When my '66 came to me it had power steering (the normal '66 ram, pump, control valve, etc.) with a manual steering box and the Shelby quick steer kit (longer pitman arm and idler arm).  It also had a drop bracket for the end of the ram that attaches to the frame so it cleared the tri-y headers.  It worked well and there was no interference.  It did also have '71 spindles and brakes as well as the '66 power steering tie rod ends (one is uniquely shaped).   So I guess I'm not sure what the issue is. 

this was stated on another site:

"It does not fit 1965 & 1966 Mustangs with Power Steering because the increased length of the Pitman Arm moves the Centerlink farther forward than stock. This causes the angle where the Power Cylinder mounts to the Centerlink to be much greater than stock. The swivel joint where the Power Cylinder mounts to the Centerlink may not have enough travel to accomodate this increase and may bind, causing steering linkage problems and possible breakage."

All I am asking is "has anyone confirmed a workaround to the potential problems listed in the above statement?"  Surely there are others with factory powersteering that would love to have a quicker ratio, especially if it did not require extensive modification. When I steer my Mustang through the curves, I feel like I am reeling in yards of sail on an xxx meter racing yacht.

Come on guys, this is the site with all the experts!!!

Last edited by boomyal (7/30/2013 7:33 PM)

JSHarvey wrote:

Well I guess my car's power steering valve is going to break one of these days.  (According to that post anyway).  :-)

I've had the quick steer kit, WITH roller bearings, on my own 1965 convertible with factory power steering for about 3 or 4 years.  As long as one replaces both the idler arm and the pitman arm the movement is a paralell movement and everything stays properly alinged with respect to the other components. The mount to the valve is a pivot mount, I can't see how it could possibly bind.

Your mileage may vary.

How do you like the more rapid response steering? ...and am I correct in assuming that there is more than enough power multiple in the steering to overcome any increased effort required to turn the lower ratio? ...and do you remember who's kit you bought?  I just got done putting a std length roller idler arm on mine.  My steering is so smooth that I would like to stick with a roller, keeping the same feel with a quicker response.

To put rollers in a standard arm, the bushing end had to be cut down.  The bushing end would have been too tall to fit on the bracket spindle if the height of it had not been reduced.

I have seen a bearing kit that supposedly only fits a Shelby quick steer arm so I guess that implies that the bushing end does not need to be modified to accept it.  I haven't made a thorough search but maybe the kit is available with rollers already installed

Last edited by boomyal (7/31/2013 10:06 AM)

When I first looked into this some years ago, before I made the page on my website about this, I had heard and read quite a few times that the Quick Steer Kit did not work on a power steering car - not that it wasn't listed and described as such - but that there was some potential problem with doing it. I never could track down someone who could give me first-hand knowledge about their problem with it, so I went with the complaints I most often heard.

Since the Quick Steer parts move the centerlink forward an inch, I heard that (on some cars) the centerlink would hit the oil pan or something else in that area. There are so many old Mustangs with mismatched motor mounts, pans, linkage, etc out there, I figure this is a possibility on some cars, but is not something they will all experience.

I also heard that the increase of the angle of the power cylinder to the centerlink could cause the swivel stud on the cylinder to bind in certain instances of linkage and suspension travel. I can easily believe this because I have rebuilt hundreds of power cylinders and some definitely have more travel and swing on the stud than others. Some of the repro cylinders have less, and their manner of holding the stud in the cylinder end is scary weak compared to original factory cylinders.

I remember reading on the old MustangSteve forum that the kit wouldn't work with power steering and recall MustangSteve himself saying so. I remember asking him what the problem was, but I either didn't get an answer or get a definitive one. 

I find it odd that I have fooled around with early Mustangs since 1971, worked on many, and talked to thousands of owners over the years - been asked thousands of times about converting to the quicker ratio power steering box to give the Mustang quicker steering - and yet I have only talked to or read about a half-dozen or so that used a Quick Steer kit on a power steering car. 
I wonder why that is? The parts have never been out of production.

Yes, the components will fit on a 1965-1966 V8 power steering Mustang, even though that was not the intended application. My concensus was that it would work fine on cars that had all the other components capable of clearing and working with the Quick Steer kit, but not all Mustangs are the same anymore, and some cars may have problems.

The only thing I could find reading what others have said around the intertube, and not from first-hand experience in any way other than having serviced and then removed the factory power steering, that might be a problem is what stanger53 notes regarding the increased angle of the power cylinder to the centerlink connection and that the pivot at this point could be forced into binding in certain instances of linkage and suspension travel. Likely to happen in 99% of driving circumstances? Probably not, but if it is a possibility then any manufacturer/supplier would be wise to state that factory PS and Quick Steer components are not compatible. I would guess this would be most likely when making a near lock turn to the right, probably not many of us that do that at speed over uneven surfaces. And as JSHarvey notes 'your mileage may vary' - there are many variables as stanger53 points out.

So it still seems to me that, as long as there are no other clearance issues, a best case scenario would be to come up with a custom frame side mount for the power cylinder that moves that end forward to decrease the angle at the centerlink end and be worry free. It's not a complicated bracket.

Last edited by McStang (7/31/2013 8:01 PM)

Here are a couple of pics to help visualize.  It does appear that on a hard right turn, the added 1" length of the quick steer kit would put the ballstud connection at a greater angle than stock.  This should be easy enough to verify, albeit AFTER installing the kit.  Suspension travel vertically would have no effect at all, only the hard right turn where the cylinder is at its shortest length.  On a left hand turn, the angle would become smaller so there is no chance of that causing a problem.

If it DID put the stud in a bind, one solution would be to sacrifice some turning radius and weld a tab onto the steering stop on the RH LCA to limit the travel a bit.

Just random thoughts to help stir the pot...

^ Bump ^

Hmmm, I wondered where you were.  How do you like the response of the quick steer pitman and and idler arm? Does it feel natural?  Are you using a stock diameter wheel?

My alignment guy supposedly has a '66 coming in for some suspension work.  I am hoping it is one with power steering so I can see it up on the rack and make an assessment of the ram angle.

Wow, JS, I'd about given up on a response.  Do you recall if you altered the mount position of the ram?  Someone else did this and used an aftermarket drop bracket.  Mustang Steve said that might be necessary to keep the valve from contacting the ??oil pan?

Anyway, I have a used set of quick steer idler and pitman arms coming.  I'll be able to check it out. This is where a drive on rack would come in handy.  The only lift I have available is a swing arm type.

Last edited by boomyal (4/09/2014 10:00 AM)

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If someone would tell me how to fix those addresses so the pictures show up here instead of just the addresses I would appreciate it.

Last edited by JSHarvey (9/02/2014 3:41 PM)