Electric power steering

[CYIwork]

I'm looking into running electric power steering on my '71 C10, BBC. Can anyone explain the set up and what the pros and cons are? Thanks.

[Longhorn Man]

not to be a pain... but why would you want to run it, esp if you don't know what the pros and cons are?
I've honestly never even heard of electric power steering.

[northerngmc]

Well call it crazy but it appears lots of new cars are using it.

Good read... http://www.aa1car.com/library/steeri...r_electric.htm

And where to buy it! Flaming River

[project 67 sub]

^^^^^^ holy crap what a price tag

Compact Unit That Mounts To a Column / ea
Only $5,200.00

[CYIwork]

Finding out the pros and cons is how I will decide if I want to run it or not. A friend mentioned it to me and refered me to this site-

http://delphi.com/manufacturers/auto.../electric/eps/

[northerngmc]

Originally Posted by project 67 sub

^^^^^^ holy crap what a price tag

I guess we have found the first CON!

[project 67 sub]

thats for sure

[CYIwork]

Thanks Northerngmc for the info and link. $5200 is definitly a con!

[Longhorn Man]

Wow... I was trying not to learn anything today.

With that price tag... I learned it is something I am not interested in.
The HP loss is a bit misleading. The only time the old style pump will take that kind of power, is at full lock, and if you need 200+ horses whith the wheel at full lock, then you have other problems.
Also, the claim that an electric item frees up power is also a bit misleading. More electricity used means more electricity needs to be produced, which puts a load on the engine.
There's no such thing as free lunch

[tucnnuts]

does anyboody think you could use some of the new gm electric stuff .... some of the new front wheel drive stuff has it....guess well have to wait on the junk yards to get some more of them...lol

[ETsC10]

Interesting concept.
Curiousity plus experimentation can lead to new inovations!

[combustion]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

Wow... I was trying not to learn anything today.

With that price tag... I learned it is something I am not interested in.
The HP loss is a bit misleading. The only time the old style pump will take that kind of power, is at full lock, and if you need 200+ horses whith the wheel at full lock, then you have other problems.
Also, the claim that an electric item frees up power is also a bit misleading. More electricity used means more electricity needs to be produced, which puts a load on the engine.
There's no such thing as free lunch

very true. i think the only was a sane person will purchase are for the following reasons.

a. has a vette worth drooling over,
b. lots of wallet
c. wants a more sanitary looking motor bay.

[beautimus]

Originally Posted by ETsC10

Interesting concept.
Curiousity plus experimentation can lead to new inovations!

and dead cats sorry, i just had to.....

[Palf70Step]

Besides the vette, the newer Malibu's use the electric steering. Two things I have noticed driving one. To me you don't get a road feel in the wheel, which I like or am just use to. It also drives me crazy how the wheel can spin when the engine is off. It just don't seem natural to me.

In the car they seem OK. You can get use to the lack of road feel. I just wonder about the weight difference between a Malibu and a truck on how it would feel/respond though.

[CYIwork]

Thanks everyone for the information and feedback. I think I'll just stay with what I have.

[Longhorn Man]

Even though my first responce comes off as a little bit of a smart A comment... you taught most of us something new.
Thank you.

[michael bustamante]

Originally Posted by tucnnuts

does anyboody think you could use some of the new gm electric stuff .... some of the new front wheel drive stuff has it....guess well have to wait on the junk yards to get some more of them...lol

I work for an aftermarket warranty company and I can tell you GM has NOT perfected this yet. we replace so many GM steering column because the electric p steer motors go bad and theyre intigrated to the column itself. theyre on cobalts, g6, malibus and some other GM smaller and mid size vehicles

[Longhorn Man]

Sad thing is, GM SELDOM perfects anything before putting it in use on production vehicles.

[68gmsee]

This old dog, for sure learned something new... The idea of using it in one of our trucks! Never hurts to throw new things out there.

Personally, I like the concept but it still scares me -and I've worked with electrical/electronic stuff all my life.

[Longhorn Man]

i agree 100%

[68C15]

Originally Posted by michael bustamante

I work for an aftermarket warranty company and I can tell you GM has NOT perfected this yet. we replace so many GM steering column because the electric p steer motors go bad and theyre intigrated to the column itself. theyre on cobalts, g6, malibus and some other GM smaller and mid size vehicles

food for thought, I have yet to see a customer complaint that requires repair. all it takes is driver education. when the driver turns back and forth a bunch in fast succession the motor will draw excessive current and the control module will back off until things cool down. all the driver says is "it gets hard to steer" without telling the whole story. I tried to duplicate this in the shop and has to go full lock to full lock 12 times before it happened.

I see no problem with the design from GM and with some research I think I could come up with a way to retrofit it to our trucks.

something else you should know is the GM system has a good mechanical link between the wheel and the steering gear. if the system fails you can steer the same but with increased effort, just like our old trucks if the belt flies off.

but my main concern is if the motor can provide enough assist for heavier vehicles with bigger tires.