No power steering in a 3/4 ton Big deal?

[special-K]

Originally Posted by 68 P.O.S.

You'll definitely appreciate manual steering if you ever have your power steering go out. Now that, is a workout!

I'd say non-functioning P/S is at least 2x harder to steering than manual. Manual is made to steer w/o assist and geared accordingly. P/S is obviously geared to have assist.

I guess I haven't had a manual steer for quite a long time. But there was a time where that was all I had and I did just fine. Kinda funny that the '69 W200 Power Wagon had both Armstrong (37/14.50) tires AND arm strong steering. It was no problem to drive but I was a cock strong kid back then. I drove that thing all over, parallel parked, 4-wheeled in deep mud and against rocks, and it never phased me. I even entered it in the first mud bog in Flagstaff. What I remember about going to power steering that I liked over the manual in that truck was no "fight back" at the wheel when wheelin'. If you didn't hold that wheel tight, going up against a big rock could rip the wheel out of your hands and spin to full lock in the opposite direction. It seems P/S absorbs such counter action, or it's just easier to hold back.

My next 4wd was a '71 K/20, manual steer and same tires. That's the one I converted to P/S and pretty much everything since has been P/S, except the real old stuff