power steering pulley reduction?

Pepi69 · 03-03-2010, 05:08 PM

Howdy,

Not sure if this is a stupid question or not - but here goes....
As we all know AU2's have power steering - very easy and effortless to turn the wheel. I'm wondering is it possible to actually change the powersteering pulley to a slightly smaller circumfrance there fore making a firmer 'feel'?? I've always owned cars previous that had powersteering but always required a little 'more' effort to turn the wheel - I do a lot of h/way travel (NT is 130km/h) and at these speeds it is a little disconcerting at how easy it could be to over correct (dodging horses, or cattle, or kangaroos). I'm not phased to have to muscle the wheel in town or car parks, and I'm pretty sure I'd need to change the main belt itself.......can it be done?
thanks

Mr Hardware · 03-03-2010, 05:39 PM

interesting question
however i don't think that making it harder to turn will necessarily improve feel
instead of being light and vague it'll be heavy and vague

bodes-sh · 03-03-2010, 10:10 PM

fairlane ghias and maybe even fairlanes, had speed sensitive power steering, which is supposed to stiffen the wheel up a bit at higher speeds. i don't think this is something that could be retrofitted to a normal falcon though...mine doesn't feel too bad around that speed (i used to live in nt), but in saying that, maybe your power steering pressure switch is on the way out and feeding too much pressure to the rack at higher rpm...?

Tomo boss 260 · 04-03-2010, 12:10 AM

u can slow the pump down if u want to, but its engine revs that effect the the speed of the pump not road speed, I do it for speedway because of constant 5000rpm, boils the fluid pretty quickly

, i've got 2 belts though, i undid the the crank pully and add a smaller one to the front, then move the pump out a bit with a few brackets, and get a smaller belt

mik · 04-03-2010, 01:28 AM

you may one day want the lightning fast power steering reaction that au`s have and it won`t be there, but its not a stupid question , i thought about this myself quiet a few times, i thought of loading up the steering a little with a 4wd steering damper, it was just thought, actually last week i had to take evasive action to avoid another car, i`m so glad i have quick reflexes and a car that responds well to steering input, next wheel alignment i`m going to ask the guy if adding a bit of caster will stiffen up the steering in the straight ahead position, i think thats the way it works anyway.

Tomo boss 260 · 04-03-2010, 10:41 PM

more positve caster will help hold bring the wheels back to straight ahead but steering will still most likely feel the same stiffness wise

mik · 04-03-2010, 11:33 PM

yep thats what i was thinking it needed in my case anyway.

Bushbasher · 05-03-2010, 08:51 AM

Without knowing the ins and outs of the PS system I would have thought that the pressure switch sets the PS pressure at a set limit regardless of RPM and reducing the pumps RPM won't make any difference to the steering except to raise the RPM at which point max pressure is reached. But as it seems max pressure is available at idle you'd have to slow the pump a hell of a lot to make a difference. It would seem to me that the best way to reduce pressure, thus increasing resistance, is to change the pressure switch to one that opens at a lower pressure. I'm sure there are many on here with much more knowledge on hydraulics and in AU power steering specs specifically who can confirm this .........or shoot me down in flames, lol.

Bushbasher