converting power steering in 57 Chev to manual steering

[Gerry Cot]

Hi there

I am a newbie here. I have power-assisted steering on my 57. The generator is past its use by date and i need to switch to an alternator. However, I cant afford to upgrade my power steering at this point so was considering switching to manual steering. Curious to know what is involved and what I need to replace the original power steering centerlink - anything else. Can anyone point me at instructions - would be very grateful

thanks

Gerry

[BamaNomad]

Why not consider switching to a later year belt driven pump and keeping the cylinder actuated PS on your car?? You could then go to a std alternator...

[Rick_L]

You should be able to remove the hydraulic cylinder and the hydraulic hoses. Plug the fittings on the steering valve. Discard the pump and run a regular alternator.

A cleaner deal would be to replace the power steering centerlink, idler arm, and pitman arm with manual steering parts. Not hard to do and the parts are not that hard to find.

If you wanted to consider fixing what you have, contact Jalapeno at authenticautomotive.com. There is an alternator conversion with a pump behind it like the stocker, but obviously that's on the high end of the price spectrum.

[Gerry Cot]

thanks very much

[Rocketman]

If you do convert to regular steering consider converting your idler arm to ball bearing. It has often been referred to as poor mans power steering. I had one on a 60 Chevy many years ago and it made a huge difference.

[BamaNomad]

The Power Steering of those years actually works very well (if everything is good and it isn't leaking).. :) I'd keep the PS if it were mine, but if not, adding the bearing type idler is an aid when parking or having to steer at low speeds.

[Gerry Cot]

thanks