Technical STEERING, Cowl Steering, strong, simple and affordable

Ok, here’s my take on cowl steering. I won’t say this is the “right”, “wrong” or only way to do it, but I’ve seen some pretty sketchy cowl steer setups here and there. I’ve also never seen a cowl steer post that really definitively points you in the direction of a useable steering box, other than the BMW 2002 box, and those don’t grow on trees. So I set out to find a cheap, plentiful and sturdy solution to the steering box problem, first of all, and from there design and construct something that is safe, simple, and attractive.



Before we get started…using these parts and this method requires reversing a steering box, and FIRST CLASS welding. If taking apart a steering box and drilling holes in it isn’t your thing, this isn’t your answer. If your welding is anything less than perfect, find someone to do the welding for you…it IS your steering after all J



Parts:

• Early Ford Ranger manual steering box. Not sure the year spread here, mine was from an 85, I’m assuming anything in that first body style is the same.
• 1.75x.120 wall DOM tubing, about a foot max. I do NOT recommend CR tube, as it requires normalizing after welding.
• A pitman arm of some kind. Dad and I had a dozen of these cut at our local laser shop, the same results could be had with some bandsaw time. The one pictured is made from ½” coldrolled plate.
• Misc. plate and tubing to mount the box into the car. This is up to you, as it is gonna vary by car.

With parts in hand the first step is to reverse the box. I’m not going to into detail on that here, because it’s been covered a million times with Corvair boxes, and the process is exactly the same. The nice thing about this box is that when you drill the hole for the input to come out the other side, the case is thick enough to hold the seal. I used a 1 1/8” holesaw after drilling a pilot, and that worked out perfect to hammer the seal back into.





Pay no attention to the size 12.

 

Once your box is reversed, it’s time for the fun stuff. Mock up a steering shaft using whatever’s handy, I used a straight coupler and a piece of tube (didn’t want to waste real steering shaft material until I knew how long it was going to be) By the way, splines are ¾”-36, so couples and whatnot are super easy to find. Grab your box and crawl around under your dash until you find a good place to put it. I positioned mine so that the steering shaft was centered on the drivers side of the cab, and angled it such that I didn’t need a U joint. I’ll add here that when I put the box together after reversing, I left out the sector for a while so the box was lighter.



Once you figure out where to locate it, figure out how to mount it. Every car is going to be different, so I’ll just post pictures of what I did to give an idea of the support required. You’ll find that it’s pretty easy to make up a plate to mount the box with. I used a ¼” mounting plate welded into my tubular support structure. You’ll notice in my pictures that I did not tie into the frame. In this truck I have a complete subframe within the cab to stiffen it, tying into that was adequate. If it’s possible with YOUR build, I’d recommend building off the chassis. The watchword here is STRONG. Most of the forces exerted on the box will be front to rear, so keep that in mind.













With the box mounted, it’s time to drill a bigass hole in the side of your ride. Since I had the sector out, I used a 12” long ¼” bit to drill a pilot from the inside out, through the box. With that done, I moved outside, and used a 2” holesaw.

 

Once the box is mounted and we have a hole, it’s time to get a pitman arm on there. The beauty of this box is that the sector is long enough to be within 1”-2” of what most people need. I used and recommend what I call a “tubular extended pitman arm thing”. It’s an old sprint car trick, and ideal for this application. First step, saw the splined end off your pitman. Buy your buddy with the lathe a case of High Life, and have him turn down the piece you just cut off so that it fits in your 1.75” tubing.









Get the splined bung that your lathe buddy just made you square in the end of the tube, and weld that sucker in there. I used 3 rosette welds as well as a seam all the way around the edge with the TIG.









With your tube done, you can go ahead and install it onto the sector shaft, and figure out how long it needs to be. It’s also decision time. There’s a few different methods you can use to mount your pitman arm to the tube, ie make a flange that the pitman bolts to (what I did), or make a pitman with a hole to slide over the tube, and weld it. I think the flange method is a better bet, gives you some flexibility with trying different arm lengths and whatnot. Whatever you do, make sure you can get to the middle of the tubing to install the nut holding this whole deal to the sector.









