Scout Steering Box

[RH]

Im trying to convert a scout powering box to my EB, does anyone here know which box I need to rob, for the internal parts to get the correct rotation in the scout box?
Ive searched all of the old posts, but cant find any definite answers.
Thanks, Ray

 

[broncnaz]

Ford vans with a saginaw box or S-10 boxes I think most boxes found on ch#vys will work.

 

[RajinCajun]

Check with Matt at West TX Offroad, he did mine and I want to say he used parts from an S10 IIRC.

 

[Socal Tom]

If you get a definitive answer pleast post up. I'm curious too.
Thanks
Tom

 

[broncomitch]

the scout box has a little bit more rotation in it then the bronco box, not enough to worrie about unless your running a hydro ram with it.

but eveyone i know that is running a scout box (including me) loves em.
with a few adapters a stock 78 hose will bolt right into it.

have you looked into a toyota box?

 

[RH]

I'll check with West TX Offroad, and I'll let you know what I come up with. No I havent looked at the toyota box, I've had this scout box for a while and decided that this winter would be a good time to put it on. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Pa PITT]

I'VE BEEN RUNNING THE SCOUTII 1980 BOX ON MY BRONCO .for the last several years ..I too would like to know the exact answer but The best I could learn was it was an S10 parts..
..Mine seems to be a 3.25 to 1 turn.

 

[Socal Tom]

Personally I'm running a scout box turning the original direction.
Tom

 

[RH]

Personally I'm running a scout box turning the original direction.
Tom

I thought about trying that myself but it doesn't look like I can get it moved back far enough, what pitman arm are you using and does it work well?

I Called West Texas Offroad, There was nobody there at the time who know the answer, they are supposed to call my back.

 

[Socal Tom]

I thought about trying that myself but it doesn't look like I can get it moved back far enough, what pitman arm are you using and does it work well?

I Called West Texas Offroad, There was nobody there at the time who know the answer, they are supposed to call my back.

Well, there are trade offs. It is moved back so that one of the bolts is inside the little cross member angle bracket. I'm using standard EB pitman arm, but it is pointed forward.

It puts a pretty good angle on the tierod, so I'm running the performance unlimited heim steering setup. that has the draglink pushing on the knuckle. With stock setups I could bend tierods without much effort.
It works fine. I can see scuff marks on the pitman from where I've bouced it off rocks from time to time, but I never noticed while driving.

The good part about this is that with the Pitman in front, most of the turning stress is on the front 2 bolts, If you reverse this box more stress is on the one bolt in back. ( that's why the stock EB has 2 bolts in back).
Two other "good" points are that because the box is mounted close to the cross member, the frame flexes less than the stock EB.
Also, since the box is mounted further back, you have more room to put an aftermarket radiator ontop of the frame rails ( if you wanted to).

The bad is that you have to use a heim steering setup or you will bend tierods off road, and you need a custom length draglink or you won't have the right turning radius ( mine is ~ 8 inches shorter than the EB)


This box was on it when I bought it. The PO had cut out a section of the frame and welded nuts inside the frame and the box just bolted to the one side of the frame. That worked ok until I did the rubicon and it started peeling the plate away from the frame.
I think it would be possible to just put the front 2 bolts through the frame and use the nut inside the frame on the rear bolt because of how the stresses work. The rear bolt gets pushed in rather than pulled out.

If you do this you MUST put some peices of pipe inside the frame for the bolts to go inside of as they pass through the frame, otherwise you collapse the frame as the steering pushes back and forth.


I put some pictures in my gallery

Tom

 

[68 Broncoholic]

I've run the Scout box ever since I got my Bronco in 95. Last year I had West Texas rebuild it and port for hydro assist. At that point I had them put in the 3 turn lock to lock for quicker turning and less effort on the trails.
It works great with 38's but the ram assist is definetely nice to have when aired down in the rocks.
Plus the ram is pushing most of the pressure which takes the pressure off the frame area that you have patched.

If you plan on driving on the road I wouldn't recommend the 3 turn set up. If I wiggle the steering I'm in the other lane. I have to be super careful when driving on the road but you can get the 6 turn to have better road manners.

From what I gathered at the time West Texas said the early Bronco and Scout Box are mirror immage for internal parts. So you could suposedly add the EB parts into the Scout box to reverse the pitman arm. Probably not a good idea.
I pushed my axle forwards 1" and pushed the Scout box back to the trac bar bracket on the frame. It has good angle but since I run heims I purchased some ballisticfabrication.com high clearance heims for the pitman arm end for flex reasons.