I have checked several sites, including HAMB, re Unisteer and using a Jeep Tie Rod end to shorten the turning radius. This is the only complaint I have about this box. While a Jeep tie rod end is suggested as an improvement, I couldn't find any comments on how much it improved the radius. I did find one comment that it increased the effort required to turn the wheels at low speed. I would like to hear any comments from someone who has done this modification as to how much it improved the turning radius and also what was the negative if any of making this change. My car is a 32 ford highboy glass with a sbc weighs about 2450 lbs. Any comments would be appreciated, just don't want to make a change which will lead to another issue worse than the turning radius complaint. Thanks for you time, Happy Holidays Bill
I'd like to know more about this also. I did some repair work on a Model A with a uni-steer back in Aug this year. I was not impressed with the unit over all. With 2 -1/2 total rotation of steering wheel it was way to sensative for me. I did the work it was brought in for but didn't get to do much home work to see if or what it would take to make it drive to suit me. Basically the car is un friendly at all speeds. All levels of Craftsman ship was quite shocking. I gave here a list of things to think about addressing. Who knows where that will go but She is a very unhappy owner. Rightfully so. The Wizzard
Did this to a friends car, He is very happy with the mod. He could not get in the garage without two back ups before. It goes right in now. The only downside, and it pained me to do it, is a dropped radius rod. I had to cut and splice in a drop to clear the tie rod end.
Wizzard, you are correct that rack is not set up correctly, should be 3 3/4 turns lock to lock. Mine is a dream on the highway, around town no bump steer, solid , only complaint is the turning radius, can't make a u turn, have to make a three pointer. thanks Andy for the response , got 4 links so it should clear mine without an issue
How tight a u turn are you failing to make? My roadster setup sounds identical, go figure (ha ha), and i think I've only ever once failed to make a U turn in one go, but that was pretty tight. I'll admit to being a little apprehensive making U turns and get working the tiller early on the process and the turning radius isn't as good as the vega box it replaced, but other than that minor gripe it's transformed my driving experience. There is a bump steer issue on high speed suspension droops but that's a different issue. And the outer rubber bellows seem to tear open quite easily. You do appear to have considerably wider front wheels and tires than me though. I have 145's on 5.5's - dunno the backspace but they weren't special order, so the contact patch swivel point is near perfect. my steering is pretty light. on a road trip i had a tire problem and could only get 165's which made a noticeable difference to steering effort (and nicer ride if i'm honest - but i didn't like the look), but don't recall the turn in being affected adversely. What are your wheel size and offset? Chris
One of the issues the Car came to me was for a torn inner boot. I went to N.A.P.A. and spent a lot of time trying to find a replacement. We brought in 3 that were close. None worked. The prices of them ranged from $12.oo to $16.oo. After much more hunting and waiting with no results I called Uni-Steer. I was told they make the Boot them self. The boot and shipping was $35.00 and change. What a rip off. The turn radi. is dictated by hitting the turn stops on the King Pin anchor bolt nut. Her's does that so I think the U-Turn issue would me fine. What I didn't like was the wheel response at the steering wheel. It is so fast you can't relax and let the car go. I also believe it has alignment issues. Can't blame that on Uni-Steer. Above 30mph it was like ridding a Marble downhill at 60. Not a pleasant drive at all. I'll add here that with the torn boot she had gotten a small piece of gravel kicked onto the rack and for a split second her steering locked in place. The outcome could have been much worse than Stained Laundry. Another issue it had was the Uni-Steer mount plate was flexing quite a bit. With the car sitting still when you turn the steering wheel L. to R. the mount was moving enough I thought the 3 mount bolts were loose. End result was a repair making a gusset to firm up the Uni-Steer mount plate. Her front tires are only 6-1/4" tread width and on center wheels. Cant think that the tires and wheel combo is so much that it would cause the Flex in the mount. The Wizzard
@wizzard, how long are the spindle arms on the 'Car'? Are they accessory bolt-on type? (Not early Ford, for sure: at 2.5 turns lock to lock, they'd have to be short. Unless there is a 'quicker geared' Unisteer) I agree there have to be alignment issues there. (Chevy spindles also??) I've seen more than I'd like to remember that caused 'flex' in the steering (and frame (!) and bracket, etc.) when 'dry-steered'. (turned statically, or 'not rolling') One I recall in particular was a '29 Roadster Pickup, had brand new (in 1976) Vega box, and Pinto cable setup for the mast. The guy said the car had 'excessive play', and would wander. He turned the wheel left and right as I looked, and was alarmed to see single strands breaking away from their bezel where the cable was 'factory-crimped' at its end! They were letting go as I watched...'Bing, boing...' Another guy installed the 'Trick Unisteer', with some street rod mfr's bracket. (1/8" plate, two tiny 1.5" triangular gussets) The bracket looked alive when turning, it wiggled like it was having sex with the crossmember! Not normally one to break up such an amorous affair, I took leave temporarily and stopped the music. A new bracket was fabbed, and the Jeep tie rod end used, as the spindle 2nd eye was too far away from axle center to cramp wheels on a tight turn. The design was clever, rack & pinion is 'straight off the rack', no unnecessary freeplay anywhere, but I couldn't 'embrace' it...Too "streetrodish". Reminded me of those 'flathead valve covers' the Goodguise featured for SBC one year. Don't flame me, but those 'tall Locar automatic sticks' do the same thing...Non-tapered chrome pipe with a button knob, no clutch pedal...
