Power steering

[TheEngineGal]

Hi everyone!
I was driving my dad's '66 Charger today, and the steering wheel is so easy to turn! My old '78 Ramcharger was easy too. I got a '01 Ford Ranger now, and i feel like I am steering a tractor! I was wondering if anyone knew how to increase the pressure in the pump, or get a new pump that is for new cars/trucks to make the steering easier? I hate that they make power steering so hard now. I want it easy!

[K D Redd]

Those years of MOPAR power steering IMHO were TOO EASY. You were almost dis-connected from the road. NOT MUCH ROAD FEEL. I have a 89 Dakota with power steering that has much better road feal than those years. Mom and Dad bought a New 65 Plymouth without power steering that had good road feel and was very easy to steer.

Kent

[TheEngineGal]

See that's the thing. I don't want to feel the road! I think the easier the steering, the easier to feel the road. I want easy steering! If i want to feel the road I will go out and poke it. I was just wonering if there is an option to change the steering difficulty.

[J.B. Castagnos]

The effort is controlled by the spring on the spool valve. When you turn the wheel you are twisting a torsion spring, as the spring twist it lets a valve open that lets oil flow. The tension of the spring is what controls effort. Some vehicles have variable assist, controlled by the computer, if you have this you will usually see a plug on the P/S pump. You are one of the few that liked the mushy steering Chrysler offered.

[TheEngineGal]

Sorry, I'm a fan of the mushy! I'll look into it, thanks!

[MoRo]

The newer vehicles, such as your Ranger have a purposly "hard" power steering for being able to feel the road and not oversteer.
Most of us got used to the "mush" steering of yesteryear and learned to feel the road through that.

[terry tabb]

driving an older car they where nice,on newer cars they have made them a little tighter for the gear retio is differnt you turn the wheel 1/2 your in the other line or off the road, but i would thank you can losen her up alittle, must pump have a scew some where ,losen or tighter up , i would think if you losen it up be like driving an old 30 model a that need king pins, if you do losen it up dont go much

[Beth V]

Hmmm, if you like easy steering....you surely wouldn't want to take my '29 Model A for a drive!...it has "arm strong" steering... ...we've replaced the king pins too....

Beth

[terry tabb]

at speed it will want to wonder on you , its not the king pin anyway i couldnt think what you call em parts , it like a pitman arm, half link , any way it will want to wonder on you , and it would not be safe for you or anyone else on the road, you was wanting no how to losen up the steering any way, on you truck, so dont do it ,you need to fill the road,

[Craig A]

POWER = Energy
The more power delivered to a power steering unit means less power delivered elsewhere.
The old air conditioning units could freeze out a Polar Bear too.......
So now more power goes to the drive train instead of other places.......

[Bill Wehrman]

Mopar power steering was way too soft IMHO, they were pretty much all that way for awhile, no feel, just turn the wheel. The Mopar power brakes were often the same way, touch the pedal and bite the steering wheel. I'm driving a '68 Plymouth these days with PS and PB and they are both way too aggressive. The trucks like your '78 steered really easy once the unit was wearing out, when they get bad you can turn it all the way to one side and just start the wheel moving the other way and let go, it will slowly "power" itself all the way to the other side! Nothing that really addresses your question, just my thoughts on the matter.

[TheEngineGal]

Originally Posted by Beth Vanarsdall

Hmmm, if you like easy steering....you surely wouldn't want to take my '29 Model A for a drive!...it has "arm strong" steering... ...we've replaced the king pins too....

Beth

Oh I'd love to take it for a drive!! I wouldn't care for an A! But for an 01 Ranger I'm not so forgiving. Heck I've got to parallel park the Farmall Cub in a very small space. I get my workout there!

AND FOR THE PEOPLE RAGGING ON MOPAR.... most cars of the day had very easy power steering. Some more than Chrystler! Example: PACKARD!

[Motormowers]

I rebuilt the steering on my 30 Model A that time and it still changed lanes by itself. My 65 Chevy II had power steering that was just a piston on the center link and spongy and worthless. My 84 Mazda B2200 diesel is nose heavy and steers like a B model Mack but its nice and tight. Tight steering rules!

[terry tabb]

every old model A that i rebuild they all drove nice i replaced every thing too, they will get lose if you dont put new cups on the a frame that hooks to the trany, king pins, and make sure that all the knokels are not egg shaped, adjustment nut , on steering box down and 1/4 turn out and tighten the locking nut, good tires and tubes, center link cups, half link cups, and your driven a new car, theres nothing that has the old model a sound, ill take a model A over any other car,id take a dozzy though, if it still wounders i dont no what to tell you , but put new bearing in it,

[Beth V]

Now, what would be the fun of driving a Model A that drove like a new vehicle??? My Boxers wouldn't get to ride if it was like new!

Beth

[Sawyer-Massey 11-22]

A friend has a '70 Nova SS. This thing was a beast to drive, straight lines were ok, but try to turn at a stop sign. It was factory [except inside the block, carb, headers, tires and rims] 350 s.b., 4 gear, 10" factory ralley wheel, and factory "no factory power steering. Talk about multy tasking at stop sign while trying to turn left/right.

Another had a '69 428 C.J. Mach 1 fast back Mustang. Very similar, no power steering, 4 speed, factory ralley wheel. Both Ford and G.M. intended both these cars to go in a straight line only.

Robert

[Motormowers]

If you look at most of those muscle cars of the 60's you'll find that most came with power brakes but not power steering if stick shift. Its so you had better control of the road while driving with one hand while you were banging gears with the other because of the rubber band effect in the steering.

[terry tabb]

Originally Posted by Beth Vanarsdall

Now, what would be the fun of driving a Model A that drove like a new vehicle??? My Boxers wouldn't get to ride if it was like new!

Beth

now thats a new car know you get it, im not like most people i have never owned a new car, its just new to me, Red Skelton once ask his maid do you dust, i can write my name on that table , and she said education is a wonderful thing,

[Bill Wehrman]

I don't see anyone "ragging" on Chrysler, I would be one of the first to jump in in such an event. The fact remains that Mopar power steering was one of the most effortless units ever made. If you are just driving the car around it's just great, but if you are driving under the influence of say, the Dukes of Hazzard, the P/S was a hassle, it was much too easy to oversteer and seemed to have no interest in centering itself. Most of the kids I knew that were habitually doing figure-8s, spinning circles, and general tire smoldering idiot-style driving were not driving Packards and Cadillacs. The late '70s and early '80s were the golden age of wild Mopar motorheads, the cars were plentiful and cheap! And the beautiful thing was if you spun a bearing in your 383 RoadRunner you could drive around for about ten minutes and find an old New Yorker with a 440 for $100 and have another big block installed by the next day! If you broke your 455 GS Buick, your 427 SS Chevy, or your big Boss Ford you were in trouble, you had to rebuild it or find another and either way it was probably going to cost you good. I was lucky enough to sample nearly all of the American muscle cars, but Chrysler was always #1 in my book, the sound of a big block Dodge screaming out it's sweet song of teenage angst today raises the hair on my neck and often brings tears to my eyes, I miss them so much.

[HBurk]

Bill,
Been there, done that!!!!!!!!!!!!