Steering Setup for SAS'd 98+ Rangers with the Toyota steering box
 

This little bit of information is by no means the best setup, I am sure you can pay someone big bucks to make a shaft and really perfect it. Lets admit it though, no one wants to spend that kind of cash on this part of the setup when many parts can be used from the junkyard.

What needs to be removed
you will need to pull all of the steering shaft assembly all the way from the rack and pinion to the firewall or where the body lift adapter goes. All of this is being replaced, what was there before is weak and Junk.

Parts required from the Junk Yard
1) Late model Ford E250 steering shaft, its got this slick joint on the one end, this joint is a double cardon cv style joint. It also has a nice telescoping shaft with a lot of travel. I would say 2000+ E250s but I really do not know the exact year, when you are search you can compare to the pictures below.

2)98+ Ranger steering shaft, this part of the shaft is from the tilt steer, through the firewall, now you can reuse the stock one you have or get another. I prefer to get another then you can sell the one left over to someone else doing a SAS.

3)Early 90s Toyota steering shaft, you really only need the Rag joint/ujoint that bolts to the box, this can be found on 4 runners from the early 90s.

Other parts needed to complete assembly and gear box hook up

From PSC Motorsports
Quantity 1 - (FRA-209006) #6 Aluminum 90? Push Lock Fitting
Quantity 1 - (PSC-SF06) #6JIC x 16mm-1.5 I.F. Pressure Adapter for Toyota

Quantity 1 - (PSC-SF07) #6JIC x 17mm-1.5 I.F. Return Adapter for Toyota


Assembly of the shafts
(this may require a machinist or use of a lathe) I had access to a lathe, some may not, if you take your time this could be done with grinders and files at home)

Ranger to E250 shaft mating

The E250 shaft which has that special joint on it will almost perfectly slide on the Ranger shaft you purchased at the junk yard or the one still in the firewall of the truck. When you try to put the two together you will see that the ranger shaft will need some modifying. This will require you to grind and round the Ranger shaft to make it a snug fit in the E250 joint. Now once you get them to fit together you will notice the ranger shaft bolts through the center and the E250 is designed to clamp from the side.

To fix this you will need to fill the hole in the ranger shaft with weld. Take your time and keep the heat down as much as possible during welding. Now clean your weld up so that the ranger shaft still fits in the E250 Joint.

With the 2 shafts still slid together mark on the ranger shaft where the clamping bolt on the E250 shaft should go through, this is where you will need to grind some material away to allow the bolt to go through and clamp on the ranger shaft.

Once this is done that covers that connection. Next is the connection to the yota shaft at the other end.

Toyota and E250 shaft mating

On the E250 shaft there is a U joint and a style fitting for a Ford gear box, this joint is useless to us. Go ahead and cut the shaft off about an inch before the joint.

On the Toyota shaft (Rag joint end) you have a fitting that slides on the gear box, which then goes to a rag joint which then adapts to a straight shaft. Where the Rag joint goes to the shaft it is welded into place, you need to grind this weld back or turn it in a lathe until the weld is gone and you can slide the shaft out.

Now looking at the two shafts you have the E250 shaft which is clean and a certain diameter and on the Toyota joint you have a hole which is also a certain diameter. (I used to know what that diameter was but cant remember now) it really does not matter anyhow, you need to make the E250 shaft slide into the hole on the Toyota joint.

Once you make them fit weld those 2 together. again keep the heat down.


Now you have the basic assembly of the intermediate shaft from the steering column to the Toyota gear box.


Now you will find that with all of these joints in the steering shaft it will like to flop around and not stay centered when in the truck. this is because you need a fixed point holding the steering shaft. This fixed point needs to be something like a pillow block bearing.

This pillow block bearing needs to be mounted on the E250 shaft near to or as close as possible to that double cardon joint near the firewall.

