Adding Power Steering to a '74 Cherokee S w/258

[DattMtn]

I currently have a manual steer Cherokee S with the I6-258. What is the process for putting in PS for this motor? I have seen some threads where the response was "find a part out unit with the exact motor and same year with PS" and I don't find that a satisfactory solution as I don't have the time or resources to search through junkyards for these parts. And I am not going to dump money on a pump and steering box that may or may not work. Is there a resource of someone that has done this upgrade with new(ish) parts? Also looking for information before jumping feet first into this. Before lifting and putting larger tires it I want to do PS and a hydroboost brake system to make it more driveable as the bigger tires are going to negatively affect these attributes. Are used parts the only way to go? Does the steering box need to be off an old J20 or some other FSJ? I know BJ's has some parts but they appear to be RedHead and I've been told to stay away from them.

[tgreese]

Unless you are lucky and find a donor easily, upgrading a V8 to PS is a lot easier than a 258. You have read some old posts and seem to grasp the issues involved. Sorry it's not easier than that, but I don't know of any easy way to convert other than finding a 258 donor complete and take everything off the front of the engine - brackets, belts, pulleys and water pump.

This comes up a lot on earlyCJ5.com where many AMC-era CJs were sold with a 232/258 and no power accessories (power accessories seem nearly universal on the FSJs). Experience there has shown that mixing parts from different years and models is likely not to work. The parts will bolt on but then the pulleys don't line up ... typically.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3AearlyCJ5.com+258+power+steering

The steering gear and hoses are relatively easy. J10 and Wagons use the same gear; the J20 gear has a larger bore, is harder to source, but bolts on the same.

[tgreese]

Another possibility is to take everything from the front of a 4.0L XJ MJ or YJ/TJ (?) and compensate for the different crank snout. Almost all these cars came with PS, and there are a lot of them in the yards. It's common to swap a 258 crank to a 4.0L block and add a spacer to compensate for the crank, but there may be other issues mixing the 258 block with the 4.0L front pieces. The guys at jeepstrokers.com know a lot about swapping parts between the 4.0L and 258, and might be able to help.

Or you could put the 4.0L complete in place of the 258... or build a 4.6L stroker from the 258 and a 4.0L.

[Cecil14]

The fronts of the 4.0L and 258 are largely the same. Unless you're really going for period correctness, Tim is correct: grab new stuff. The gear box and steering shaft are easy; they're the same from '74ish, when the frame changed, to the end of the run in '91. You should have no trouble getting a remanned gear box at any parts place (just watch quality).

I'm guessing that the steering shaft changed, but could be wrong. Either way, super easy to replace. Look in the want adds here, or build your own from Borgeson. They're support is great, and their catalog is not difficult to navigate. BJs offers all their stuff, but it was quite a mark up last time I looked (been quite a while). Match up the parts you need and throw the part numbers in Amazon.

The front of the engine does get a little tricky. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the serpentine belt setup over v-belts. To make the switch requires some work, though. The biggest hurdle I have found is on the power steering side, as the pump/pump bracket bolt to the intake for support. That's fine if you keep with the same period intake and accessories, but gets a bit dicey when mixing and matching.

How far into things are you looking to go? If you're looking to swap in a 4.0L head, you could just use the entire accessory set.


aa

[tgreese]

Another issue -

All (some?) 258 '74s have the early AMC PS setup, where the pump and brackets bolt to the passenger side of the engine (later engines move to the druver's side and hang off of the intake manifold). An additional pulley bolts to the front of the crankshaft pulley using the existing bolts. The hoses are very long, and there is no aftermarket source for them, other than having them made up at a hydraulics shop.

That said, adding parts from a '74 or earlier donor would be really easy, if you can find one. I recall there was one ECJ5 member that fabricated the parts for this setup - look at the threads in the link I posted above.

There are also a few threads on various forums about the serpentine belt option - search the net for "serpentine 258."

hth!

[DattMtn]

Yeah the EarlyCJ website is a great resource for this! Thank you! I will be researching a lot before jumping into this. Build thread hopefully coming soon!

[threepiece]

The steering gear mounting structure on your early style frame (pre1976) requires a special mounting bracket for the Factory Saginaw power gear. Any pre 1976 FSJ with power steering will have this bracket.

[tgreese]

The steering gear mounting structure on your early style frame (pre1976) requires a special mounting bracket for the Factory Saginaw power gear. Any pre 1976 FSJ with power steering will have this bracket.

A '74 will have a Saginaw manual steering gear already. The manual gears have 3 mounting tabs, and the Jeep power gears from this era have 4. The CJs have a 3-tab bracket for manual and 4-tab for power, but the bolt pattern for both gears is the same. You can install a 4-tab gear on a 3-tab bracket, and just not use one of the tabs. I don't know if there was a 3-tab bracket used for the FSJs with manual steering. If you have a 3-tab bracket, you can use it or replace it with a 4-tab bracket from another FSJ of similar vintage. Or, you can use a 3-tab power gear... the power gear from a 4x4 S10 or Blazer is a popular swap for the Jeep gear, and has 3 tabs.

If you are interested in the S10 gear, search and you will find plenty of discussion in this forum.

[rocklaurence]

I have the adapter and steering box with pitman arm

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Jeep-steering-box-Power-steering-Adapter-plate-J10-J20-Wagoneer-Cherokee/122306988557?hash=item1c7a108a0d:g:m8QAAOSw5cNYdVa2&vxp=mtr

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Jeep-steering-box-Power-steering-J10-J20-Wagoneer-Cherokee/112181159430?hash=item1a1e84a606:g:NPIAAOSwHMJYD57G&vxp=mtr

[mwood65]

Sounds like a pain in the butt, glad my 74' came with power steering.

Also, I will state that it is the lightest power steering in any vehicle I have ever owned, you can almost blow on the wheel and make it turn, It's crazy easy to turn.