Moving Ross steering

Hi All,
Just pulled home a 65 CJ5 and this is my first exposure to the ROSS steering setup. Looks to me that the steering wheel is very close to the seat and I am wondering how I am going to fit in there. Is it possible to move the steering column up a little bit by changing the mounting holes on the chassis for the steering box? Looking at it quickly it seems like drilling 2 new holes and rotating the box upwards would move the wheel away from the seat. Might need to reposition the pitman arm on the box to make sure steering is not whacked out but that is no big deal. Anyone else done this or am I missing a very important detail of the way ROSS steering works?

This looks way too close to me even without an actual seat.



Mike

 

In light of the recent thread about this ... shhhh!


(Saginaw).

Looks like you're going to be doing a lot of work on this Jeep, and the Saginaw steering is a very good upgrade. I think there's a sticky thread at the top of the Fabrication forum about this, there's a page in the Tech section, and there's an album of pictures of steering conversions. Very popular upgrade.

That said, I find the seating position with original seats, the later column (Postal or 72-75 CJ) and Saginaw to be quite comfortable (5'9" with a belly). Have you tried mocking up the seating position? The wheelhouse notch is the usual mod for those too tall to sit in the usual seating - see Boyinks page http://www.boyink.com/splaat/ssdutch-comments/wheelhouse-notch/

hth! Looks like a great project!

<edit> Also, that seat frame has been cut up. It looks like the passenger side bracket welded onto a plate on top of the drivers side bracket, and the drivers side bracket has been bent forward. I'll see if I can dig up a picture of what it should look like. - further edit - nope, no picture. Search in the forum for 'seat brackets' and you might find one.

 

As it sits right now, the column is NOT in the stock position. Before you spend a bunch-O-$ on a conversion, loosen up the three bolts that hold the Ross box to the frame. The box has slotted adjustment holes and can be raised from where it is now. Looks like they lowered it to remove the dash. Get your seat situation figured out and try it then. Only you can tell if you can fit.

 

Timgr,
I actually have a Saginaw box ready to go but was kinda planning a stock resto so I figured I'd look into the possbility of saving the ROSS if possible. I am 6'6" so fitting in a CJ5 is kinda tough regardless so I will likely end up doing the notch anyways.

Mike

 

Sidscj

Thanks for that info. I did not realize they were slotted. Good to know and I'll have a look at that this evening.

Mike

 

I loosened the bolts on the box as suggested by SIDSCJ and low and behold the steering wheel moved nearly 6 inches up and away from the seat. Thanks for the info again.

Mike

 

I've also seen where alignment shims were used between the frame and the box to get the column to fit a tweaked or misaligned tub. Just a little tidbit I filed away with all the others I've learned along the way. Glad you gained some room in there.

 

COOL !!! Another guy that would like to try to make the best of the machinery that he has R)

 

FWIW, I am 6'6" and have kept the Ross steering and bus wheel. I moved the seat back as far as I could and it looks like it will work, just can't get any fatter....R)R).

I do like the idea of "clocking" the box and re-indexing the pitman arm. Most folks don't bother trying to make Ross boxes work, since the Saginaw swap is so popular.

 

Txjake,
I fit in my 74 CJ5 without the notch so hopefully I will in this one. It was tight but I managed.

Mike