The E250 shaft is 1" diameter shaft, so you need a 1" pillow block bearing, this can be purchased many places but i ordered mine from McMaster Carr.

http://www.mcmaster.com/itm/find.ASP...string=6494K14

http://www.mcmaster.com/param/images...gs/6494K12.gif

Now you need to make a custom bracket to hold this pillow block bearing, this bracket must be mounted to the firewall of the truck. I bolt a piece of 2"x4"x1/4" piece of a material to the firewall through the floor of the cab with some 3/8" bolts about 1.5" long. Now with this base plate you can weld a piece of angle iron or alike to get the bearing mounted. (this is completely up to how you want to do it) you need to support the shaft in a good position for all joint (good angles). A pillow block the bearing has misalignment, which is like a hiem joint, which makes mounting easy.

If you mount this to the frame you will get binding in the shaft as the cab shifts differently from the frame. You will feel this in the steering wheel.

Make the mount BEEFY, you will be surprised on the force you will put on this shaft and bearing.

If you understand all that talked about above you are in good shape, if not no worries I have tried to explain this a million times to different members, no one usually gets it unless I show them in person.

Start collecting the parts and I think you will slowly understand.

anyway here are a few pics

complete assembly
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...d/IMG_2654.jpg

Attachment 190613

Below is a picture of the hose lines, take the stock pressure line off and cut it to length then go to a hydraulic place have them crimp on an end with a #6 JIC male connector then use a hard 90* fitting to go on the 16mmx1.5mm to #6 JIC fitting for the pressure end. The return side you will need a 17mmx1.5mm to #6 JIC male, then get a #6 JIC 90* turn to a hose barb. Then you can slide the stock return hose right on the barb.

Those metric fittings are specially made for Toyota boxes, you have to order them from PSC motorsports which I mentioned above.

Attachment 190614

Bearing mount pics. this is from the inside of the fenderwell.

http://www.zabeard.com/images/edgepi...2/DSCF2744.JPG

http://www.zabeard.com/images/edgepi...2/DSCF2745.JPG

http://www.zabeard.com/images/edgepi...2/DSCF2746.JPG

Expect to spend anywhere from $150-$275 depending on your resources for just the steering lines and intermediate shaft setup.

Hope this helps anyone looking to do a SAS, Like I said this is in no way complete but its a start.

If you notice any mistakes in the thread let me know and I will fix them, I would like to have more pictures which I may add later.

Now to add even more to this.

Kevin (2002FX4) did some homework and talked to PSC, which they created a way to mount a CB style pump on the factory aluminum housing on a 4.0L SOHC engine. Pretty cool stuff.

This is needed for hydro assist steering on SAS'd trucks on a 4.0L pump which is extremely inadequate for the application.

Hydro-Assist properly setup requires a high CFM rating to keep the steering responsive, the stock 4.0L pump cannot provide this.

Kelvin @ www.PSCmotorsports.com has came up with a way to mount a CB style pump on the factory aluminum housing which will now put out 1600 psi and 3.5Gallons per minute. A huge improvement over stock.

Sorry for the shotty pics, only had my cell phone to use..

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0916090420.jpg

^^ Back side of bracket, pump. Notice where the top right edge of the opening of the center portion of the bracket required slight clearancing for the feed line of the pump. The only other difference is the 9pm and 3pm holes on the pump are through-bolts; the only stock bolt used is the top/12pm Noon position.


http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0916090421.jpg

^^ Front of bracket, pump and pulley.


http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...0916090424.jpg

^^ And the blingin' reservoir.. ;)


prices and everything required to be added later.


Ok I called and talked to Kelvin from PSC Motorsports

Roughly $450 for that CB style PSC pump and bracket modifications. This will come with pump, pulley, reservoir, lines and fittings for a yota box.

If your Yota box is not yet ported for hydro assist, cost is $205 from PSC to have the yota box ported for cylinder assist and they rebuild the box at that time too.

