Power steering or no?

[Wakko]

I currently have power steering on my car and am going to redo the steering system.  I personally like the idea of power steering, but during lumpy idle the car doesn't turn.  Also, I want a tight ratio steering box.  My local Charger buddy said to swap it out for manual.  How many of you have manual and love it over PS?

[dodge freak]

Well I don't have one but what I would do is look at the old car ads and find a old Mopar near you and go and drive it. People are all different and are stronger and weaker so just cause somebody loves or hate it does not matter to me. What I like sometimes not many people do and sometimes people all around me like something or someone and I don't, so its best to find out for yourself.

Then again you could always just do it and change it back if you don't like it, I did drive a car with a manual and it was ok till you slowed way down and then you really felt it but I am not very strong.

[BB1]

Wakko, I changed the power steering on my 69 to manual... wish I never did it. I didn't like the lack of road feel which is typical on Chrysler vehicles of that era, but the manual was like steering Mac truck.

I am not that tall, so my arm strength was helped with a 6 way seat set to where I could get leverage to haul the wheel around.
I know your a tall guy, so you might not have a problem with it.

My old Super Bee was originally manual, brakes, steering and trans with a bench seat. It felt like I had a workout partner named Mr. Bee. 

There might be a better idea out there.

[Wakko]

I'm not that tall, 5'9".  I already drive closer to the wheel than I like, just to get the leverage on the manual brakes and clutch pedal.  Good insight, thanks.

[69chargeryeehaa]

you also have to consider how you will use the car.  if you're mainly going to the strip i'd say go for it, but if it's a cruiser, making 5 point turns to park at a cruise night or taking 5 mins to go thru a drive thru get's old quick.  i have a 74 beetle, it has manual steering, but it's a super light car, even though it's light, it's hard to steer at slow speeds, and the wheel is huge, i tried putting a aftermarket 14" steering wheel and it was 50% harder to steer than the stock 16" wheel!!!!  i'd say stay with the power steering, you'll enjoy the car more with than without.

[six-tee-nine]

I have a MK I Volkswagen Golf GTI wich has 195 tyres under it and of corse no power steering.

If your Charger stands on wide tyres like 225 or even larger in the front and considering the weight of a big block engine comared to that of the small in line 4-cilinder of my golf i think you're gonna have a hard time parking your car.....

Mi wife doesn't manage to park my GTI, in fact at slow speeds she hardly manages to turn the wheel at all......i'm a tall and strong guy but would consider leaving the PS where it is if I were you...

[BLAM]

Go manual or go home!!!!!

[Nacho-RT74]

Do you want to try to feel a manual steering ? ok, just remove the steerting pum belt and try to drive it !!!

Is not exactly the same since the pitman arm ratio is different on manual boxes equipment ( also of course the torque gear rate on box itself ), but kinda of..

[Wakko]

My buddy's Charger is manual and I've driven it, didn't think it was that bad.  440 with 15x7s on the front.  I was hoping for some insight on you guys running manual in more of a daily driver scenario than a race car (like his).  So far I think I'm going to keep the PS.

[tan top]

keep the power steering

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Lumpy idle causing car not to turn???

Loose belt or a bad pump......I'd say a loose belt

[BLAM]

In all seriousness the standard 24:1 manual box is a little work, but it really isn't that bad!!  The 20:1 or 16:1 ratios are unbearable!  Yes it takes work when parking but really is a small penalty for the road feel that I get when driving!!  I alaso like the clean engine bay and it is one less fluid and part failure mode I need to worry about.

I highly recommend the manual box!!!

[Steve P.]

I drove VegasMike's 68' Charger around Vegas with a smaller than normal steering wheel and no power steering with no trouble at all. I like the road feel and want all the room under the hood I can get. He has wide wheels and tires up front and I have a bad back. The power unit is coming out of my 65' Coronet also. I won't be driving it to work or in heavy traffic. It's going to be a cruiser. Not a mall car or grocery getter. I don't plan on many tight parking spaces.    My  .02...

