PS – MS Conversion

Q; I would like to convert to manual steering, I am a bit exhausted with chasing the leaks. What’s involved in a changeover?

A; Many of the steering components are different from the manual version, these include the center link, inner tie rods, idler arm, and the pitman arm. Exceptions are the outer tie rods, [rod ends], tie rod couplers, and the steering gear. When I get one of these calls, and they are common, I need to make the customer understand what’s involved in doing the changeover, including my need on a good rebuildable core of the manual center link as this is not reproduced.

A very nice alternative is to keep your existing steering linkages, remove the slave cylinder, steering valve, pump, reservoir, and hoses. Drain them all well and save them, for you may decide at a later date to reinstall it. So at this point you have a complete linkage system that you know works, [assuming that it’s all in good shape], minus the valve assy. that connects the center link to the pitman arm.

Available for this is a conversion is a unit that connects the pitman arm to the center link. My part # is ; ps-ms conv. Installation is pretty straight forward, requiring the steering gear to be centered, as the front wheels, screw the unit onto the center link to the point it fits to the pitman arm. Check steering wheel centering, repeat until your satisfied with the steering wheel position. Tighten well.

The beauty of this is that it’s cost is a fraction of replacing the components to all manual, and it can be converted back easily! What a great idea, wish I had thought of it!