Power steering

[Chas35]

Hi from Hampton, Va

I am new to the form. I am waiting for my truck to be delivered in October. I have been back-and-forth with putting power steering on my truck. Is there anyone out there who has not put power steering on their truck and wish they did.

[edwardb]

Pretty hard for anyone to answer that question unless they've had both manual and power. Most will say (my opinion) they like what they have. I've had both manual and power in a Roadster. Since then every build has had power. Including the truck I'm wrapping up right now. Standard speech for this topic: Most discussions seems to center around effort, e.g. car is light I don't need power. I have biceps like Popeye, I don't need power. And so on. Agreed less effort isn't needed on these cars while moving. Parking is another story and there you'll appreciate it. But the biggest reason for power is the increased castor is allows making the car drive better, center better, etc. That's where you'll be thankful you have it.

Now having said that, the Factory Five offered power steering for the truck is an electric assist style unit. The chassis has the necessary mounting and the instructions give all the details. I've only driven mine 10 miles or so around the neighborhood at relatively slow speeds. It works and I'm OK with it. I'll have a more complete opinion when the build is done and driven for real. Unlike some units of this kind. the Factory Five offering doesn't include an adjustment feature. Some have a knob you can turn to vary the amount of assist. This one doesn't. Not a dealbreaker for me. But something to be aware of. Also you'll get various opinions about the "feel" of this kind of assist. Again, I'm OK so far. Plus for how I plan to use the truck has a street cruiser, nothing fancy or high performance, I think it will be fine.

[Robodent]

I can’t answer the question other than I’m glad I have the electric assist steering and air conditioning on my truck. With the wide wheels and short wheelbase it’s a breeze to tool around in it. On hot days I can turn the air on and cool down. Two upgrades to consider I know it ups the cost of the build but down the road if you ever sell it you will get your money back.
Rob

[Sbda4]

I purposefully built my truck (Greg’s 35 Hot Rod Truck on the forum) as simple as possible, which included manual steering. After driving it around I concluded that the steering effort was much greater than I anticipated. It was drivable, but had to be muscled in and out of the driveway, in parking lots, etc. So when I had the body off being painted, I added the FFR power steering. It is much more enjoyable to drive when you don’t need to focus on muscling the steering.