1968 Cougar power steering

Can you eliminate the assist steering cylinder and all the mess of hoses without converting to manual steering?

If you eliminate the slave cylinder and the hoses you have converted to manual steering but you still have the pump and the control valve in place so steering will be imprecise and not powered.

This is what you will want if ditching the hydraulic assist cylinder

Before going manual look into other power steering options. The borgeson conversion is a popular one, Also options like Electronic power steering too

Epas performance is in my car and I like it…not cheap

Would the Bergson steering box eliminate all of that

A borgeson gear box is a hydraulic unit so you’ll still have a pump, belt, and fluid. But you get to eliminate all the slave cylinder and control valve that hangs underneath