I have a 1991Fendt motorhome with Ducato 290 chassis and 2.5 turbo engine. My question is how easy/difficult is it to fit power steering, I imagine the steering rack should be a straight swap, but what about the pump and how is it mounted, I imagine there should be some type of bracket that bolts to the engine block and probably a different crankshaft pulley for the drive belt to the pump, oh a fluid reservior and hoses, is it doable at a reasonable cost or is it a no no.

The motorhome is a LHD which precludes fitting an electric power steering set-up the engine is a SOFIM 8140.27
Thanks in advance
Phil

Hi there, I haven't a clue how you would go about fitting power steering even if you could get the parts. I would think it would be extremely expensive. If you are fit enough to do this kind of work yourself, you should be fit enough to drive without power steeering. You may have to adjust your driving technique to suit. I may be talking out of turn but what is your experience of driving unpower steered vehicles? When I learned to drive, the only power steered vehicles were American. The golden rule was "Never try to turn the steering wheel unless the road wheels are moving." Observe this rule and you shouldn't need power steering providing you are not disabled in any way. Also, pick your parking spot with care to make life easy for yourself. Hope this helps, Ian

The preferred method is to fit a powered column, corsa b column is popular for retrofitting to this and other old vehicles like the mk1 golf / vw 25. You can do it yourself with a bit of fabrication but theres a guy sells kits. Pricess might be cheaper on his ebay. http://simonebirchall.co.uk/shop.html

I have plenty of experience driving vehicles without power steering including 6 wheel Albion Reiver truck mixers, unfortunately my OH being a school teacher hasn't developed the arm strength to drive the motorhome especially when manouvering into tighter spots...with the best will in the world it is not always possible to choose an "Ideal" place to park, my driveway being a case in point.

Electric conversions are not an option because the LHD version has a column shift gearchange and the operating rod runs parallel to the steering column. My thoughts were as power steering was an option it follows therefore that the mounting points for both racks would be identical or the chassis would have alternate mounting points built in, there is no way that a volume manufacturer would build a manual steer chassis and a power steer chassis.

I have no intention of doing it myself because I have a very good garage (Renault) near to my workshop who are equipped to work on both cars and commecials. My query really was about what is the sum total of the parts needed to complete the job, so I could source them and supply it as a kit of parts to be fitted. The Renault mechanics are well versed in the SOFIM engine as it is used in the Renault Master albeit RWD whereas the Ducato is FWD

I appreciate that the cost could be up to €1000 including labour but I have seen NOS power steer pumps for around 150 quid upwards and new power racks around €350, labour charges are considerably less here than in the UK so its not worth the hassle as a DIY job plus any work done in the workshop automatically carries a 12 month warranty.

So it comes down to, is there anything missing from the items I have listed or is there for instance any part unavailable due to it being an old vehicle.

Different lower shaft for a start: http://www.ebay.it/itm/281474086797 and the pump bracket is in several pieces and I can't find anyone supplying the crank pulley. i think if you really want to do it then look for a scapper otherwise it may be easier to reroute the shifter than source all the parts.

By the by lhd parts are generally cheaper in europe on ebay e.g.

Might be possible to use an electric pump from a pug 307 or similar to avoid sourcing and fitting the crank pulley, pump, bracketing, belts.

http://www.ebay.it/itm/Lenkgetriebe...68?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item2a51213748

I did it on a transit van got all the parts s/hand
fit the rack and pipe work mount the pump on the engine fit the drive belt
it would be better to get all the parts off the same motor and better if you took them off so you know how they go back
on the transit all the mounting holes were there in the block to take the pump

Thanks Ecunotemu & Shotgun thats the sort of info I was looking for, I agree parts prices can be cheaper in the eurozone. That is a good point about the lower shaft, I hadn't thought of that. I wonder if the lower shaft is the same on LHD & RHD vehicles because I could get my son to have a look around at the local scrappers. I think maybe a re-conditioned rack and pump would save some euros plus a crankshaft pulley and lower shaft from a scrapper. the pump bracket could also come from the same source as long as its in good nick. the fluid reservior could also be a used item and any flexible hoses I can get made up at the local motor spares place, I would prefer those to be new just use the old ones from the donor vehicle as patterns.