97 Tacoma, what steering box for SAS?

Folks-

I have looked, as I'm sure it must have been mentioned before, but I have had no luck.

What application steering box am I looking for, in order to do a SAS on a 97 Tacoma?

 

Most people use an IFS box off of pre Tacoma Toyotas. I think its best to get a new box since its already tapped and ready for hydro assist for the future and is rebuilt/new.

There are other options but im sure this is the most popular.

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/trail-gear-power-flow-ifs-steering-box-303951-1.html

 

This doesn't answer the question.

86-88, what truck? I didn't say I was going to use it as a 30 year old salvage part, but rebuilding a box is just *not* hard. Nor is tapping holes. But I do need to know *which* 86-88 trucks it comes from.

I pulled up car-parts.com for an 88 Toyota Truck (not Tacoma or T100). My choices are:


Yikes!! Little help, please? Clearly the manual boxes are out, so that's about a third of them I don't have to deal with. But 4X2, 4X4, 1/2 ton or 1 ton? I don't know what, if any, the differences are between them back then. To be honest I'm a little surprised Toyota had a 1 ton in 88.

 

A little searching goes a long way as this has been discussed numerous times over on pirate and ttora (with pictures of the different ones) but I digress.

Toyota pickups and 4 runners from 79-94 had a steering box from what I know. The 86-94 used 3 mounting holes while 79-85 I think only had 2 (I had an 83 box with only 2 mounting holes) Over the years the boxes changed a little and the later years had a bleed valve on top (like the trail gear boxes) making it easy to get the air out of the system. If your getting one from a junkyard or pic a part, save a picture of one and go walk around and look at all 86-94 Toyota pickups and 4runners and they should all be the same or similar and pick one. Pretty sure 2wd ones had them as well.

Reason I mention the TG box and many others will as well is because it is has new seals, tapped and comes with the fittings. I spent $90 on a junkyard one, spent half a day pulling it just for it to leak constantly due to it being old. By the time you buy seals and the drill and tap your not far off what a new box cost with a discount code depending on what your time is worth to you and what you pay for the box.

 

Beauty of SAS, you can put whatever steering box you want on there. Or hell even skip it an put an orbital valve.

Also, from your questions you really need to start here https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/sas-quick-guide-cost.138316/ and research.

You either build what you want or find a kit and buy all the pieces. Either way attitude and search go a long way. You'll find quite a few guys on here drill down about each piece of the SAS build they did.

 

While your looking for boxes start reading this thread as well to start assembling your hydro assist system.
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=4699.0

 

Thanks for the tip. I don't know that I will need hydro assist immediately however. I will definitely research it, though.

I drove my S10 with solid axles for 6 years without assist (other than the Saginaw box and pump). I am debating on upgrading to it while I rework some of my suspension. At the very least, it would make one hell of a steering stabilizer!

 

Any power steering box from a 86-95 truck or 4runner with IFS and 4wd is what youre looking for. Pre-86 used a push-pull type box and is what most swap out for the IFS boxes when converting to hi-steer.

 

Outstanding. This is the kind of info I was hoping for.

I understand it's likely been mentioned many many times in the past, in several hundred page build threads. But I could not find it. I was overwhelmed by results, none of which seemed to say 'this is what you want'

I am going to be using the trail gear frame plate kit so that will of course be a factor in what I go with. It sounds like the last post is the one I want.

EDIT: this is the frame reinforcement kit I refer to - http://www.trail-gear.com/product/4994/tacoma-frame-plate-ifs-box-mount-kit

It seems to jibe with what he said, except it specifies 86-95 Hilux. I thought those weren't available in the US?

Again, many, many thanks for the information, folks.

 

You definitely need to research more, just not on here. Try Pirate4x4 for more hardcore stuff, hell or even google. Not a lot of SAS swaps done here. Plenty over there. Hilux is what they are called everywhere in the world. Even today the Tacoma is only a Tacoma is North America. Its called a Hilux everywhere else and has a different body style. Most toyota purists refer to the Pre-tacoma days (pre-95/96) as hilux trucks here in the US when in reality, everyone else just called them pickups. Thats what pops up when you search part store websites.

 

Theres several builds on here that are easy to navigate and even have a parts list and have used/using the same parts your talking about using. (My 1st page has a link to the start of the sas and a list of just about every part used) and 2 of us posted in this thread.

This may be a lost cause though as the same suggestions just reworded has been every post. It's easy to research now a days with google.

 

I have a box from a 94 t4r $70, bought a rebuild kit $30. Borrowed a friends taps and bought a drill bit $12. Fittings $7. Have a rebuild ifs box drilled and tapped for around 120

 

That's pretty much the plan, except I already have the fittings, drills, taps, and so on. Rebuilding these Saginaw-style boxes is just not difficult.