CJ5 Power Steering help and other Q's...

ncgamedog

ncgamedog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2005
Location
Greensboro, NC
Guys I just picked up a decent little 75' five today. It has a lot of new parts and runs clean. Drivetrain is a 258, T-18 (~4:1 1st), D20, Disk D30 frt, AMC 20 rear (welded). It has 2.5" SU lift and 32x11.50's. I just want to use it basically the way it is for mild wheeling and trail beating. Kind of treating this like a sammi type build something small, inexpensive, and fun.

My question is: What do I need to do to get Power Steering on it? A parts list would be nice and what vehicle(s) to source the parts from. I noticed that the crank pully has an extra grove for another belt. I assume it should be a fairly simple swap.

I would also like to improve the brakes some. It has power disks, but a larger booster/master would be great. Is there something fairly bolt-on that could be swapped in? Maybe a YJ booster/master? Not sure if it would work right w/ the CJ pedals.

Eventually I would like to do Toyota mini truck axles for many reasons. I don't really want it any higher than it is, so if I do the toy axles I may want to stay sprung under w/ the springs that are on it, OR try stock YJ's w/ frenched mounts in the front and something sprung under in the rear... possibly waggy or trooper springs. I am afraid the waggy's might be too long. The largest tire I would ever run is a 33" maaaaybe 36's.

Any build ideas are def welcome, I'm not terribly familiar with jeeps as far as part interchangeability and such. I mainly want to get power steering on it right away and bring it up to snuff. Oh... and either add some triangulation to the existing pipe cage or start from scratch.

If anyone w/ some CJ lug pattern, white wagon wheels would like to swap for the Aluminum ones on the Jeep holla

Here are a few quick pics I snapped:


 
power steering

The PS is moderatley easy, I did it on my '77 with a variety of donor parts I had been collecting over the years.

PS steering box and steering shaft from a later model CJ. The input splines are different between CJ PS and manual boxes. You can replace just the coupler on the bottom of the steering shaft, but since I had the entire PS shaft, I used it. I read a lot about some J-truck PS boxes being the same spline as CJ manual...follow-up on that if you like. I think the J-truck boxes might flow more fluid, dunno.

I used a pump/reservoir from an 84 CJ 4-banger, since it had the V-groove pulley.
Pump engine brackets were from an 82 AMC Concord 258. The pump on this engine was a serp., I wasnt intrested in swapping pulleys.

The open slot on your crank pulley is probably for the air pump aka smog pump. My pump 'disappeared' when I replaced the exhaust manifod with air tubes with a header. When I put the PS pump brakcets on, there was an ear for air pump, which I cut off so as not to upset anyone inspecting the engine. Does you fan/water pump pulley also have an open groove? I think you'll need one there too.

The return line is low pressure, so I just cut the hard lines out of both box and pump, long enough to accept a rubber hose clamped on. The pressure line is a bit trickier. AMC-Jeep used 2 types of connections, metric O-ring and flare maybe. If both box and pump are from the same era, you can just get a pressure hose from NAPA.

I also got a belt from the parts store, I can't remember what year I asked for, but it looked close and did fit perfect.

One more thing, I wouldnt bother re-using the stock box to frame brackets. IIRC, the manual box uses 2 stamped pieces, for PS, you only need 2 of them. Spend $100 on an aftermarket bracket. Mine is from Big Daddy Off-road (might be out of business now?), MORE makes one, I'm sure there's others. I ripped 2 sets of stockers before finally upgrading, first on 31s and open-open, then on 33s locked f/r.

If you want pics, I posted them on JU years ago, I might be able to find them again, or I could take a looksee at my CJ and maybe more pics.
 
Thanks for the help!
A link to some pics would be nice if you have time.
Thats definitely an interesting culmination of parts haha.
I havent seen a concord in years lol...I just wish I could find CJ's in yards, parts like that are tough to come by cheap these days.
I dont remember if the WP pully had 2 grooves...I dont think so, but I'll double check 2mw. I also need a new steering shaft anyway, I am tempted to just build a new column/shaft w/ some MOOG stuff.
Looks like I have a lil bit of a treasure hunt to go on lol
 
I've got a ps box and steering shaft(from the column to the box) & ps pump(pump only no bracket) that I was saving for a build but may not use. Check around, there are tons of jeep stuff floating around. Good luck with the cj
 
cj

Hey I got 78 cj5 and this past winter I put power steering on my. I know nothing about cars but I was able to do the swap out. It was pretty easy. I have the v8 in mine so bolting the pump bracket to mine was the hardest thing for me. I had to move wires and things like that around. Yours being the v6 shouldn't be as bad. I think. I can take some pics if you would like?
 
found a pic of mine loosely attached...
100_0104_.jpg
I think a 6cyl pump would point straight up, the 4cyl pump kicks outward. I had to use about 1/8" spacer washer between the water pump and PS pump bracket.
 
hey

glad to see you got you some thing else ...i remember very vaguely but aren't they left to right steering instead of push pull if so could you use a toyota ifs box and pump and etc if we could make that work then you would be one step ahead on the toyota axle set up down the rd the only thing i would be in question about would be the pitment arm..idk if it would even work just an idea and i have plenty toyota parts
 
JUSTIN HARTNESS said:
glad to see you got you some thing else ...i remember very vaguely but aren't they left to right steering instead of push pull if so could you use a toyota ifs box and pump and etc if we could make that work then you would be one step ahead on the toyota axle set up down the rd the only thing i would be in question about would be the pitment arm..idk if it would even work just an idea and i have plenty toyota parts
Click to expand...

I had thought abt that too Justin, but not sure if there is room on the outside of the frame for a toyota box. The Jeeps mount on the inside. I think it would def be worth taking a look at though.

I tried to call you the other day, gimmie a shout sometime.
:beer:
 
RenegadeT said:
The PS is moderatley easy, I did I used a pump/reservoir from an 84 CJ 4-banger, since it had the V-groove pulley.
Pump engine brackets were from an 82 AMC Concord 258. The open slot on your crank pulley is probably for the air pump aka smog pump. Does you fan/water pump pulley also have an open groove? I think you'll need one there too.
Click to expand...

I checked on the WP pully its only single groove. The only belt it has is the one driving the WP and Alt. which lines up with the front groove on the crank pully. Looks like I might need the whole front end assembly off another jeep to make it all line up properly. That kinda sucks cause it has a brand new Alternator on it.
 
ncgamedog said:
I checked on the WP pully its only single groove. The only belt it has is the one driving the WP and Alt. which lines up with the front groove on the crank pully. Looks like I might need the whole front end assembly off another jeep to make it all line up properly. That kinda sucks cause it has a brand new Alternator on it.
Click to expand...

sounds like you just need to swap the single w/p pulley for a double pulley. My forward belt is on the alternator, crank, and w/p. My rear belt is PS, crank and w/p.
 
Is anyone aware of a company who might sell a complete kit with all new or re-man parts? I am ready to work on this thing a bit, and it would be worth a little more $ to me to be able to "one stop shop" and get everything I need.
 
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