ando76 4,354 Posted July 27, 2014 Well as the title suggests I am wondering if the manual steering box found in XA-XC will work in XF. Inquiries locally suggest that it will work. Just wondering what the forums members know? Thanks ando Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gaz 1,085 Posted July 27, 2014 Yes. Only difference is the bosses on flexible coupling may be shorter on the early box. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ando76 4,354 Posted July 27, 2014 Ok cool. I'll raid the donor XA Fairmont in the back yard. Skid car need manual steer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adrianphu123 73 Posted July 29, 2014 I think i got an XB manual box from another forum member a while back and slipped in fine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ando76 4,354 Posted July 29, 2014 Thanks mate - I'm heading into town today to raid the one out of my other XA donor so I should know be the end of today. Cheers everyone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ando76 4,354 Posted July 31, 2014 Well if anyone is interested XA manual steering boxes do not fit in XF. They end up being 1" to short to mate to the steering shaft and they have a smaller and different fixing mechanism for the flex coupling. I'm thinking that the XA boxes are closer to the XY era. Maybe XB-XC are different as I have found, in my short ownership of my XA GS, that there is a lot of little XA specific things. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gaz 1,085 Posted July 31, 2014 Sorry Tony, but you're not doing it right. The "too short" is in the column. Lever the column flange downwards, away from the firewall towards the box. Manual flex couplings are totally different to power steer couplings ie not interchangeable. They clamp the wormshaft on a straight spline, rather than what you are used to seeing on a power box which is a tapered spline. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gerg 10,871 Posted July 31, 2014 <br />Well if anyone is interested XA manual steering boxes do not fit in XF. They end up being 1" to short to mate to the steering shaft and they have a smaller and different fixing mechanism for the flex coupling.I made this very mistake years ago doing a manual to power steer conversion on an XD. Went to the trouble of getting another column and shaft. Turns out all I had to do was bump the steering shaft up a tad on the collapsible spline so the flange would move and allow the box to fit in. It would be the opposite on yours I think. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ando76 4,354 Posted July 31, 2014 Ah that makes perfect sense. I went out to the donor ute which is column auto and inspected the shaft and measured it and it was the same so I thought something was a little odd. The burnout ute started life as column shift manual. Okay looks like another fun day getting covered in crud and power steering fluid. Thanks team. Gaz - yeah I noticed the difference in the box shaft. The flex coupler on the manual box I had was shot so I had to do a bit of back yard engineering swapping the old power steer coupler onto the manual box set up. Happy days. Thanks soo much team. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Polson 10,214 Posted August 1, 2014 The column can be a right pain to extend/shrink, especially if they haven't ever been shrunk/extended. I had to remove mine from the car, stand on the steering wheel, and whack the coupling upwards with a hammer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ando76 4,354 Posted August 3, 2014 Mine came down without a hassle. I just used a big arse tyre lever and it came down a bit and then I used a rubber mallet as a better lever point and it came down the rest of the way. Manual steering was awesome on the skid beast - but the engine - well you will have to visit the ute build thread. not a happy day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
