most of it would be different. You might want to grab the bracket to bolt the saginaw box to the frame, that should be the same, and the box itself should work also. I'm not sure if the steering column and shaft would work or not. I swapped in a column and shaft from a '71 into my '67, and it was a little longer, but still worked. The tie rod and drag link will probably not interchange without some modification. You will need to modify or change your driver's side motor mount bracket to allow the shaft to go over it (the stock Jeepster's with PS had a bolt-on bracket that is easy to use if you can find one). Obviously, the PS pump bracket won't be the same, since the engines are different. Do a search, this conversion has been discussed a lot.

 

he he he you said bolt on.
Actually it is not that bad. IF you can scavenge the complet steering set-up for a Commando. there will be some mods that need to be done on the shaft and getting everything to line up right.

 

I actually have another 69 Jeepster for parts, of which few are left, but it has the manual saginaw setup. The parts are rusted pretty bad, but i'm betting if I cut off a few rusted bolts and took a good cleaning to them, I could put the PS gear box on, and then all I'd have to do is to figure out a way to get the PS pump on.

This sound do-able ??

 

Ross, you're right, you could bolt a PS box on there, but it would have to be a three-bolt box out of something else. If you have an aftermarket 3-bolt adapter you could weld on another nut for the fourth bolt hole. Or, you could just bolt the four-bolt box on with three bolts and not worry about until later.

The pump is no problem. Look for a pump bracket off of a Buick 231 and you should be able to bolt it on.

 

I've been collecting parts to do the same basic thing except I will convert mine to a 72 with a column shift. As near as I can tell here are the differences:

1) the bracket that mounts the '72 steering column under the dashboard;
2)the '72 has a triagular plate welded to the steering column shaft at the lower end which screws into the floor board while the 71 and earlier have a bracket on the side of the column (I haven't ascertained what's required at the floorboard area for the swap); 3) the length of the steering shaft going from the bottom of the column to the steering box (remember the bullnose is 3" longer up front, and you may want to get a CJ7 that is collapsible for safety; 4)the early engine mount mount will be in the way of the steering shaft, jeepsters with saginaw steering had an engine mount mount with a curved top that provided clearance for the shaft.

 

Do you know of a source for the engine mount other than the jeepsters with the saginaw steering?
Ed

 

Not offhand. You might try Mark Vilbelt or Don Fletcher.

I do have a snake-like steering shaft off a 68 Jeepster that was probably an early Advanced Adaptors-type of conversion kit (offerred for early Ross-box V6 CJs). The steering shaft has rag joints at both ends to attach to the early steering column and to early saginaw steering boxes. In addition the steering shaft has a u-joint in the middle which allows the shaft to go over the top of the original motor mount. This set up requires that you weld a bearing carrier/support on top of the original motor mount. If you're interested let me know.

I do have a 70-71 motor mount but it is part of a complete set up with steering wheel, early column, steering shaft, saginaw box,D27 knuckles and drag links that I don't want to separate.