[dodge freak]

There one bad thing about power steering is that at high speeds it is easy to turn the wheel to fast and too much. Some of these new cars the wheel gets harder to turn the faster you go but not the old Mopar ones.

[Silver R/T]

too hard without PS on my 68

[General_01]

If you already have PS, keep it. I have manual steering in the General and power steering in the Bee. I liked driving the Bee when I drove it alot before. Manual gives you better road feel like others have said, but at cruise nights and in tight spots PS is nice.

The General may or may not get PS in the future, but if it had PS when I bought it, it would stay in the car.

[Chryco Psycho]

I prefer manual the advsntsges outweight the disadvantages for me , I am over 6' but only 165 lbs

[Bandit72]

i don't mind manual steering(of course i'm 6'2" and 260lbs)...the only thing i don't care for is it seems i have to turn the wheel 500 times to go the direction i want...

[BrianShaughnessy]

I prefer power steering.     Without it I'd probably have to keep the stock Lusitiania steering wheel. 

[Wakko]

I prefer power steering.     Without it I'd probably have to keep the stock Lusitiania steering wheel. 

That's funny.   Anyone else with power steering have problems at idle?  I have to give my car a little gas and bring the idle up a bit to operate the PS or it's choppy. 

[8WHEELER]

You should not have that problem, that did happen to me over 20yrs ago, but the car I was working
on was almost completely out of fluid, filled it up no more problems, or on any car since. Every mopar
I have had was a power steering car as far as 68 and up goes. It sure sounds like a fluid, belt or just
a bad pump problem to me, there is nothing else it can be, it is possible its in the box, but more
likely the other options.

Dan

[Wakko]

I figured it had something to do with the lumpy cam as it wouldn't work when the engine with in the stumble part of the rumble.  I'm pulling the whole system apart, I'll have to check it while it's off.

[8WHEELER]

The cam should not be the problem. I have been running the mopar 484 284 cam since 1979, I have
the standard Federal Mogul small pulley pump, and I ran the 509 mopar cam for awhile in 91, and I
still have no problems at all. I had about 7lbs of vacuum with the 509 and about 9lbs of vacuum with
the 484 cam.

I forgot, I did have a little bit of a problem like you are talking about with one of my vehicles. I had a
77 Dodge Power Wagon with a 5in lift and 38in tall tires with a 318. In a parling lot it would sometimes
feel like it was hitting a bump stop and squeal a bit, but that was more of a tire size problem with a 5in
steering riser block as well. Anyway 245 60x15 is what I run with a firm feel box with no probems.

Dan

[is_it_EVER_done?]

Wakko, Personally I hate manual steering but to each his own. From your description your problem is in your power steering pump, not the idle roughness. Where the pressure hose (lowest) connects to the pump, there is a pressure controll spring assembly that uses shims to adjust the spring pressure. Though I forget which way the spring pressure needs to go to increase pump pressure, adding or subtracting shims is how it's adjusted (check the service manual for the adjustment specifics).

I suggest that you just get a rebuilt pump, as the only reason that any adjustment is needed is due to wear or debris, plus a rebuilt pump is quite cheap, and worth it to me by not having to do the - drain - adjust - fill - try/repeat process - that is necessary to adjust one.

As far a quicker steering ratio, with a manual box there are a few companies that provide quicker ratios, but steering effort goes up substantially. A power box can use a longer Pitman arm (Firm Feel offers one), or you can switch to a later model power box that uses the large (C body sized) steering shaft, and use a C body Pitman (which is longer than others). The C body Pitman, and aftermarket (small sector) fast ratio arm are the same length, but the C body arm is much cheaper. The drawback being that you need a later "large sector box to use it. One last thing to consider is that if you have headers, a longer Pitman might hit them but I believe that Firm Feels site has a list of headers that will work with the fast ratio arm they supply.

[TylerCharger69]

Keep the power steering.   I drove so long manually   and then when I hooked the pump up....man  what a difference!!!!    Keep it!!!