Electric power steering

[pipefitter]

So I have wanted power steering in my 73 620 4x4 forever but it seemed like a treasure hunt for the right parts . I was cruising the internet for parts one day and I started reading about electric power assist steering it’s seems they have been putting it in older muscle cars for awhile then I looked a 4x4 forums and read they have started yawing it to and had goods things to say so I went on eBay got a 04-09 unit from a Prius and started it went in fairly easy and I gotta say I love it so figure I would give you guys FYI look into it

[volkswagner]

Do want pic.s.

Anything in particular drive you to the prius unit?
I've heard a lot of people also us Saturn Vue.




 

[pipefitter]

Ya the Prius unit came with lower knuckles and ECU unit and I think the sat unit needs some kind of conversion box that they are having trouble with , I could be wrong but I remember reading some along those lines, the other reason for the Prius unit is if you lose power to it the failsafe goes back to Manual steering so you won’t be stuck in the middle of nowhere

[Crashtd420]

I was talking about this before as a possibility with my 521.... I started a thread somewhere about it also.... and the saturn unit was talked about and yes I read good and bad about it too...

Didnt go much further since replacing all my worn steering components made things easier to steer and wasnt so scary hitting a pothole.....

But I still like the idea...Do you have any pics of the unit or the conversion? 

[G-Duax]

Manual steering on old Datsun trucks, especially with bigger than stock rubber builds upper body strength.

Stop being woosies....

[datzenmike]

Re-new the king pins and you may find you don't need it. I had PS on my 620 using a 280zx PS box and a cobbled together PS pump from a 720. Truck was 3,400 pound's with 33s and needed it. It would throw that truck into the other lane with the flick of the wrist. Avoiding an accident is half the battle.

[volkswagner]

Hows the steering feedback? Does it feel the same as a traditional hydraulic PS setup?

[pipefitter]

Ya I took pics and measurements all the way through but I have not posted anything in so long my bucket account is closed, any way the way it handles is the same as before it is just easier to correct useing one instead of two. I have 31x10x15 tires on it and I can turn the wheels at a standstill with one hand and the drive ability is much better because of this ease

[pipefitter]

I just thought about it if you want to look at the unit go on eBay and type in electric power steering and look for 04-09 Prius units , the inner tube is the same size housing as the 620 so you can zip wheel the outer tube off leaving the top 11/2” of the outer tube and get rid of all that crap on it and just tack weld the upper 11/2” of the outer tube on. If you want to see it work watch on utube type in same electric power steering they show a number of units