, with the sector shaft (not the pitman arm) in the horizontal position rather than vertical on the 2 wheel. The pitman arm is also rotated 90 degrees. Can't tell right now without going out and looking, but I'm assuming the sector shaft has single splines all the way around rather than a double spline thatwould prevent changing the position of the pitman arm.The 2-wheel manual steering gear bolts directly to the frame like the 2-wheel PS, only with 3 bolts rather than 4. The frame has the 4 holes in either application, although the 4-wheel holes are slightly larger than the 2 wheel to accomodate the larger diameter bolts. Although the manual gear is shorter in length than the PS units, the shaft exiting the manual box is longer and mates up with the fiber U joint perfectly. I put a PS unit in place of my failing D300 manual box. Actually a quick, easy job that went smoothly. PS sure is nice when you have 10,000 lbs setting on the bed. My dad was too tight to order it with PS.

 

[YY1]

I did end up finding a 1992 pump for free, and changed the fitting out.

Got it all back together pretty smoothly.

Then the battery failed.

Then the starter failed.

...