Steering rack

[Guest Phil Slater]

Andy

 

Lovely garage carpet you've got there!!!!

 

Is it Wilton or Shag pile???

 

Phil

[Guest TerryBarry]

Having looked at Bill & Joey's site (under Alternator) - it looks like you guys have got a different lower u/j to me.

It's difficult to measure the angle of the rack mounting plate to the rest of the curved, tubular chassis rails.

My set up seems to rotate OK - Yes it would be better to have as little angle as possible in the u/j's

I've already got a fair horizontal angle in the lower u/j which I seem to be stuck with.

But if I lifted the front of my rack up more than 10mm I'm sure I would run into problems by reducing the clearance between the steering shaft and the four branch manifold - but there's another can of worms that took a lot of head scratching to sort out - it doesn't help that the steering shaft appears to be welded off line a bit at the top u/j and rotates eccentrically

Here's a pic of the lower u/j

Terry

[Guest daveg]

Terry

 

Your rack is different to mine so you should be ok without the wedges...

 

Us with the dodgey setup cannot turn our steering wheel at all without the wedges 'cos its locked solid! :angry:

 

Dave

[Guest Andy Hamilton]

I know, can you believe that carpet!!

 

That actually came out of our dining room only a few weeks ago. We are desparate to get rid of it from the house. It still resides in our lounge, hall, stairs and upstairs landing!!! aarrggh. This stuff was in our house when we moved in last year, and we are gradually replacing it. Believe it or not, we have been kindly informed by the previous owner that it is LIBERTY!..... Liberty Shmiberty, it's horrible. At least I have my priorities right, and bought the kit-car first Nice.

 

Anyone fancy some carpet going free? 24ft by 10ft from the lounge?

[Guest TerryBarry]

Andy,

Where are you based ??

That would be more comfortable than painted concrete and a few loose rugs.

Terry

[Guest Andy Hamilton]

I am based in Romford, Essex.

 

We should be replacing that section v. soon if you want it, I will let you know when you can have it.

[Guest TerryBarry]

Hmmmmm

About 75 miles each way - I think I'll have to pass that one up.

We were thinking of replacing our mixed brown lounge carpet - at least it's easy to spot washers on - as long as they are not rusty.

I do wonder if RHE have got some form of Bran Tub (Lucky Dip) from which the kit components are chosen.

Cheers,

Terry

[Guest Battery Bill]

I did notice your carpet Andy but was to shy to mention it.

Possibly we could have a "Tasteful garage carpet competition" I recon you are well ahead so far though.

Bill and Joey

[Guest Battery Bill]

Terry

Your U/J looks similar is it your rack thats different?

Ours seems to fit right up to the rack, but yours seems to attach quite a bit away.

Here's another pic of our U/J at a different angle. Quite a bit of difference dont you fink.

(I hope the picture will appear or I will look a right jerk)

Joey and Bill

 

OK OK Bill and Joey

[Longboarder]

Rotating the rack with wedges to give a functional angle on the UJ fixes one problem but raises the rack and thus the inboard end of the track rods by half to one centimeter and disturbs the steering geometry, introducing bump steer. This assumes the rack was in the correct position to start with. (perhaps not a problem then). IMO it is not acceptable for RH Eng to supply a variety of racks without re-engineering the mounting to maintain correct steering settings for the supplied rack.

Is it possible to identify the correct rack, i.e. the one that fits without modification. If you haven't been supplied with that one I think you have a case for returning it to RH in exchange for the correct fitment.

 

Nigel

[Guest TerryBarry]

Bill and Joey,

I see what you mean.

I'll take another pic tomorrow from a similar angle to yours.

The pinion shaft on my rack will not penetrate that far into the lower u/j without jamming it solid.

I think that both the rack and u/j are different.

Are we building the same car ??

My brain is starting to hurt.

Cheers

Terry

[Guest TerryBarry]

Here's the picture.

From looking at photos I would think that the rack casings are similar

However the pinion shaft protrudes 65mm on mine - I would estimate that your one is about 25mm

I also assume (dangerous) that the supplied steering shafts are of different lengths and the u/j's are not the same.

RHE must use different racks - not long after collecting my kit I got a recall notice for those adaptors which connect the rack to the bit of studding screwed into the track rod ends - the supplied ones had an incorrect thread.

I was expected to post these back at my cost for replacement ( I complained and postage costs were advanced).

Cheers,

Terry

[Guest daveg]

All

 

Phew 26 replys to my first post! a record me thinks

 

More seriously, Nigel's point about raising the rack changing the steering geometry. He is right, but, I don't think RHE tolorances are very tight I have also noticed that if you raise and lower the wishbones (try this without the spring connected) the hub rotates about its axes!!!

 

This is what Nigel means by bump steer I think. Its there without the rack installed, this is very wierd more worrying than 1 cm change in rack height...

 

This sure is an interesting hobby

 

Dave

[Longboarder]

Yes Daveq, that is bump steer but its a bit unfair (not to say pointless) to test without the rack connected. You can get a very good indication of wether you have a problem. Take two broom handles and tie one each side horizontaly against the front tyre so they poke forward like horns. Tie a piece of string between the ends of the broom handles in front of the car with a nut threaded in the middle to keep it tensioned. Then gently jack the car up and down and it is easy to see changes in the string tension with suspension movement, meaning the direction of the front wheels is varying relative to each other. Idealy it should not change.

 

Nigel

(ps will just draw a quick pic to clarify.)

[Longboarder]

Sorry. Won't let me add a pic to the above post so here it is. Jack up and down, even stand on the car to compress the suspension to see if there is change in the string tension. Only relevant over the normal operating range of suspension movement.

 

Nigel