[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by special-K

Yeah, the steering wheels did shrink to a car size in '73. On the Dodge I had put one of those foam grip wheels with 3 chrome spokes drilled with holes. But NOT the size you most commonly saw, which was a small diameter. It was made FOR trucks and only slightly smaller than original. Got it from Dick Cepek. It made the truck easier to turn due to larger diameter and soft grip. That truck was not so easy to steering with those tires the truck was not engineered for. It definitely took Armstrong to steering it. Ironically, the tires were Armstrong brand. I used to parallel part that thing no problem. I didn't want power steering, though. That box had a 1/3 turn play in it. I ordered every possible wear part for it and rebuilt it, when most would have converted to p/s. That box was a Ross unit, same as what Dodge used in early-50s trucks. I used a shop manual from the early-50s. Kinda odd how it was an esarly-50s (maybe late-40s) design that they stopped using on anything for years, but then began again on the '60s Power Wagons. It was also used on their early vans, but reverse movement due to being mounted in front of the axle. That's what Dodge first gave me. Got the whole steering box rebuilt and installed only to find if I turned right the wheels went left! I had to raise hell to get the dealership to except my return of (now used) parts that 'they' ordered wrong from my 'correct' information

Supposedly some of the early sailing ships had wheels like that because the sailors were used to tillers!

I knew a guy that rebuilt a VW transaxle and ended up with one forward gear and four in reverse