***Remember when your calculating the length of your extension tube that as you steer right the pitman arm comes rearward, give yourself enough room so that the tie rod nut doesn’t collide with the bodywork *** I used a combination of tube length and a slightly bent pitman arm to give me about an inch behind the arm at full right lock.

 

Once your length is decided, weld that thing on up. I used a 3” round flange with a hole to slip over the tubing, my pitman bolts to that.









That’s more or less it, it’s *done* but not *finished*. Gotta do something with that unsightly tube sticking out the side of your car!! I had never hammered a blister before, so I decided that I’d try it to hide the arm coming out. What I’m thinking here is that I’ll make it a rivet on part. After bodywork and paint, it will get installed with stainless rivets. That also gives a chance to make a seal for the shaft from thin flat rubber and use the blister to fasten it to the body. I also considered welding a bigger piece of tube to the body and blending it into the panel with a bit of filler. Going that route would let you use a lip seal if you use the right ID on the tubing.











So I suck at writing tech articles, but hey, I tried! J

 

VERY nice work. Thanks. I'll read through it a couple times.

 

Works for me.

 

If anyone has specific questions, feel free to ask. I had these big plans to write the tech article of the century, took a ton of pics, sat down at the PC....and was like "shit, how do you write directions for this"

 

WOW!! Great tech article.That sure look's alot better and easier than cutting and welding the sector shaft. GREGG

 

very good, thank you

 

NICE TECH ! That setup looks real solid and trouble free . I'd trust it. I'm thinking you dont even need a buddy with a lathe.. You could probabbly grind the spline end round enough with a bench mounted disk.... I'm heading out for one of them steerer box thingies in the morning.

 

WOW......great pics and great text......thanks!

 

The reason I recommend turning that with a lathe is to keep it concentric. if your splines end up off center, your extension tube is gonna wobble as it rotates. Not a huge deal, I guess, since it only rotates maybe 100 degrees.

 

Oh yeah, by the way, five stars for this one !!!!!

 

Nice job..... good tech....

 

Great tech.

 

Nice job, Exactly what tech week is all about.

 

Simply awesome! I'm thinking about ditching my vega box after that one.

Woody

 

Real nice job. That ain't goin nowhere. I also like the cover. I thought I would do something similar for a cover on my sedan, but didn't end up needing to. Nice work, looks like you're making great progress

 

awesome tech. Nice job!

The ingenuity here is great

 

As Shiny would say...thats KILL!

 

Bashful? C'mon, that's shit hot!

And well written, take a bow.

 

Excellent tech, one I plan on using.

 

Would you mind explaining how to reverse a steering box?


Thanks!
Ed

 

Gotta say, "That's the best tech article that I have seen in a long time!"

It's a doable deal, but do expalin ther reverse proceedure & well as the seal install. I'd also like to see shots of you hammering out the blister. That work was fantastic!!!!!

 

I would say that is a better way to do it than mine!

 

That's really well thought out and executed. Nice job!

Question... Is the bracket holding the steering box to your inner structure strong enough? Is there another bracket closer to the cowl that isn't visible?

 

awsome tech post, thanks!

 

Hey, one more question.

How do you get to the pitman arm nut? Is there room inside the "extension tube" for a deep socket?


Thanks!
Ed

PS- Great tech! I'm asking all these questions because I'm thinking about using this box now instead of the F1 that I already have

 

I was rooting around "The auction site whose name shall not be mentioned" and found a picture of the BMW 2002 box. I flipped it over and put it above the '85 Ranger box he used here. looks pretty close huh?

The pitman arm doesn't look as nice, but it looks like it'll clear the angle of the cowl, and it doesn't need reversing.

I like the way the blister gives the cowl a race car look, but for those with limited skills (me), the BMW box could be used in the same way.

Burger, here's a Link for ya