Printable View
my '79 is a rear steer, behind the crossmember. my last one was as well. it was really hard to find a power steering gearbox for it back in 2001. What years were the d50 rear steer vs the more common type I see, front steer I.E. in front of the crossmember. can you switch between them? it sure would make a motor swap easier.
The term front steer or rear steer is by the location of the tie rod location to the spindle center line. Not the cross member. I'm 95% sure they are all front steer. As for the gear box there are inboard and outboard in relation to the frame.
for 2wd 79 - 86 you can use a steering box from a starquest - they bolt right in. for 4wd you can use a Montero or Montero sport I believe, although I think all 4wd trucks are power steering.
okay, I HAD a 1979. i swapped in a 1980 power steering box from another d50. but many rams I saw (in 2005 junkyards) had tie rods in front of the crossmember. that would have made a rear sump SBC swap lots easier. I'm buying another '79 and want to go with power steering again. I just need to figure out if there is a simple swap way to do that, is there a "cut this year crossmember and weld it in" way of doing that or if it's just too damned hard to do that.