Anyone here run without power steering? Opinions?

How easy would it be to bypass it temporarily, and to hook it back up if I don't like driving without it?

 

My 1st guess would be to remove the belt (um not sure if its connected to anything else) but then you could slip the belt back on and off and on . . . .

 

power steering with no belt is heavier than manual steering, beccause you're gonna be pushing fluid around the system as you steer.

Replace it with a manual rack then then remove the power steering stuff. good luck finding one.

 

Yikes.... Does anyone even make a manual rack that fits the 4th gen??

 

Not sure if anyone makes such a rack for 4th gen, but why would you want to do that anyway?

 

I really would rather have to spend a lot more effort steering the car than have it be so uncommunicative.

For now, I'm wondering if there's a simple way to disconnect it so I can see whether I can live with it or not, but in such a way that I can easily reconnect it if I decide I can't live with it.

I'd also like to hear from people who run without it and who can tell me what it's like.

Anyone?

 

tis true

not to mention that a manual gearbox has a higher ratio to reduce the turning effort.

 

As stated earlier, the only "easy" way to enable/disable is to remove the belt. It's going to suck, and I highly doubt anyone is running like that right now. Power steering is nice. Plus, I'd like to see you try to turn the wheels when leaving your driveway or a parking lot at slow speed w/o power steering, you'd be SOL.

 

Well, I know Tilley's GF runs without power steering... or at least she did when she and Tilley brought her car to the Philly meet in FDR park. Maybe it's easier with the whole system removed, so you're not also pushing fluid around?

 

I run no power steering and unless you're doing 5 mph in a packed shopping mall parking lot backing up in a tight spot with a hard 6-puck clutch while theres two other ****tards trying to take your spot it aint that hard. Once you're moving it's no big deal.

I also bypassed the AC since it was going bad. So I run an UPD and the alternator with one short belt, that's it.

I just removed the belt and PS bottle and taped the PS line shut, didn't go through the trouble of removing the system... maybe I should but it's honestly not that hard.

That thing is, 4th gens are really not that heavy (2860 lbs in street trim for me, even with a sunroof and full interior) and my tires are small (215/60/15) mounted on stock sawblades, which aren't really heavy.

If you got bling bling 18's with 245's it might be quite a bit harder.

 

Thanks for the help, JClaw!

How does the steering feel? Does it take effort to keep it in line over bumps and on cambered turns?

I'm also wondering what kinda belt I'd need if I wanted to run AC but no PS... any ideas?

 

For a taste of what it will feel like, do the following:

Go down a very lightly travelled road, put car in neutral, and shut off engine. Try to steer as you are coasting. Don't try this on a twisty road.

Or you could park the car, shut off engine but leave key in "on" position with car in neutral, and try and turn steering wheel so you can see what it would be like when parking a car.

You will find that it is ridiculously hard to steer the car at <10mph. It isn't even manageable unless you are driving at 30+mph, and that is just for straight roads. If you are on something winding for even a few miles, it would be very tiring and/or dangerous.

I noticed that after I got Stage1 subframe connectors installed, my steering weight increased moderately. Well; I suppose it is the slack in the response that was reduced, as the steering rack cannot twist the frame as easily now.

Also, tires and alignment are a HUGE part of the equation in how your steering feels. Increasing the toe-out on the alignment will improve the sharpness of the steering response. Too much tire pressure can also make steering feel loose and/or numb.

 

The steering on our cars was engineered for power assist.

Taking the belt off at the 1/4 mile is one thing, but driving around in a car designed to have PS, without it, is illegal, and dangerous.

Cars without PS have much different gearing. By taking the belt off, you don't have "manual steering". You have "broken steering".

Just don't drive around me unless you have good insurance, and plan on losing it.

 

The steering with the belt off is not bad as JClaw said except when almost stopped. On the highway its really good, I like it better than with the belt on.

It is not dangerous or illegal just harder to turn. I gained .2 in the 1/4 by removing the PS and bypassing the A/C as well.

However in this weather I only left it off for a couple of weeks I don't care how fast it goes I want cool.

 

Wait.... did you put just the AC back in and not the PS, or did you reconnect both?

If you ran with AC and no PS, what kinda belt did you use?

 

Drive a BMW, I'm not kidding, drive one so you can see what excellent steering feels like. Once you do, you will realize it has nothing to do with the boost. Taking the power steering pump out of the picture wont change the Maxima. If you want the poor man's version of great steering, drive a Ford Focus.

 

Actually it'd be great to be able to pick up an Alfa Romeo 164S. But for fairly intuitive reasons, I'm not in much of a position to own a fiery Italian primadonna... gotta stick with the Japanese tank for now.

I know what great steering is, and I'm not looking for that. Just more feel and higher effort.

 

The PS has its own belt. The serpentine runs the A/C and requires a shorter belt when the A/C pulley is bypassed.

 

Awesome. Thanks.

Btw, tried the thing suggested above... getting on a deserted road, turning the car off, and coasting while steering. Based on that, I think I could easily get around day-to-day without power steering -- i.e. it's still easy enough to react to 99.99% of situations. The only bad part is not having much of an option if I had to make a really quick, really drastic maneuver.

I'm getting the impression that most of the guys who run without PS have 3.5 swaps and/or weight reduction... a 3.5 swap makes the front end about 150 lbs lighter, doesn't it? That might be a reason why it'd be easier for them than for me....

 

Any idea offhand if it could be accomplished by just pulling a fuse instead of removing the belt? I don't have my owners manual handy to see the layout.

 

What about installing a different-size pulley (either smaller on the engine side or larger on the pump side), so that it makes the pump weaker??

 

All UDP's for the maxima that i know of have either a stock or close-to-stock diameter for the power steering portion so that wouldn't help. The only thing that is REALLY underdriven is the accessory portion.