Hey Gang,

This is the part of the board where I eat some crow. Seems that I may have given you some bad info about possible other sources for steering boxes for manual conversions. Here's the thread https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=274455

I got a steering box for an 83 S-10, the Lares 1245. It bolted right in, the rag joint slipped right into place, and then when I went to hook up the pitman arm, I noticed that it slid right up the shaft with no resistance at all, and could spin from side to side without any problem.

I took a good look at the inside of the pitman arm, splines are all nice and sharp, and I recall it took a bit with the pitman puller to break it off the original box.

I suspect, but haven't confirmed yet, that the the size of the output shaft changed from the first to 2nd gen s10s. I did notice that the 1st gens (82-84) use only 3 bolts on the top of the steering box, and the 2nd gens (85-93) use 4, and look a lot more like our boxes. I'm going to exchange the box tomorrow, and let you know how it goes.

One other thing, that freaking box was 6 1/2 turns lock to lock!!!!.

I'm also going to go join an s10 forum, just for the purpose of asking those folks if what I suspect is true. I'm also going to contact the company that made the box, and just confirm that what I received is what I had requested. Occasionally the wrong part gets into the right box, so it's not totally out of reason.

Well, the beeper is going off on the microwave, so my portion of Heckle and Jeckle are done. Thanks for your time, and I hope to have some more info for you by tomorrow evening. I'm also going to check out the link that Stephen 87 IROC posted on my earlier thread, see if there is anything that I may have missed.

Steve

 

6-1/2 turns lock to lock is normal for a manual box. Since there's no power assist, you need the torque multiplication with more turns. There are only a couple of early manual boxes with a quick ratio. Mostly in things like early Corvettes.

I could have told you the 3 bolt top cover boxes had a smaller sector shaft. I wasn't aware that the early S10's used that box. I assumed they were all the 4 bolt cover. I thought GM stopped using the 3 bolt, small sector shaft steering boxes in the late 70's.

 

Steve,

Yea, the 82-84 S-10s used them. Since I've got one that's going back tomorrow, I'll get one for 85 up.

Really ticked me off a bit, get it mounted, get the input shaft installed, and when I went to put on the pitman arm I could tell that things weren't right.

Looks like I was wrong, I had gotten the impression from some of the threads that ANY S10 box was a replacement item, but just 'cuz it fits don't mean it will work.

The 6 or so turns makes sense, since you don't have power assist, you gotta get the multiplication of force from someplace. I swear, I don't know why I let myself out of the house some days.

I should get the rest of the job knocked out tormorrow in that case, and then I'm off to Nashville to pick up my Currie 9 incher that arrived this afternoon.

Didn't mean to bust your chops in that other thread. I woke up in the middle of the night, and I'll blame it on that. I've gotten good advice from you before, and put some weight on what you say.

Later,

Steve

 

You can use that box if you can find an '82-'83 F-body that came with the 605 series PS box (non-performance cars). They used the smaller pitman shaft, and that pitman arm will fit your manual box with the small diameter pitman shaft.

 

Geeze, I guess that then I was 1/2 right? Seems that there are a few things that we have discovered.....

• Not all S-10 boxes are the same
• Not all 3rd gens used the exact same boxes, 82-83 low performance for example
• Nothing replaces actually doing it.
• Learning experences bite
• Great help here on thirdgen.org

Now I'm just waiting for the correct box to arrive at my local Advance Auto and put it in. Then the 1 hour job will be completed in approx. 3 days, or about par for me.

Have a good one.

Steve

 

hehe stuff like this happens all the time

 

As far as I know first gen S10's are '82-'93, they weren't considered second gen until the body style changed in '94.

I installed a power steering box from an '84 Firebird in my '91 S10, the FIrebird pitman arm was identical to the S10's in length so I didn't bother trying to swap them.

Short of the V8 swap and the swap of the teeny 13 gallon fuel tank to the 20 gallon tank, the power steering swap is one of the best things I ever did to this truck.

Some good S series tech can be found at S-Series.org and V8S10.org

 

Yepper, I was corrected over at S10.org on that. I guess what I really meant to say is that the earliest S10's, the 82-84's used the smaller shaft steering box, and the 85-93 used the larger diameter ones. I should have specified that there were two generations of steering boxes used. Oh well, I suspect that the point has been made.

For what it's worth, I put in the correct steering box on Saturday, it just slipped right in, everything bolted up tight, and one more task checked off the master project plan. Next step, probably pull the front control arms, get them sandblasted, paint them, new bushings and ball joints, change the engine mounts to solid, and put in the drag springs and struts. That will just about finish the immediate work on the front of the car, and then off to the back to put in the 9incher.

Enjoy,

Steve

 

I almost found another manual S10 box in the junkyard today. Just as I climbed under the truck to start pulling the center link off the pitman arm I looked again at the steering box and thought it looked smaller than normal. I climbed back up again and saw the 3 bolts on the top cover. That's when I looked at the truck to see it was an 82. Doh! That's the first S10 I've seen with the early manual box. I've pulled about 10 late model boxes so far.

To my knowledge nobody wants the early manual boxes so I left it in the truck. The late boxes with the 4 bolt top cover I can easily sell on Ebay.

I have none available right now.

 

If anyone wants one PM me!

 

yay, I put one in, switched the pitman arms (about half inch length difference but its important!



more about it here:

http://www.outlawperformance.com/ima...ds_steeringbox

or more about the whole project here:

http://www.outlawperformance.com/ima...stuff/progress

and the car here:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=207163

and

http://www.outlawperformance.com/my1...arodragcar.htm

 

Man, I'm glad I found this post. I just installed the 3 bolt top one tonight and the pitman arm didn't work just as you stated. The shaft was for sure too small. Should a person go with a different box or a non performance pitman arm from an early 80's camaro. Wait, I can use the same box with a different arm right?

 

it all depends on the arm size and splines