I converted my 1970 W-31 from power steering to, what was supposed to be, factory manual steering. I was aware that the steering would be more difficult, but it is ridiculous bad. I need two hands at the 1 o'clock position to be able to turn the wheel to, maybe, the 2 o'clock position before I lose leverage. It is not much better at a slow, 2-5 mph, turn. At speed, 35-65 mph, it is useable but still needs a lot of input. It reminds me of steering my power steering with the belt off. For the obvious, the steering box does not have any fluid connections so, it is definitely a manual box. I was sent the pitman arm with it so I am assuming it is correct. The pitman arm was different than the power steering arm. I can not see how GM could sell a car like this. I must have done something incorrectly. Any insights? Any videos of a Cutlass with manual steering at a stop or a crawl?

 

Assuming it is like the 1966 setup, there are two manual boxes, 6.25 turns lock-to-lock and HD steering (quicker ratio) 5.3 turns. Especially the latter is harder to steer at a stop, and more so with fat, grippy tires. I am running Hoosier drag front tires and they are easier, especially when aired up to 40 psi, to give you an example. I have the HD box and it is a big difference from a power steering box.

 

Thank you for the information. I will see how many turns to lock my steering box is.

 

I never had a difficult time steering my manual '69. It was slower, and required more effort, but nothing that I would consider putting a lot of muscle into. Never did try to parallel park it though.

 

My 69 Cutlass wagon was a factory manual steering car. Parallel parking was definitely a chore, but once at speed it was manageable. After a year I got tired of that and installed PS. Much more pleasant to drive now. Keep in mind that tire size, pressure, alignment, and even wheel offset will ALL effect steering effort. The reason why these cars have caster angle spec'd at near zero degrees is to minimize steering effort for manual steering cars. This unfortunately negatively impacts directional stability at speed. Also, if you have wheels with something other than the OEM zero offset and/or different diameter tires, this will negatively impact scrub radius of the front suspension, which also negatively impacts steering effort. And finally, hard, skinny bias ply tires have a lot less friction to the road surface than do modern, wide, sticky radials. Each one of these is a small effect, but they add up.

 

Thank you for the information. I am unsure what the alignment specs are but I am running Cooker Wide Oval (radial) tires on their "Dog Dish" factory replica rims.