Cylinder assists from PSC are around $180 with the hardware. It is recommended to measure the throw of your axle so that you get the correct cylinder, based on your steering arms this will change. There are so many different high steer arms and configurations that you must check this to get the correct cylinder. PSC can help you with this.

The hoses to your cylinder from the yota box are another $63. These are already fitted with the correct fittings.

So if you have a SAS'd truck and want ram assist the total is going to be around $900 to boost the steering flow and pressure as well as add the cylinder.


Edit: I will update this as I do it myself, but most of this is just pieced together from the information from PSC, Kevin, and myself.

Wow great post Zach, I'm sure this will help a lot of people.

All of you need to stop posting about SAS stuff...it makes me want to do it to my truck everytime I read about it...so stop, or I will be forced to cut my current front end out. I probably wont do it to the 04, but the 93 is getting looked at pretty hard...gotta put a new motor in it though. Thought I found a V8 explorer motor, but the guy had already sold it.

hopefully slow down the amount of PMs i get too. :cool:

^^haha. very very nice post zach. bookmarked for future reference.

This would be good to have in the "How to" forum...

Great right up Zack. Thats a much better set up than i have on mine.

thanks guys.

I just want everyone that is doing it to have some kind of idea, i've had a setup break on me driving down the road. Luckily I was going slow.

I have many miles on this setup and its worked great so far.

awesome info!

thanks zach... I'm guessing my pm was the last straw?? haha. I really do appreciate it though, this is about the biggest concern that people have with the sas.:biggthump

nah, i had written that same info before, but didnt have the email so i spent like an hour this morning typing it up for you and figured wth, might as well make a thread. so i made it even better.

Id like a picture of the bearing mount.

Sure thing. I will try to get one tomorrow.

Bearing mount pics. this is from the inside of the fenderwell.

http://www.zabeard.com/images/edgepi...2/DSCF2744.JPG

http://www.zabeard.com/images/edgepi...2/DSCF2745.JPG

http://www.zabeard.com/images/edgepi...2/DSCF2746.JPG

great stuff man

i've seen Heim joints used too in place of the bearing you have.. any objection to that? besides it'll get filled with mud and dirt and wear out pretty quick?

they will work too.

yep they will work, but the bearing is cheaper and even easier to mount IMO, not like space is an issue there anyway.

a bearing also clamps on the shaft with set screws, the heim just holds it. heims also do not spin that freely. heims have no grease point. Also heims do not come in the many sizes like pillow blocks.

the pillow block in the last few pics are from my truck, the write up is from Evan (rangererv's) truck which we really perfected the shaft. My pillow block is a 25mm bearing, his is a 1"

i'm going to be using 3/4" solid stock.. and im getting a 3/4" DD u-joint.. so between those, the yoda stock u-jiont/rag joint and a 3/4" heim im pretty sure we can make it work.


did you run the p/s lines through your stock cooler or do you have an aftermarket one? i was looking at mine today and it doesnt look like it would be that hard to incorperate the stock one into the system

I'm not running any cooler at all.

I went down this path of making my own, its 100x easier to find stock parts and mate them up.

Stock parts are made for just what you are doing, when you make your own no saying how strong it really is. Solid stock isnt really that strong, tube is stronger than solid stock.


When you make a steering shaft is must be as perfectly straight as possible, if it is cocked or twisted funny at all it will effect your steering dramatically. you need to also keep the Ujoints lined up because they will bind if they are not.

You are more than welcome to try it but I am just giving the warning its not something to be taken lightly or easy to just throw together.

Its one thing to have a bracket of the suspension rip off the frame, its another to loose brakes, but if you loose steering you loose all control of the truck and it is not a fun experience.

bump for corey!

It's Cory! Not Corey! rofl.

lol..


Yeah I need to copy this too

ive got that steering set up and no failure yet!

good call, why didnt you edit it for me! LOL

No problem running heims as a carrier bearing for your steering shaft. We use them that way, as well as many desert racers/trophy trucks.