[carguy66cars]

Thanks For the link Bill!

Lyn.

[carguy66cars]

Well thought it was time to post some pictures of my truck. I have it pretty well cleaned up now so here we go!!!

Lyn.

[carguy66cars]

.... few more...

[Pontirag]

wow, thats realy realy nice. are sure you want to go hydro on that?

[carguy66cars]

Thanks Mike, I'm going to try the rear gear change first, but couldn't pass up this complete setup as thats about the only thing I would have changed if I had ordered the truck. Well P.S. would have been nice too!

Lyn.

[Jack Gifford]

Wow! What was GMC's name for that color blue? How much re-work has the truck gone through to get to this point? Is it a short-bed? Front trim- grille, parklamps, etc.- are in the best condition of any I've seen in recent years.

[Pontirag]

thats what I was thinkin. she's a beauty

[carguy66cars]

In '59 they called it Orbit blue. Truck was repainted in 1974 and stored ever since and only has 26,000 miles. I have been cleaning and polishing for about three months until it started getting to hot this last month. Truck came out of Denver area so it hasen't had much rust. Had to find a tailgate as it had a Chevy gate when I bought it and grandson couldn't tell me why. Found a N.O.S. gate and matched the color up, painted it and took off the 17.5" wheels and put 15" on it so I could put radial tires on it. Painted the wheels also and put on a set of repop caps. Will still need some seat cover work, but I have some N.O.S. material for that. The inside is pretty nice and all original including the paint. I just cleaned and polished it all up, no rust at all on the steps or floor under the mat just had to wash it all up. Truck still had a couple of the Silvertown tires on it when I bought it and still has the original exhast. I have only put a hundred or so miles on it since I bought it, but plan to put alot more when I get the other rear gear in it!
This is how it looked when it arrived.


Lyn.

[Bill Hanlon]

Your front fender picture above jogged what little memory I have left. I checked the 1960 GMC Master Parts Book and found that the Hydra-Matic fender badges were a 55.2 through 57 only item. Wouldn't be appropriate for your 59, but more importantly there is no where to attach them on the 59's "GMC" fender badge.

You mentioned power steering. Please don't commit to any after market power steering solution before talking to me about the pitfalls.

[Pontirag]

and then we can talk about the pitfalls of factory steering

[carguy66cars]

I suppose its impossible to find a P.S. gear box, I have a P.S. pump, resovoir and bracket off '57 Pontiac car guess that won't help any? Thanks for the heads up on the emblems Bill. Wondered why I never saw any pictures of '58-'59's with the Hydramatic emblems!

Lyn.

[Bill Hanlon]

I used a '56 Pontiac power steering pump, reservoir and mounting bracket to provide umph for the GM 800 series power steering box that I ran for a few years in my '57 GMC. The pump worked well, the rest of the system was a pain in the a$$.

The stock 55.2-59 GMC PS box is manufactured from UnObtainium.

[carguy66cars]

Bill, Somehow I new this would be the case. I will have to hear what you guys came up with, I need P.S.!!!

Lyn.

[Pontirag]

service your manual box, top it off with some STP, greas all the lube points, check air pressure in your tires, check alignment.

then

check the prices on a gmc power steering box....and you need the special column too.

then

...........................................

[Bill Hanlon]

The short story is that I recently broke the after market GM 800 series power steering kit. I was never happy with it, primarily because the drag link was so short that it caused big time bump steer and the outside of the frame, forward mounted box interfered with the left front tire, limiting hard right turns. When the bolts pulled out of the steering arm with a BANG a month ago as I was leaving home I thought "this is my chance to put in the mid 80's Toyota 4x4 power steering solution" that mounts in (almost) the stock location.

When I put in my on-line order with CPP for the Toyota kit I added a note at the bottom saying something like "I plan to put this kit in a '57 GMC 1/2 ton truck equipped with its stock 347" V8 engine and Hydra-Matic transmission. If you have any reason to think this kit will not work for me call me at ****** before filling the order." No call received and about 10 days later the package arrived.

After much weeping and gnashing of teeth I finally realized that there was no way the Toyota box was going to fit. There was about 1" of interference between the box and the starter on the 347. Starters on small block Chevies, Chevy sixes and GMC sixes are all on the passenger's side of the engine. Not so on the Pontiac engine.

Called CPP back and basically they said "first we've ever heard of it, send it back".

Now it seems there are two solutions, back to the original steering box/column which I still have or the rack and pinion solution that I've seen a magazine article on about 5-7 years ago, but have never heard of anyone who actually installed one. I think I'm going back to the stock box.

[carguy66cars]

Bill, This is not what I wanted to hear! Guess I will get use to it. Going down the road is great, its just the parking that takes some getting use to. I'll take your advice on the STP and lubing everything Mike. I'm sure that will help as it hasn't been drove for 37 years!

Lyn.

[carguy66cars]

Guy had a P.S. setup on ebay, but at $2900.00 little out of my price range. Said he had someone interested and was ending auction early. It was all rebuilt with new hoses and stabilizer. Guess I will keep looking. How about the one from CCP, is this the one you used Bill? Are you not recommending this one either?

Lyn.

[Bill Hanlon]

Many companies (CPP, Brothers, Classic Parts, etc.) market the kit that uses the GM 800 series PS box that mounts outside the frame and forward of the front axle. The main downfall of this box is the short drag link which causes bump steer.

The Toyota-based kit that CPP sells looks great, but doesn't fit if your engine is a GMC (Pontiac) V8 because the starter and the steering box need to occupy the same space.

I'm still looking into the No-Limit Engineering rack and pinion kit, but I'm worringing about clearance for the shaft that goes between the steering column and the R&P. This must be a telescoping shaft, so putting a U-joint in the middle is out of the question.

You have already found that the factory system is made from un-obtainium.

All my buddies at the saturday night car show just down the road are trying to talk me into a Mustang II type front end.

A solution that I haven't considered is the solution that is modeled on the 55-59 Chevy truck power steering solution. The stock steering box stays in place. The drag link is replaced with a new part that senses load and controls a hydraulic ram to push & pull the tie rod.
http://www.classicperform.com/Store/...s/5559PSKA.htm

Or I could just overhaul the stock steering box and go back to Armstrong steering.

[carguy66cars]

Bill, That last one looks interesting. I think I will check it out!!!

Lyn.

[carguy66cars]

Bill, Mike, Can you tell me when this trans. is in neutral should the truck still roll? Thought it should have some kind of parking brake in the trans. from what I have read in the manuel. Finally got it running, brakes fixed after a master cylinder and some brake lines. Truck moves under its own power now. Reverse works fine and seems to shift fine, only drove it across the road to the storage, couple blocks. Carb will need a rebuild as it dosen't want to idle. Been sitting since '93 and have it running out of a gas jug, also had to replace the fuel pump.

Lyn.