The car is no longer here but as I remember it had a Tube axle with 4 bar. After market spindles with bolt on steering arms. Tierod on forward eyelet and rack steer rod on rear eyelet on the right. Being I had the rack out of the car. I turned it lock to lock to find center prior to re installing it. That's when I found it to be 2-1/2 turns total. The frame under this car is an aftermarket Heavy wall rectangle tube frame. The Vega box mount is welded on and has 2 gussets below rail to bracket to stop flex. This Model A has a 302 Ford with a Bronco style oil pan. The front sump has a drain plug in it. The flex and right turn let the Boot hang up on that plug and caused the torn boot. Personal Opinion,,,,, The chassis builder should have seen that coming. There are a couple ways to have avoided the contact. Personally I feel the car is a Mountain of quality parts. They all just got in the wrong hands prior to building the Coupe. The Wizzard
The driving experience description makes me wonder if it has little or no caster. That will keep one very busy chasing the steering and can lead to up-sets. I know a guy that put a '32 coupe on the lid - that and a certain amount of entertaining the by-standers. I spent a year fixing that car and then finishing it off.
Chris, the front wheels are 15x6 I forget the offset, pretty much even, the tires now are 195x60x15 replacing the 50 series in the avatar. Got tired of dragging the pan over bumps and the larger size increased the comfort of the ride. I too had to replace the bellows because it torn and the price was steep. I agree with you the box is great just want to improve the turning radius and wondering if the jeep tie rod end will do that wit out a negative side i.e. more effort at low speed i.e. parking or some other trade off. The part is cheap, its cutting the drag link and the tie rod to adapt it and if it makes it worse, having to buy new drag link and tie rod to return it to "original".
It's pretty important to get the spindles into or into the steering stops. If not the turning radius is wide. Since the racks travel isn't going to change that distance is 6". So, if 3" of travel isn't enough to rotate the spindle from straight on to fully onto the steering stops - the steering rods will need to be shorter. Shorter steering rods make the steering heavier and quicker. Simple tape measure will tell you how much travel your steering arms need- ingenuity is what you need to get 6" of rack travel to work. The jeep tie rod changes (shortens) the steering arm hookup point . The rack is supposed to have 3.75 turns AND 6" of travel. In wizards example of less turns, he doesn't say what the travel was. But if the travel was less than 6 yet it still hit the stops, the steering must have been incredibly and uncomfortably quick and heavy - just like he said. And the steering arms needed to be very short
Did you ask me ? Did you post it? I was most likely enjoying some tequila or rescuing kids from a burning orphanage
31Vicky thanks for the info, Summit didn't carry that part when I needed it but glad they do now. I am getting the 3.75 turns and the 6 inches of travel, the angle just isn't there. It appears theJeep tie rod end will help that. Thanks again
There is a point on/along the steering arms where 6" rack travel will put the spindles to the stops. It will be closer up to the king pins.
Pretty sure I did ask for info on what worked to replace there boot. I probably just moved on to soon with my search. Personally I feel R&P steering belongs in Honda Cars, not Hot Rods, especially Model A's with beam axles. You gotta understand I'm a Silver Back so changes are difficult for me. The Wizzard
This was a very conclusionary thread, thanks to all. Special thanks, '31 Vicky, for the useful info. Simple geometry, but useless without the necessary factors.
I used rack and pinion with a tube axle back in 1964 and am using it with a stock A axle now. Love it. I have read and reread this thread and still do not understand how changing the tie rod has any affect on the number of turns. I could see changing the steering arms or even the rack itself to finer teeth. Does anyone have diagrams or pictures illustrating the changed tie rod? Thanks Warren
The jeep tierod doesn't alter the rack throw or turns. What it does is with a unisteer cross steer rack - it moves the drag link hook up location towards the kink pin and that changes the degrees of spindle rotation for the same amount rack travel.
wuga; Your correct. Just changing the tie rod to a different one will not change the steering ratio. The change has to include a mount point change. As far as R&P goes it's much like the Red Head vers Blonds. It's all about personal choices. I prefer Red Heads. The Wizzard
Wizard; actually I do too, at least we can agree on that. 31 Vicky; thanks for the picture, starting to make sense. Warren
Ya, your right. Talk about a Wild Ride. Kind of like front wheels up and no wheelie bars. The Wizzard
If you want to see how much more the wheels would turn once you change to the jeep tie rod, you could remove the tie rod, move the drag link to the tie rod hole and you will see how much more the passenger wheel turns at least.
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