Power Steering Adapter Plates

[mannyb.]

got mine! and it came in one day earlier than expected. nice

thanks john!

SO... have any of you guys gone the route of bolting the steering shaft adapter? if you did, what size bolt did you use, and do you think 1 should be good enough?

thanks again,
manny

[Captainfab]

I would think one grade 8, 1/4" or 5/16" bolt would be sufficient.

[mannyb.]

k. thanks again cap'n!

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

I would think one grade 8, 1/4" or 5/16" bolt would be sufficient.

That's what I did on mine.
But I'll probably do a second one about 2-1/2" down just to give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

[mannyb.]

yea thats what i was thinking. since i dont have access to a better welder. hey lostmy65, i asked a question on another one of your threads about a pitman arm, but maybe i can ask you on here. i have a steering box out of an 87burb with the pitman arm on it still. my concern is, the box has a casting 7802644L. ive read on a couple of other places that the L designates 4x4, but they guys swears it was a 2wd burb. the pitman has a casting GMT6272424, which is the same that you had posted a picture of. if you could help clarify, it would ease my mind before i cut out my original steering box/shaft.

thanks again!!!!

[LostMy65]

The 4x4 arm looks a lot different than the 2wd arm.

Here is a 4x4 box and arm:



Here is a 2wd box:

[66Custom]

Thanks for the plates John,

They look great with fantastic detailed instructions and they arrived much sooner than expected. Thanks for the excellent product and for sharing your knowledge.

[Captainfab]

Thanks for the kind words Jack. I'm glad you got them in time and are happy with your purchase. I appreciate the purchase.

[Envy]

I need one for my 65 please.

[Captainfab]

PM sent......

Originally Posted by Envy

I need one for my 65 please.

[1942]

I need a adapter plate for my 63... is it anything else i need, to use my original steering colum ? Best regards from norway!

[Captainfab]

It is not absolutely necessary, but the I also offer the tube and flange shown in mannyb's post above. That is post #126. The tube and flange is an extra $20.00. You can also reuse the original flange on the end of the steering column shaft. How to do that is shown in the installation instructions. Let me know.

Originally Posted by 1942

I need a adapter plate for my 63... is it anything else i need, to use my original steering colum ? Best regards from norway!

[1942]

PM sent!

[66 lwb cs]

Sent you payment via paypal for one of your PS brackets thanks.

[Captainfab]

PM returned 1942

Originally Posted by 1942

PM sent!

Thanks for the purchase Your adapter plate will ship tomorrow.

Originally Posted by 66 lwb cs

Sent you payment via paypal for one of your PS brackets thanks.

[jonzcustomshop]

gotta say, beautiful piece, worked great, eyeing that column piece for the next job... would save some time w/ welding and measuring!

[Captainfab]

Thanks for the compliment Jon

How are you coming on your wife's truck?

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

gotta say, beautiful piece, worked great, eyeing that column piece for the next job... would save some time w/ welding and measuring!

[jonzcustomshop]

its going great! for the idler I just drilled some new holes, same for the sway bar.
had to shorten the steering shaft 2 inches, then welded it up with the arc welder kind of like how you would do the old guided bend test.
I ended up using the rag joint from the 87, and bolted it to the 63's upper.

[mannyb.]

hey jon, i havent started my power steering setup quite yet. wanted to tackle the motor first. BUT i was just wondering why you had to redrill holes for the idler arm and sway bar. im using a sway bar from an 87 burb bolted straight to the frame. is it going to be in the way w/ the new box?

[Captainfab]

Manny, if you use the '73-'87 idler arm along with the rest of the '73-'87 steering linkage, you will need to drill new holes to mount the idler arm. I prefer to use the complete '73-'87 steering linkage when doing a conversion. As for the sway bar, most trucks prior to about '65-'66 don't have the frames or the lower control arms drilled for a sway bar. Therefore you need to drill the holes to mount one on the earlier trucks.

Originally Posted by mannyb.

hey jon, i havent started my power steering setup quite yet. wanted to tackle the motor first. BUT i was just wondering why you had to redrill holes for the idler arm and sway bar. im using a sway bar from an 87 burb bolted straight to the frame. is it going to be in the way w/ the new box?

[mannyb.]

i see. well, if i swap the idler arm as well, do i need to change anything else, or just drill new holes for it?

[jonzcustomshop]

yep all I had to do was drill a bunch of holes!!

but it all worked, sway bar and steering all from the 87, with the adapter bracket.

[mannyb.]

k cool. thanks for the advice!

[mannyb.]

wait im confused. what holes do you have to drill out?

[Captainfab]

There is a bracket that attaches the idler arm, as shown in that pic, to the frame. It mounts to the frame differently than the '63-'66 bracket. Therefore you need to locate it and drill new holes. It is really quite simple to do.