Power steering car to tractor

[Ron in Mn.]

I saw somewhere (think it was here) that you can put the electric power steering from a Saturn car on your Farmall B tractor to make it power steering. Has anyone else heard this or know who posted it? I would like to read more on it.

Thank you, Ron

 

[big jt]

Farm Show magazine did a article or two on it. Also in "Red Power Magazine" I think the tractor doctor did a article on the start of the same project. He found a kit that deals with the electronic issues involved. Sounded like on the saturn the power steering ties into the control modules of the car and doesn't go solo without some help.

Looks to me like a wonderful option to trying to put together a charlynn unit from new parts.

HTH

jt

 

[tractorguy2]

Back in the eighties. There was an old farmer here that rigged up power steering on his MD tractors using the pump of of GM pickups. I have no idea what he used for steering gears.

The old guy was 90 years old thought he was broke. Farmed two sections with 16 MD tractors and 8 M tractors.

 

[Steve@Advance]

I've seen several articles where this has been done to various tractors.

It sounds doable, and economical. For occasional use, trailer queens, parade tractors, even a working tractor with a mower, it would probably work.

But I would think it would have it's limitations. After all, it is designed for a compact car spending most of its life running in a straight line on the freeway.

Also consider, some tractors have steering gear problems, either weak design or worn components. Applying additional torque to the existing gear will quickly multiply the problems.

But for loader work, daily use, I don't see it holding up.

That application would be better suited for a hydraulic application, even better where the force is applied directly to the steering linkage instead of through the gear.

 

[JF in MI]

You have good points. I had an issue with terrible hard steering on a Drott grader. One of the nice people on this site offered me a hydraulic "power assist" factory unit (it goes in the column linkage and uses the original steering box) for it for the price of shipping. I took apart the box to address free play first and found it to be shot real bad. Could not find parts or a rebuilder for it. Wound up replacing it with a power box out of a Chevy S-10 using the machine's original hydraulic pump. Was a relatively easy adaption and works great.

 

[Steve@Advance]

Excellent work!

 

[John Deere D]

The below info is in the Archives as per below:
I have lost the name of the contributor and designer of the below installation:

1955 Ferguson TO35, Power Steering?? ....SATURN ION ELECTRIC CONTROLL AND INSTALLATION
All info below is from YT archives:

As you read through my posts you will notice that I am a Dutch-a-field country person. The way I write a sentence may be hard for some people to understand. If you don't understand something please just ask me.

To start with the steering system has been installed at this time. I am finishing the wiring right now.

I started thinking about installing an EPS (Electric Power Steering) system after trying to drive my tractor around the house. So, I Google d ?electric power steering? on the internet.
What I found really excited me so I read everything I could find on line about this subject. I checked eBay and found the steering unit that I am using now. My unit is out of a 2005 Saturn Ion, normally you would need the computer out of the Saturn to help operate the EPS. But there is a small control and rheostat that is listed or eBay that will operate the EPS and it is listed in the same area that the steering units are listed.

My unit cost me $130.00 and the control cost about $70.00. The control comes from Portugal but don't worry this guy ships the controls right away. He will also send you a complete set of instructions.

My control took 4 or 5 days to get to my mailbox.

To start the alteration I removed the the steering wheel and the complete dash housing. Next the steering column was removed from the top of the transmission. The steering rod and screw was not removed. At this time I sucked the old fluid out of the steering box and installed about a quart of new 90 wt oil.
Hello to all and Merry Christmas, I want to thank everyone that has offered me some words of wisdom the past few months regarding my 55 Ferguson. I have installed a new engine in it and it runs great.
I am going to post a BEWARE sign right here about the following upgrade to my tractor.
If you don' t like to see old tractors altered please close this page now.
I will be altering the dash or cowl or whatever you may call it on my old tractor so I can install an Electric Power Steering (EPS) system.
I knew the tractor steered hard when I bought it but I never realized it would wear me out in such a short time. My tractor has a front end loader that adds a lot of weight on the front wheels therefore making it hard to steer.

This project took me about 3 to 4 weeks to complete. I started looking at some old used power steering systems that were on other tractor. I decided I wasn't going to spend the money for
a labour intensive and high maintenance hydraulic unit.

I goggled EPS and I found some 2002 to 2007 Saturn EPS units and a video on how they installed their EPS.

I will be writing in this post and adding pictures as I get time, please bear with me.

First thing is for me to learn how to post pic's on this forum.
Next, there were two dash housing supports that connected the dash to the steering shaft housing. I used the right support which also held the choke rod, made it longer and bent it to fit to help support the dash housing.

On the left side I just made a new support and bolted it on. This made the dash housing very sturdy.
Both supports are bolted through a steel tube that is manufactured in the steering unit. See the last picture, the tube is just under the output steering shaft and above the sleeve lying non the workbench.
The next step is the steering wheel.

The steering wheel attached to the old tractor steering shaft by way of a tapered hole and key way. The new steering shaft has splines and the OD of it is .625. The steering wheel was bored out to remove the tapered hole, that made the ID of the steering wheel .812. I next turned a sleeve with an ID of .625 and an OD of .812. The sleeve was pressed into the wheel and tack welded on one end.

I wanted to make sure the steering wheel was nice and tight and not wobbly. So I welded two .375 x 1 inch x 2 inch pieces of steel to the outside of the steering wheel hub. I then cut out a .250 slice between the two pieces of steel. This makes the hub a clamp that will grip the steering shaft. Since there are no splines in the hub I drilled a small hole through the hub and shaft and tapped in a roll pin.
I added a piece of 1.5 inch ID fuel hose on the steering shaft below the steering wheel.

 

[Texasmark1]

Not an answer to your question but the first follow up post to your question contained a Ford and here is my story: I had a Ford 4000 with twin pistons (one per side) and the pump went south...forget the reason. Decided to go to a junk yard and get an automotive pump as a cost savings measure and adapt it. As it turned out, being from a Ford Pinto, even with the best pulley matchup I could make, it didn't have the CFM required to drive 2 pistons at the required speed...steering was sluggish and slow.

Just a tidbit of info in you quest.