Steering Swap?

[DragNDestroy]

okay guys I have a 1977 620 and I am about to swap the front suspension out of a 79 that I have the steering on the 720 is shot somewhere in the gearbox causing the wheel to free spin 2 turns before it does any kind of truning of the wheels....is there a gear box that i can swap in that doesnt required the use of the "spear" column or am i screwed ??? I am planning on running an 80's style chevrolet column and am fine with some minor fabbing ... just thought id ask if anyone knew if a certain gearbox would be a close fit to the original

 

Thanks

[datzenmike]

okay guys I have a 1977 620 and I am about to swap the front suspension out of a 79 that I have the steering on the 720 is shot somewhere in the gearbox causing the wheel to free spin 2 turns before it does any kind of truning of the wheels....is there a gear box that i can swap in that doesnt required the use of the "spear" column or am i screwed ??? I am planning on running an 80's style chevrolet column and am fine with some minor fabbing ... just thought id ask if anyone knew if a certain gearbox would be a close fit to the original

 

Thanks

 

Hard to follow your run on sentence paragraph. When you say 720 you really mean the '79? Or do you have a 720 column you want to replace? Either way:

 

The 620 '72-'79 only came with a steering box with integral steering column almost identical to the previous 521 truck. The steering box sector shaft is on the inside of the frame rail beside the engine.

 

The 720 steering box is separate from the column which has a u-joint, collapsible spline for safety and a vibration reducing 'rag joint'. The 720 box's sector shaft is on the outside of the frame (wheel side) thus spacing the pitman arm a couple of inches to the left side and won't align with the 620's steering components.

 

 

That much looseness is likely wear in other steering components as well. There are 6 ball joints and an idler arm between the steering box and the wheel hubs.

[DragNDestroy]

Sorry about the "Run On" paragraph Mike.

 

Let me restate my previous post.

 

I have a 77 620 that I would like to change the steering in, because I have about 2 turns of free play and the wheel spins in and out of the column. I have a 79 620 (not 720 sorry bout the typo) that I am going to swap the front suspension out of and just wanted to know if anyone has swapped out to any other steering gear boxes with non integral sector shafts.

 

Thanks again