rack & pinion

[timebombkal]

Has anyone put a rack & pinion on a stock K-member? if so , is there any photos?
thanks,timebombkal

[Finn]

I plan on it...should be ordering the kit within the next couple weeks. From what I understand the only thing that should require modification is the steering column.

[timebombkal]

who are you ordering a kit from?

[tan top]

 been looking into this my self ...            ..                        ask over on mopars & or do a search over there .....    guys on there are not too keen on it .................

[Finn]

Well the kit I'm looking at is on yearone.com but Ive heard that other places sell the same kit for cheaper so Ill probably try and find those.
Ill get a link for it hang on...

[Finn]

http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/fbshopmain2.asp?input=rack+and+pinion&SM=1&SC=1

[Finn]

Hmm, it seems that the kit I was looking at (see previous link) is the same "unisteer" kit that is so hated on the moparts forum lol.
*Blast!*
Anyone know of any other kits?

[Finn]

Ive been doing some searching and from what Ive found it looks like no one has one working perfectly inside their car at the moment.
There's a lot of reports of headers not fitting unless they're TTI or stock manifolds so even if they worked out a mentioned problem of not mounting far enough back on the K frame Id still be out of luck with my Hooker headers...

Some more reads:

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=QuestionAnswer&Number=3660611&Searchpage=2&Main=3320289&Words=unisteer&topic=&Search=true#Post3320289


http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,15814.0.html


There are some good things mentioned about a place called "Alterkations" and from what I can tell they definitely make one for A bodies but Im still trying to get more info on if they do anything for B-bodies.

[Blown70]

There are some good things mentioned about a place called "Alterkations" and from what I can tell they definitely make one for A bodies but Im still trying to get more info on if they do anything for B-bodies.

Is that not bill Rileys stuff, he is supposed to make some good parts? or parts that work well together at least?

[dkn1997]

do a search for unitsteer.  a guy on here tried it and lets just say he's now trying something else.

[NYCMille]

I am still perplexed by the reasons people want to put rack and pinion in their car. You can get fantastic performance without it and unless your trying to make your car into some crazy G-machine for road racing, in my opinion, its a waste of money.

[caddman]

i don't know if you could use a kit, but I have seen picks in an old mopar action issue that showed a 69 roadrunner with rack and pinion mounted on the front of the K frame.  there wouldn't be any header clearance issues that way.  looked like they just switched sides with the spindles to connect at the front.  I don't have any specs but I know i thought it looked like a heck of a plan, may even consider it on my car someday.

caddman

[Blown70]

i don't know if you could use a kit, but I have seen picks in an old mopar action issue that showed a 69 roadrunner with rack and pinion mounted on the front of the K frame.  there wouldn't be any header clearance issues that way.  looked like they just switched sides with the spindles to connect at the front.  I don't have any specs but I know i thought it looked like a heck of a plan, may even consider it on my car someday.

caddman

Sorry, That would look completly F-ed up     I have that on my 70 because it is a tube chasis car... but otherwise   

[caddman]

Sorry, That would look completly F-ed up     I have that on my 70 because it is a tube chasis car... but otherwise   

how much of it would you really be able to see?  I had a dent in my valence for 3 years before i found it.  do you walk on your hands a lot?
remember form follows function, not the other way around.  how cute it the front of your K frame anyway, lol.

caddman

[Blown70]

Well for me it comes down to your car do as you please.  However YES, If I saw it I would certainly be the guy to say WTF happend here.....THESE CARS DO NOT SIT THAT LOW TO THE GROUND ULESS your putting an air dam on it....

I have no problems what you want to do with your car.  Because it is YOURS..... however, expect people like ME to do this 

FUNCTION?  Really so it will function better huh?  let me know how that works out for you.

[dkn1997]

I am still perplexed by the reasons people want to put rack and pinion in their car. You can get fantastic performance without it and unless your trying to make your car into some crazy G-machine for road racing, in my opinion, its a waste of money.

and not because I even pretend to know the first thing about cornering. But look at what Mike has done with his 68 with stock suspension architecture.  Sure, it's got upgraded parts and some add ons, but no wholesale changes from the stock design.  Look at the Green Brick valiant.  That car handled well also. 

Plus nobody seems to have bolted in a rack that works unless was an alterkation which is far from just a steering swap. 

[Mike DC]

         
Correctly mounting a R/P setup onto the chassis really isn't that complicated.


1.  The "center link" section of the rack has to be the same length as the stock center link. 

2.  The whole rack has to be mounted at the right height (usually near the LCAs). 



That's about all there is to it. 
If nobody can do this right, then it's either a money/effort problem or an unwillingness to cut the car. 
 
 

[dkn1997]

......That's about all there is to it. 
If nobody can do this right, then it's either a money/effort problem or an unwillingness to cut the car. 
 
 

probably because the benefits dont' justify the efflort. not the bang for the buck of  disc brake or alternator swap.

[John_Kunkel]

         
Correctly mounting a R/P setup onto the chassis really isn't that complicated.

Actually, it is. A front-mounted rack with the steering arms reversed will have an incorrect Ackerman angle, in order to correct the Ackerman the arms would need to be bent to an angle that would likely place the tie rod ends inside the tire. Incorrect Ackerman causes tire scrubbing on turns, in severe cases the car won't move from a dead stop with the wheel turned hard one way.

Also, unless the steering arms are shortened significantly there will be a major loss of turning radius. Racks usually have 4-5 inches total travel while the stock drag link might travel 7+ inches.

Rear mounting the rack usually limits the size of the oil pan sump and has the same turn radius problem not to mention the input shaft/steering column angle.

[Mike DC]

Actually, it is. A front-mounted rack with the steering arms reversed will have an incorrect Ackerman angle, in order to correct the Ackerman the arms would need to be bent to an angle that would likely place the tie rod ends inside the tire. Incorrect Ackerman causes tire scrubbing on turns, in severe cases the car won't move from a dead stop with the wheel turned hard one way.

Also, unless the steering arms are shortened significantly there will be a major loss of turning radius. Racks usually have 4-5 inches total travel while the stock drag link might travel 7+ inches.

Yeah, that's all true. 

I was just imagining a rear-mounted rack that was built with the stock-distance range of motion. 
It gets a lot more interesting when we start talking about front-mounting a rack that's not even big enough to begin with.

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But there's tons of GM/Phord guys out there with retrofitted racks that work right.  Can't be THAT hard to do it right on a Mopar.  Our suspension dimensions aren't THAT much different when you're just looking at the raw pivot-point geometry of the control arms. 



I still think there's probably an existing R/P setup somewhere in the junkyards that could work on a classic-era Mopar.  Like a Scarebird-style deal.  It might involve some K-frame cutting but the raw idea is probably valid.  Heck, large-sized R/Ps are showing up in compact pickup platforms nowadays. 

Seems like a person could figure out a really good set of dimensions for a Mopar rack and then hit the junkyards with a tape measure. 

[John_Kunkel]

One way to solve the bump steer problem with racks that have the incorrect length is to use a "center steer" rack, these have the tie rods attach at the center of the rack instead of protruding from the ends of the rack. The ends of the rack attach to the frame and the center does the moving.

The pic below is of a non-Mopar conversion I recently completed using the rack from an early eighties Chevy Cavalier, it was easier than on a Mopar because the rear sump in the oil pan allows better alignment with the steering arms. This rack has six inches of travel so very little turning radius is lost using stock steering arm length. Might give some ideas, might work on a B or E body with a rear sump truck pan.