Manual To Power Power Steering

So I'm adding power steering to my 74' CJ5, the mount for the manual box only has three holes, the new power box has four. All the aftermarket heavy duty mounts are for 76' and newer CJ5's, any suggestions on how to make this work?

 

The 4-hole gear will bolt to the 3-hole bracket.

You can either use the 3-hole bracket with an aftermarket steering brace, find an OEM 4-hole bracket (scarce), or make a replacement with 4 holes. This guy Power Steering Gearbox Mounting Bracket Jeep CJ5 72-75 CJ5 1972-1975 CJ6 used to sell a replacement, but it says "currently unavailable." Maybe someone else is making a similar one.

 

I just ran into this problem a couple months ago when I broke the manual steering mount that a P.O. had installed on my power steering box over 25 years ago. I'm actually quite surprised how long it lasted, especially since it has only 3 holes and I have 35 inch tires. I chose to make a replacement out of 3/8 steel plate and DOM tubing as spacers, primarily due to the time constraints of a Rubicon trip that was less than a week away, but I'm very happy with the outcome. I also bought a steering box collar from M.O.R.E. and than made a brace from my own tubing and steel plate. If you like it, you can copy the photos, or I still have the templates and could reproduce one just like it, though working with 3/8 steel takes patience. It's a shame that M.O.R.E. doesn't make a steering box mount for anything prior to '76 because their stuff seems very nice.

BROKEN 3-HOLE MOUNT

FRAME MOUNTS TACKED IN

STEEL PLATE & DOM SPACERS MOUNTED TO BOX

FINAL WELDS

FINAL WELDS

BOLTED UP (Though now the gap up front has been closed up since this photo.)

NEW STEERING BOX BRACE WITH M.O.R.E. BRACKET

 

Advance adapters sells a 4 bolt mount or you can built one.........going from manual to Power your existing 3 bolt mount may or may not be in the correct location as I have seen some that used different length Pittman arms. Going to power will add some strain to that L/F frame rail..........plenty of info on this site ..............do a "Power Steering" Search.

 

Hay thanks for all the suggestions, I originally bought a MORE bracket but realized it was not going to work on the 74 frame. I did run across a new bracket but at over $300- I'll pass. sadly I don't have a welder capable of welding such thick steel, otherwise I would fab my own.

This jeep belongs to my brother, I'm the re-builder, as he lives in FL this jeep will not see much serious off-roading, mainly around town and beach travel, 31" Tires max.

The issues I have with the MORE bracket is that it's not made to fit the forward spring mount on the 73-75 CJ5's, even after modding the bracket I'm not confident that it will provide the necessary support, perhaps I'm over thinking this....?

 

Yep you probably are overthinking this.................Jeep offset that bracket in those years for ease of bolting the gear on...........never worked and since most have failed...........hence the reason there is many after market options.

Advance Adapter 4 hole bracket for earlier CJ's does the same thing except it's welded directly to the Left side frame rail or could be offset via a fabricated bracket.................http://www.advanceadapters.com/prod...ing-plate-for-jeep/.......................put it where you want after you fix and properly brace the L/F frame rail.............the only change is it would require a longer Drag Link if it's mounted directly to the frame rail to allow it to reach the other side......................if your short the equipment or skills to fabricate things and need a bolt on unit..........what you see out there is all there is.

 

Looking at the broken bracket, it seems clear that the steering brace is not going to prevent a break like that. The tab broke off because the steering gear is twisting about the pitman shaft axis, and all the twisting force is acting against that single tab (which would be two tabs on the 4-tab bracket). The steering brace prevents rotation perpendicular to the pitman shaft, but that's not what's breaking the bracket. What you need is a brace that comes from the frame and reinforces those two lower tabs against the reaction from the pitman shaft rotating. If it were shaped properly, it could be a single plate, no welding needed.

 

I agree 100%, as always with your analyses. I hope that I didn't indicate that I added the brace in order to prevent a break to the steering box mount in the future, or that I thought it would've prevented the stock mount from braking. The new bracket is plenty strong enough all by itself. The old cast 3-hole bracket had inherent weaknesses that would never have been remediated by adding that steering brace. I added the brace because I felt it's a cheap and easy way to help stabilize any potential rotational forces and movement of the steering box around the Jeep's longitudinal axis. I thought about making the steering box mount out of a single plate, as you mentioned, but chose not to go that route so that it could be spaced out to the stock location which allows accessing the upper mounting bolts easier. I did come across creative ways to overcome this mounting bolt dilemma, however. One solution was to drill out the frame rails and run the bolts all the way through from the outside.