It's a straightforward problem. How to apply force to the front tie rod ends/center link/pitman arm/or steering gear to reduce the effort required by the driver.
Easy places for force to be applied: steering wheel, steering shaft, gear box, pitman arm, or center link.
Steering wheel: Gym membership/bigger wheel
Steering shaft: Torque Generator
Steering box: HF54/Saginaw
Pitman arm: length, assist directly on the arm to the frame
Center link: assist or full replacement rams of pneumatic or hydraulic nature.
Power source: air, muscle or hydraulic.
Of the powered methods, only lengthening the pitman arm stud and placing the assist ram there instead of on the center link has not been brought to market... for various reasons.
(I suppose an electrical method is possible, but horribly inefficient.)
The only questions are where and how the force is generated/applied, cost, ease of installation, and what happens if it breaks. There are lots of ways to skin this cat, but considering any power steering pump addition will be at least a $50 Chevy pump+brackets+belts+hoses, a control valve, and a ram, we can see where costs vs power/efficiency will be. Even taking out the ram/torque generator and valve, the cost is in the $300-$400 range.
The cheapest might actually be a torque generator like they used to use in sand buggies... but here is how it was described:
I was going to use this setup on my Unimog I even had all the parts. Most people that have ran this setup take them back off. Thats why the guy I bought mine from sold it to me for $150 for everything. For slow offroad use only it might be allright, on road can be scary almost no feel to whats going on. On road wet, snowy, or icy spots the car is deadly. It's best just to save up the bucks for a REAL power steering setup.
Steve
... thanks, but no thanks.
I would love to hear a new idea. But we have gone from "I have used this for years" to " As I said I have 3 different ideas ..." and no pictures, or data of any kind after 13 pages.