junkyard steering gear coupler power to manual

supposedly there is a 70's dodge van manual steering extension that will allow my power steering column to bolt on the manual gearbox?
in other words im trying to convert to manual steering and i have the gearbox but i need that coupler.. i dont want to pay 125.00 for the aftermarket piece. what year vans can i go search for? thanks!

Ive always heard about this but never seen one on a van.

They were on most B-vans with manual steering, but those are pretty unusual.

In the pix below, "A" is the OEM one, "B" is from Firm Feel, and "C" is from Steer and Gear.

Rick E.

Were they always used along with the coupler as shown on part A?

Wasn't the coupler phased out/replaced in 1973 or so? That would at least narrow down the year range if so.

thanks DR. for posting that pic! i guess ill call FF when i need it. that manual van is going to be hard to find here in dallas

Write-up I read about it in said to find late 60s to early 70s stripper vans. Delivery, power company, and phone company, etc. Best bet would be an old junkyard with a good stock of older vans.


Tim

I pulled one from a van. IIRC the OE adapter male end is not splined for a power steering pot coupler like the firm feel one, it's splined for a manual box coupler. So both the male and female ends of the factory adapter are manual box splined. The Firm feel one is splined for a power steering pot coupler on one end but for the larger manual box input spline on the larger end.

The firm feel adapter has a male power steering end to mate with the power steering pot coupler, but a manual box female end to connect to the manual box. So their adapter does two things - convert from power to manual and increase the length.

The Steer and Gear one looks like they cut a power steering male end off a steering box input and welded it onto a factory van adapter after cutting the manual box male end off.

So if you are in the bone yard and find one on a van, not only do you need to grab the adapter to make up the length on the shorter manual box, but also the manual box pot coupler on the van steering shaft.