We're in the midst of our winter project and have made the transition from taking things out to putting in new and newly refurbished parts, hoses, gaskets, etc.

When we took out the power steering pump and gearbox, the pump/resovoir was held on with homemade brackets and the return line was leaking like crazy. After getting a new pump and comparing it with the part that came off the car, it was obvious the old pump was not "correct". It's larger and the attaching bolt on the back of the unit is in the wrong place (thus the need for the homemade brackets).

I thought that was the end of the story, but I noticed the other day that, now that the gearbox is cleaned up and re-painted, a part number is clearly visible 5691676). I pulled out my reference book and found that the "correct" part number is 7811176 for a '70 PS gearbox. The closest number in the book was for a '66 Chevelle (5696113). So I have no idea what car this came from. Probably any of the A bodies of that era are candidates.

I would like to use the new pump I bought and have detailed for installation, but I'm a little concerned that it might not work well with the gearbox I have. The new hoses, however, fit the gearbox fine.

Does anyone know:

1) Any reason why a slightly smaller PS resovoir/pump shouldn't work okay? and

2) What year/car the 5691676 unit might belong to?

I 've been told there may have been a magazine article a while back that would be helpful, but the person I was talking with couldn't remember the name of the magazine or the time of issue and suggested someone here might remember.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Andy

Doing a quick search that box seems to be used in a variety of applications. Everything from late '60s full size GM cars like Impalas to early '80s Camaros and Novas. Probably quite a few more. It is a Saginaw box. The ratio could vary so you might want to try to determine what you've got. Although, I don't see why it would not work as is since it worked before.



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Kevin
LS6, 4spd, 4.10, Cortez Silver
1 of 231 exported to Canada

Thanks Kevin! I'll try to check out the ratio.

Do you think I'd be okay using a new "correct" style pump/resovoir for a '70 with this gearbox - or is the ratio the critical factor?

Thanks for your help!

Andy

My reply pretty much exhausted my level of knowledge on the subject. There are some much more knowledgable folks here that hopefully will be able to give you a more detailed answer.

My thought is that you'd be fine. The ratio will only matter in regard to how quick you want the steering to be. If it felt fine to you before I'd say don't worry about it.

You are obviously going to have to try it out to see how it feels first. But be carefull turning the wheels lock to lock. A lot of the differences in the steeging gear boxes are ratio, and lock-to-lock. Several boxes may look alike but have different ratios and lock-lock specs coming from camaros, novas, chevelles, Impalas, etc. It may cause the turning radius to be huge, or could cause spindles to bang the stops.

I would try asking this same question over in brakes & suspension forum. Maybe someone there would know that part number.

But if it were me, for safety and reliability, I would bite the bullet and just buy the correct pump and steering gear box. I know they are pricey but for peace of mind, you can then move on. Maybe one of the gearbox specialty companies would know the part number you have, and maybe take it in trade or rebuild it to Chevelle specs for you. Flaming River Co. comes to mind, but there are plenty other ones. Maybe try searching the archives for Steering Gear.

Good luck, and be safe.... Terry S.

LS_5,

Here is a forum that talks about links to steering info:

http://www.chevelles.com/forum/Forum29/HTML/003580.html

and in that forum the following web page is mentioned. It has a ton of steering pump/gear info:

http://www.corvettefaq.com/A-Car.asp

Hope this helps as well. Terry S.

Terry

Thanks so much for the info and links. I sent Jim an email with the specifics of my situation and the questions I have. Hopefully, he'll be able to help.

I bought this car last summer and drove it for several months before retiring it for the winter and starting our project.

The car seemed to drive/steer fine - just loose from worn out front suspension and steering linkage parts/bushings. That's what the primary focus of our project was (it's since snowballed into pulling the block and grinding off the surface rust and repainting the frame, replacing the rear main, replacing the bolt on's, replace the front and rear brake lines, etc., etc., etc.!!). In any event there will be all new parts/bushings when we're done which should improve it's ride and handling a lot!!

I can't say that I ever tested it - lock to lock. I'll do that as soon as it's back together, but I didn't notice any damage to the spindles or stops.

Again, thanks for the warnings, information and the links!! I'm not proceeding with the install until I get this resolved!

Andy

Andy,
I sent this same message by eMail to you. Happy to help where I can.

