520 steering box

[Fronked70]

If anyone has a 520 steering box complete with shaft please let me know.

Thank you to all

[wayno]

521 is the same I beleave.

What's wrong with yours?

[Fronked70]

My 521 steering box is in decent condition. But i beleive i can use the 520 to swap for rhd. This not being my daily driver. And with my long time love of jdm vehicles. I believe bringing back a classic with the rhd touch would be a great project to do with my son. I do have experience behind the right hand wheel.

[Willdatsun]

I'm confused by this also as I assumed they were the same. Maybe a 720 box would convert a LHD 521 to RHD because they usually bolt to the outside of the frame not the inside (I think I am right with that) therefore could perhaps be bolted inside the frame on a 521. The steering linkages looks like they will flip over. There was a guy on here who did a RH drive conversion but there was no update to the thread to answer anyones questions about it. I also want to do it by the way so keep us informed on how you get on!

[datzenmike]

My 521 steering box is in decent condition. But i beleive i can use the 520 to swap for rhd. This not being my daily driver. And with my long time love of jdm vehicles. I believe bringing back a classic with the rhd touch would be a great project to do with my son. I do have experience behind the right hand wheel.

 

The 520/521 are virtually the same and mount on the inside of the left side frame. Neither will work if swapped over o the right side frame... they will at best be on the outside of the frame. The 720/D21 steering box mounts outside the left frame and if swapped over to the right frame would be on the inside.

 

I'm confused by this also as I assumed they were the same. Maybe a 720 box would convert a LHD 521 to RHD because they usually bolt to the outside of the frame not the inside (I think I am right with that) therefore could perhaps be bolted inside the frame on a 521. The steering linkages looks like they will flip over. There was a guy on here who did a RH drive conversion but there was no update to the thread to answer anyones questions about it. I also want to do it by the way so keep us informed on how you get on!

 

The above.

[wayno]

I tried putting the pitman arm from a 520/21 steering gear onto the the 720 steering gear, it isn't going to happen.

The only easy route I could see was to cut the 720 arm off and weld the 521 arm on to the 720 stub, which isn't something I want to do.

I do know that one could mount the 720 steering gear/box on the inside of the frame as far forward as possible in front of the existing idler arm, put another idler arm into position on the driverside(will bolt on, see photos below),

 

and then have a custom centerlink made like mine, and connect the 720 arm to the custom centerlink, and now you have RHD.

One can use a power steering gear when doing this and have power steering also, as this is why I went this route on my 521 work truck.

[datzenmike]

I had PS on my 620 and kept it when I installed a 'Yota SAS. It's a must have with big tires.

[Fronked70]

You guys are correct it appears i was cofusing a 520 steering box with a 320. Has any tried a 320 box on a 521?

[wayno]

You guys are correct it appears i was cofusing a 520 steering box with a 320. Has any tried a 320 box on a 521?

 

They are all made the same way, 320/520/521 and possibly the early 620 are not reversible.

I think someone might have tried to reverse the innards one time to see if it was possible, but that didn't work either.

[Fronked70]

Thank you for all the replies. Wayno i really enjoyed your idea. 720 steering with a custom link and possibly power steering is a perfect idea. What ps pump did you go with?

[wayno]

Thank you for all the replies. Wayno i really enjoyed your idea. 720 steering with a custom link and possibly power steering is a perfect idea. What ps pump did you go with?

 

 

I used a pathfinder pump with a hardbody remote reservoir, the hard part is finding the proper lines, here is a photo of it.

I have found that the nissan sentra power steering pump/reservoir combo is the best one for fabricated setups, as it is all in one if you set it up correctly with the ajuster in the setup, here is the unit,

here is a photo of the whole thing on my 520 project sitting on a 720 frame, front veiw,

top looking down,

and the back looking forward at the mount.

What I was suggesting is mounting the 720 power steering gear/box in front of the existing idler arm on the passenger side, which might be difficult, as I have not tried to do it, so I am unsure of how much room there is, the fact is that my 521 work truck idler arm shares a bolt with the 720 PS gear, the rear lower bolt in this photo below holds the idler arm unit on on the otherside.

It's all a fabrication process that has to be figured out, and I am not planning on doing a RHD 521 in the near future, so I have no reason to figure it out.

The custom center link cost me a small fortune, and since I had it made, I have had others say they could do it for less money, but they are ratsuners, and I had all this done before I ever heard of Ratsun, you would laugh your ass off if you found out how much I paid for a set of dually wheel adapters, to this day I can hardly beleave I spent that much.

[Willdatsun]

I'm sure there is a good reason why the 720 box and drop-arm can't be used on the other side of a 521 but could you tell us? Is the drop-arm the wrong height? wrong way up? wrong size balljoint taper? Thanks

[wayno]

I'm sure there is a good reason why the 720 box and drop-arm can't be used on the other side of a 521 but could you tell us? Is the drop-arm the wrong height? wrong way up? wrong size balljoint taper? Thanks

 

 

The 520/21 pitman arm will not go on to the 720 steering gear shaft, one would have to cut the 720 arm off and weld the 521 arm onto the stub, as for the height, I am unsure, but as you can see in the photo below, it looks like it will hang low enough.

I just went out and looked at the height of the 720 steering gear mounted on my truck, it looks like it will hang low enough, but the steering arms are differant, so the two would have to be put together in such a way as to have the setup geometry be correct.

I also looked about doing it the way I set mine up, it will be tight, but I think it can be done, but the idler and steering gear will share a bolt, and the steering gear housing would likely need some machining for it to be right.

But there is a plus also, since the 720 pitman arm will be on the inside, there are no interference issues like I had with the idler arm, as I had to fabricate the whole setup on a 521 frame in my driveway to get everything correct as the steering shaft and idler arm are so very close as you can see in the photo below.

I don't have a 521 front frame piece to fab anything up anymore, as I only have so much room, otherwise I would look into this a little more.

Anybody got a 520/21 frame they don't want locally?

[PHANTOMa]

Ok so I have a 520 and am doing rhd and I tried flipping the box on the opposing frame rail and the little wheel inside the box that's attatched to the pitman shaft is angled in a way that argues with the worm gear when you try to turn the wheel and when you actually are able to crank the wheel over the steerings backwards so how exactly it the 520 box reversible??

[wayno]

Ok so I have a 520 and am doing rhd and I tried flipping the box on the opposing frame rail and the little wheel inside the box that's attatched to the pitman shaft is angled in a way that argues with the worm gear when you try to turn the wheel and when you actually are able to crank the wheel over the steerings backwards so how exactly it the 520 box reversible??

 

 

It's not reversible, you will have to fab in a differant steering gear assembly from another vehicle.

[datzenmike]

 

Wayno, I saw this and thought I was looking at my 620. Even the kink in the metal outlet from the reservoir!

 

Mine had a very tight clearance between the box and the output fitting from the pump.

.