Weight Tech: Manual Steering versus Power Steering
There are many different rumors about how much weight can be removed from a Mustang by swapping out the power steering system for a manual steering rack. To put the false rumors to rest, we pulled out a scale and weighed the parts.
The difference in weight between a complete Fox Mustang power steering system and a manual steering system is 16.15 pounds.
| Power Steering (Fox Mustang) |
Weight (lb) |
| Rack with inner tie-rods |
14.28 |
| Pump, aluminum bracket, pulley, and hardware |
10.30 |
| Low pressure hose assembly |
0.45 |
| High pressure hose assembly |
1.45 |
| Fluid (1.7 pints) |
1.19 |
| Accessory drive belt |
0.58 |
| Total |
28.25 |
| Manual Steering |
Weight (lb) |
| Rack with inner tie-rods |
11.60 |
| Accessory drive belt |
0.50 |
| Total |
12.10 |
In this example we assume that the change in belt routing necessitated by eliminating the power steering pump requires only a shorter belt, and that no additional components are needed to aid with belt routing.