First of all, the numbers that are cast on the gear housing are exactly that - the gear casting number. Once the casting is machined and then the proper sector shaft, valve, etc are installed, it becomes another part number specific to a customer. The same casting can be machined differently or different "guts'' installed and the new assembly would then be given still another part number.

Does the gear have any ink stamped letters on the aluminum end cover (on the front of the gear) or stamped letters on the aluminum side cover (the the top of the gear)? This might help identify what model vehicle the gear came from. I have the alpha code letters for nearly all the 12.7:1 fast ratio Saginaw steering gears.

With respect to the pump. From your description, I really can't identify what pump you have. For the most part, if the new pump that you purchased was the correct pump for the Chevelle you will probably be all right regardless of what gear is in the car now.

Once you get it together, get all the air out of the power steering fluid. There have been several postings on working the air out.

Then there are two simple tests that can help insure that your pump has adequate pressure and flow. Stop the car and apply the brakes on dry asphalt or concrete. Now with the engine idling, you should be able to rotate the steering wheel all the way to full lock without running out of assist. Also with the steering pointed straight ahead and the engine idling, you should be able to rapidly rotate the steering wheel either side of center without running out of assist. If you can pass these two tests, you most likely will have a pump that is putting out sufficient flow and pressure for your steering needs.

BTW, I have a number of papers posted at www.corvettefaq.com (http://www.corvettefaq.com) that might be of help. Go to the above websight and look under Steering. These might help:
Adjust Steering Tie Rods
Pump Pulley Attachments
P-Pump Leak Points
P-Pump Parts and Replace

These papers are generic even if they might mention Corvette.

Good luck and contact me anytime you think that I might be able to help.

Jim

Any ink markings on the unit are long gone. I checked the aluminum gear cover and there's "346" stamped on top in very small numbers. Is that it?

Looks like I've got some reading to do!!

Thanks again for all of the info. Terry's a great judge of expertise!!

Andy

Jim

ps

I looked at the stamping again. It looks like there may actaully be a 5 digit number, but the last 2 are nearly gone. 346 would be the first 3 digits. The 4th number is gone and 5th digit might be a 9. Does 346_9 mean anything to you?

I know that stamps back then were done manually with gang stamps. Sometimes one side or the other of the stud got hit harder if the technician wasn't careful - and from what I've read here and elsewhere about block stamps - They weren't careful very often back then!!

The 346 is clearly visible.

Does this help?

Andy

Andy,
You are looking for two letters of the alphabet that were ink stamped on the gear. They obviously were never intended to last 30 some years out in the field. They were intended for the assembly plant to easily identify the correct gear to install during vehicle assembly.

You can still determine two of the basic characteristics of an unknown gear by following these straightforward procedures.

The following process is somewhat messy since stroking a power steering gear through its full travel when it is out of the car will result in the gear "burping" all of its internal power steering fluid out the hose ports. (However, it is not out of the question to make these measurements at the steering wheel and then under the car at the pitman arm with the gear in place.)

First, you can determine the total travel of the gear by using a simple protractor and measuring the total sweep of the pitman arm (or pitman shaft)in degrees (full lock to full lock). (example 87 degrees) The travel of gear is expressed on my charts as one half the total travel. (87/2 = 43degrees 30min).

Now, count the total number of revolutions of the input shaft from full lock to full lock. Get as close as you can to the last fraction of travel (i.e. 3 and 1/16 revolutions converts to 3.06 revolutions). Multiply the input revolutions X 360. (3.06 X 360 = 1102.5)

Now divide that number by the total sweep of the pitman shaft. (1102.5/87 = 12.7)

You now have two of the basic numbers that are listed on my gear charts.

And now for the bad news. There is no easy way of determining the valve effort. It requires a sophisticated gear test machine that flows oil through the gear while input torque and output loads are logged in order to determine the valve effort. (Don't even think about trying to tear the gear down and measuring the torsion bar diameter). That type of disassembly is left to an expert with a valve balancing machine.)

Hope this helps,
Jim Shea

The stamped numbers 346 mean nothing as far as identifying the gear. They are most likely a date stamp for when the gear was assembled. (i.e. the 346th day of the year - December 19)

There was most likely a space and then the last digit of the year it was assembled. (9 could have been 1969, 79, 89) Unfortunately, they didn't think that anyone would confuse what 10 years the last digit was refering to.

Thanks, Jim!