Below is the front suspension I built. The lower control arms and inner support are copies of the original, the centre idler original. The upper control arms are my design. Stubs are HQ 1 tonner, balljoints are Toyota Hilux. Sway bar custom made. Steering box Toyota Crown with variable pressure control.

 

Here is a photo of the box steering box, you can see on the top what looks like a solonoid but the difference is that a solonoid is on-off whereas a servo is variable according to voltage applied. This is a 1981 Toyota Crown box and requires a small computer salvaged from the same car to operate the servo. As the voltage varies the amount of power assist is increased or decreased.

 

 

I managed to get a couple of these computers but had no clue of the wiring so I pulled the covers off one and traced the wiring. I took a bit of a guess and hooked it up. From what I could work out (read guess) was that it required 12v in and out, and a wire to and from the servo, and also a speed input signal. I went to the wreckers and got a speed signal generator from the gearbox of an XD falcon which was a 3 wire hall affect unit.

I hooked it all up and gave the speed generator (it probably has a proper name) a spin in the electric drill and hey presto it all worked exactly as per Toyota specs, 0 volts when stopped to give pull assist, and 7.8 volts to give full bypass, and everything in between according to vehicle speed. I revved it right up but it never exceeded 7.8 volts. All I have to do now is convert the Dodge Ram gearbox speed signal to a Falcon / Toyota format which I can do through a Dakota Digital SG-1 speed signal converter. This little unit gives 3 kinds of outputs from one input so I will use one for cruise, one for speedo and one for the power steering, how good is that !!

To make the FORD Banjo wheel from Juliannos fit the commodore column I first had to get a boss from an old Commodore wheel.

Then I welded it into a new rough machined boss.

The guts of the Banjo wheel was drilled out and a spigot machined to locate the above boss. The wheel was tapped and they were bolted together.

All this was then machined to make it look like one-piece construction.

The Horn contact from a VS was adapted to the back, and a wire soldered through to the horn button contact.

Steering wheel is Juliano's 35 Ford repro but I had to add a 1 inch spacer to it to fit the VS column, bolted on then machined, can't see the join !!! All fitted, now to get it pearled.