Power steering too fast

[chainsaw]

I love my p s conversion execpt its too easy to steer, no road feel at all. Any movement of the wheel and your trying to change lanes. Also it feels like it hops on slow u turns, you can here the tire chirp every other second . I didnt realine it after the swap and it does drive straight down the road if you let go of the wheel. How can I get more road feel or will a alinement fix my problem ? Thanks.

[scottofksu]

Others who are vastly more knowledgeable than I will certainly chime in, but it seems to me that your toe setting may be off... I'd say too much toe out.

[1963c-10]

Ive heard of people installing a filter to slow some of the pressure if thats the problem. Could also be alignment as scott0fksu said.

[gimmy 64]

get it aligned you are not only going to tear up tires but it will drive like crap --ask me how i know? it will drive 100% better after alignment

[chainsaw]

I was hoping since it goes straight with my hands off the wheel the alinement could wait. Not sure if Im doing a disk swap or just rebuilding the front end, either way it will be awhile. Guess Ill try the alinement. Guess I also need to learn how to spell alignment.

[1enick72]

A smaller steering wheel will help
Posted via Mobile Device

[brokenspoke]

Align the front end

[tincan1966]

Doing street rods, we sometimes run into this similiar problem when using GM power streering pumps and rack and pinions. Have also noticed it on other PS swaps. You can change the pressure valve on the pump-it is the large fitting where the pressure hose attaches. There are different springs available, and also Speedway sells an adjustable pressure valve you can install inline. BUT...if you want cheap, I have in the past, removed the spring and removed 1/2 to 1 coil off of it. it will effectively slow the steering down a bit and give you more "feel".
I also highly recommend having the truck re-aligned, too.

[theastronaut]

One of the problems is the trucks originally didn't have much caster angle for easier steering without power assist. More castor adds steering feel, increases steering effort, and helps the truck track straighter. Some guys are modifying their trucks to get 7-9* by moving the lower control shaft forward .75". Without mods, you may only be able to get around 4-5*. Get an alignment tech to add as much as he can with your stock parts, and get a readout sheet of the alignment settings so you can see where you're at. If it's still too easy, it's not hard to make two new locating dimples in the lower control arm shafts up to increase the amount of caster adjustment.

Cutting line pressure to the pump is kind of a band-aid fix, since the factory caster specs are very low for easier steering with a manual steering box. Adding more caster won't wear your tires either.

Chevyrestoguy has an awesome write up on how to do the shaft mod.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php?p=5122014

[padresag]

Originally Posted by 1enick72

A smaller steering wheel will help
Posted via Mobile Device

it will be even faster with a smaller wheel
ron

[tincan1966]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

One of the problems is the trucks originally didn't have much caster angle for easier steering without power assist. More castor adds steering feel, increases steering effort, and helps the truck track straighter. Some guys are modifying their trucks to get 7-9* by moving the lower control shaft forward .75". Without mods, you may only be able to get around 4-5*. Get an alignment tech to add as much as he can with your stock parts, and get a readout sheet of the alignment settings so you can see where you're at. If it's still too easy, it's not hard to make two new locating dimples in the lower control arm shafts up to increase the amount of caster adjustment.

Cutting line pressure to the pump is kind of a band-aid fix, since the factory caster specs are very low for easier steering with a manual steering box. Adding more caster won't wear your tires either.

Chevyrestoguy has an awesome write up on how to do the shaft mod.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php?p=5122014

Yes totally agree, cutting line pressure is a "get by" method, not a cure for the problem, was just throwing out an idea.
Sorry I should have made that more clear in my posting. Too short on coffee this morning! LOL

[padresag]

Originally Posted by padresag

it will be even faster with a smaller wheel
ron

I will rephrase this. it will not make it turn faster, but it will with the smaller dia str/wheel assist you in making the steering quicker.
ron

[TopFuel1966]

Find yourself a guy who really knows front end alignment technology. Someone who only knows how to feed factory specs into a computer is not going to be able to help you because once you start modifying the front end with power steering, lowering, etc. the factory specs go out the window. I speak from experience.

[bama63]

as suggested by many get the alignment first then go from there mine was very touchy until it was aligned and now i get good feed back in the wheel and very good control

[HEI451]

First off, settings for trucks are designed to have the truck half loaded in the rear, to set the suspension correctly. So, a half ton truck should have 500 lbs of weight in the bed, over the rear axle, when it is aligned, 1 ton, a half ton of weight. So, when the bed is empty, caster settings are very steep. Most of us don't drive our trucks with any sort of load at all for much mileage, which means we need to adopt different specs and live with the issues when the bed is loaded

Contrary to popular belief, low caster numbers on trucks are not linked to making manual steering work easier.

Second, utilizing a pump pulley that is a larger diameter than the one now in use, will slow the steering down to a reasonable, workable rate, and then, adjust the valve for further sensitivity.