[Mutt's37Buick]

I'm considering using a Scout 2 steering box on my 37 Roadmaster.
Primary reasons are they bolt to the outside of the frame and have a forward facing pitman arm.
I would like to mate the parts from a my donor car (95 roadmaster that has a Saginaw model 800 gear box) to the scout 2 gearbox..
I found a website that says many saginaw pitman arms are interchangeable:
Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum - Powered by vBulletin
1) Does anyone know if the pitman arm from a model 800 gearbox will fit the Scout 2 gearbox?
2) I can buy a scout 2 gearbox with 3/4 or 13/16 input shaft. Does anyone know what the input shaft on the model 800 gearbox is?
Thanks

[Mutt's37Buick]

A rod builder on a different website instructed me that the Scout 2 gear box is normally mounted in front of the axle with pitman arm facing forward. If I use behind the axle then car would turn wrong direction. I may be able to turn the pitman arm 180 degrees but I think it may be difficult to to fit the Scout 2 gearbox behind the control arms with the Pitman mounted rearward. A different possibility may be a 4runner ifs gearbox. Standard mount is in front of axle with a rearward pitman arm (see picture). If I mount behind axle for rear steer & can turn pitman arm 180 degrees then should give me the result I want.
1) Does anyone know if a 4runner ifs Pitman arm can be mounted in forward position?
2) Prefer to use Saginaw. Does anyone know of a Saginaw steer box that mounts on outside of frame and would operate in this manner?
Thanks

[joe_padavano]

Originally Posted by Mutt's37Buick

2) Prefer to use Saginaw. Does anyone know of a Saginaw steer box that mounts on outside of frame and would operate in this manner?
Thanks

The 1973-1987 GM full size pickups mount the box outside the frame, but it is front steer (box mounted in front of the axle centerline):



What steering system are you using? Assuming this is a later model center link style system, you do realize that the idler arm needs to match the steering box, right?

[Mutt's37Buick]

Thanks for your help. The 1973-1987 GM full size pickups steer box will not work for me becasue plan on keeping rear steer due to the geometry of the frame.
I'm converting my 37 Roadmaster ifs to ball joints and disk brakes similar to the wiki:
http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...ension_upgrade

The difference is that I'm using the spindles and brakes from a donor car which is a '95 Roadmaster. The spindles will be swapped left to right to maintain the '37 rear steer. The ackerman angle aligns well with this swap.
This change means I need to handle power steering differently than the second part of the instructions found at:
http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...inion_steering
The steer arms on the 95 Roadmaster spindles are too long to allow rack & pinion unless I go with a very expensive after market r&p.
I plan on use a center link with a steer box mounted on the outside of the frame because the frame is very narrow at the front axle.
The idler arm length willl match to the pitman arm length.
Thanks

[enjenjo]

The chevy truck box will work rear steer by moving the pitman arm 180 degrees on the shaft. It is likely the same box used on the Scout.The pitman arm on a Saginaw box can be installed every 90 degrees, as there are 4 blind splines 90 degrees apart.

13/16" shaft was generally used until 1978, after that the shaft was reduced to 3/4".

As far as I know all the 800 boxes have the same pitman shaft spline, except the 4x4 boxes in 73 to 87 trucks.

[timothale]

be aware that different internals were used in the same castings, make some rear steer and others front steer. When I worked at Ford, they shipped several pallets of Mercury steering gears to the Truck factory, every thing bolted up. The guy at the end of the assembly line had to make a sharp right turn to go the the chassis dyno for first test, He turned the wheel right and gunned the gas, the truck went left and almost wiped out the seat cushion builders. Some chrysler cars and dodge trucks also shared the same castings, and have opposite internals.

[Mutt's37Buick]

Thanks everyone for your help. The chevy truck gearbox may be a possibility. My only concern is that the input shaft of the gearbox may be offset too far the outside and down to connect the steering column. I'll lay it out and see if I can connect it to the steer column with a couple of universal joints and the max of 30 degrees. The Scout 2 gearbox has that the input shaft is above and over with the frame, but as mentioned earlier it will steer backwards with the pitman arm forward facing.
Thanks