Steering Box Adapter Fitting

[scooter6529]

Hey all,

Been trying to get my radiator temporarily mounted so I can run my freshly rebuilt AMC 304 . The problem I'm running Into is the radiator hits the return power steering line on the gear box. My question is, has anyone used some type of adapter fitting to get a sharp 90 degrees to prevent it from hitting the radiator.
Speedway Motors has a inverted flare male to a "an" style fitting but I don't know if that'll be sharp enough.

Any insight on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

 

[mriplaybass]

Had the same problem with our 79 CJ7 . What worked for us was just making the bend in the line tighter using a tube bending pliers. You can also slightly elongate the holes in the radiator flanges and raise the radiator slightly. Just be careful to make sure that the fan doesn't hit anything if you have a shroud.

 

[scooter6529]

Ahhh, good idea with elongating holes in radiator. Didn't think of that . I was always wondering how the tube bending pliers work ? I'll give those ideas a try. In the meantime I'll keep searching for adaptor fittings.

Thanks much for the ideas

 

[hdgapeach]

............and I went the other way. Pressure hose was leaking, so I had NAPA make me up a heavy duty one. I had the same issue as you; lack of clearance. I installed a 1" body lift on the CJ5 . It created enough space for me .

 

[HackFabrication]

Had a similar issue when mounting my 4-row radiator and plumbing the steering box. Could not get the lines to fit. I ended up getting a set of tubes made up.

Here's the mock-ups in copper:







Finished tubes done in stainless steel:



Installed:



Hydroboost Plumbing:

 

[scooter6529]

Absolutely love those adapter lines, where did you have them made? Classic Tube, or Inline Tube.

One quick question, are the threads in the steering box 1/2" 20 thread?

 

[HackFabrication]

Absolutely love those adapter lines, where did you have them made?

The tubes came from:Tubes N' Hoses Gene's Auto Service

One quick question, are the threads in the steering box 1/2" 20 thread?

I don't recall. There are two different sizes on my 76 gearbox (I think one is 9/16). The later models used the o-ring fittings, while mine are both flared.

 

[gert]

I think it would be a good idea to measure your threads as Gm went with metric fittings somewhere in the 80s never know what has been swapped in