Change of plans!!! I was asking earlier about a F100 steering box in my Model A. I was planning on a flathead next year and did not consider if I had enough room with the new box. My new idea is a rack and pinion steering. Will I be able to adapt this to my stock front end? Or will I need to get a Vega cross-steer box? Thanks. farmerdick
Are you going with the "unisteer" ? If not google it. They make them for A's. It replaces the vega box and cross steering, not exactly traditional.
Not traditional at all.. You will be mixing styles and eras. Will not look good at all. Kinda like putting square headlights on a round car, or using an International truck, its just wrong
I had R&P on my 32 in '77. Used a Pinto steering mounted behind and on to the axle. Used a reverser box as the bottom mount for the steering shaft. I had the Pinto wire rope flex shaft to allow for axle movement. Everybody thought it would fail and kill me. i thought tons of Pinto's are running around with these things. Hitting curbs and pot holes. I never heard of one failing. So I ran it. It is still in the car and still working.
Can't help you. I sold the car in '98. Didn't take a lot of pictures then. I may be able to find some print pictures from when I was building the car. If I do I'll post them.
I believe some Indy roadsters also had them. A small, modern power rack is going behind my 29 coupe's straight axle, when the time comes. Looking forward to no bump steer! Gary
I took out the unisteer (avatar) steered great was just Butt ugly!!,Put in a Vega box from Borgenson( the real deal GM Box) Steered as good or better than the Unisteer half rack(no noticeable difference) Paid 314.00 from summit(free shipping) Pete
There is another way, which doesn't involve hanging the steering gear from the axle. I've set it out on a technical drawing but I've never seen it actually done, so I don't know what kind of clearance issues might result. And I can't vouch for the look of the thing if it's visible from outside the car. The rack goes parallel to and just inboard of the driver's side frame rail. You'd want a rack which sits low and behind the front wheel axis in its stock application, as on a lot of front-drive cars. My drawing was based on a VW Golf Mk1 rack. This approach should put the forward end of the rack near the position of the stock Model A pitman arm, if the pinion is near the position of the bottom of the stock steering column. You'll need a universal (or two) but the angle would be much less than you'd expect, because a typical rack and pinion is likely to have the pinion around 15° off perpendicular. Finally, you'll need a shorter steering arm on the spindle, due to the different steering ratio: I'd guess around 4", which may or may not create tyre clearance issues at full lock.
You could also mount a rear steer rack to the chassis, remove the left tie rod, and use the right side in a cross-steer setup. Most racks don't have as much travel as boxes, though. Turning radius could be affected without shorter steering arms on the spindle.
Jack You are right about the turning radius with unisteer. I just changed my tie rod end to a jeep type steering directly to the tie rod. What a difference in the turning radius. Warren
Hell, you could even mount a steering rack along the frame rail so that it pulls and pushes a drag link......That would be different!
NOT THAT DIFFERENT !!! Steve Scott did it on the "UNCERTAIN T" (the buick powered cartoon car.). Google it: seems he was like 22 years old...
If you have a stock Model A keep the stock steering. If you must upgrade go to the F100 pickup steering, they work great. I think they will support a flathead installation later if you plan ahead. Stay away from the rack and pinion or you hear about it from the stock Model A guys and you will pay a price if you want to sell the car. Charlie Stephens
I guess I missed that part of the fifties, I always went to the junk yard and got one from a Cadillac. Charlie Stephens
And I got the column and steering gear from a 56 Ford Pick in 1960, $25.00, mowed 10 lawns for it !!!! for my 1929 ford tudor.
MG's had R&P from 1947 starting on the YA models. Probably slim pickings in a US junkyard until the TD's came out in 1950.
Ya, no kidding 'Beaner! Okay, first of all, the "common" Model "A" replacement is an F-1 box with the Model "A" end grafted to it, not an F-100. Huge difference, literally. That's the steering covered in the Bishop/Tardel book, and compatible with flathead engines, so go that route. As for rack and pinion.... Argh, not on a traditional car, please! Not sure WHY you'd want to, either. Mechanically it doesn't offer any improvements over a recirculating ball box and linkage. Personally, the couple of those awful Unisteer units I have come in contact with, were less that a year old and worn out enough to throw them exactly where they should be when first removed from the packaging.... In the dumpster! Also, ugly beyond comprehension! If they worked better than more traditional boxes and linkages, then they might be worth somehow hiding, but they don't. Also, the turning radius sucks rocks due to limited travel due to short packaging spaces. To those that are talking about mounting a rack to the frame and out to a or both spindles and somehow coming up with no bump steer.... How? As the frame moves up and down on it's suspension, the rack is mounted solid to it, at least one would hope. Combine that with the suspension articulating, and the short tie rods swinging from the ends of the rack, and you have a tie rod end operating in one hell of an arc. Looking at this mess from a point standing on the front cross member, and bouncing up and down on the front spring, you can visually see the front tires toeing out with each downward bounce... LIKE EPIC toe out! That is what bump steer looks like in it's natural habitat. The only non-bump steering ways to utilize the a rack and pinion with a straight axle are what Verde 742 mentioned in the Uncertain "T", where it was mounted parallel to the frame rail and attached to the left front spindle as a push and pull, Or the way Rich Fox mentioned, mounting it solid to the axle. Then a linkage with a slip yoke or flex shaft as he described becomes the next obstacle, or wear point whichever way you chose to view it. Unsprung weight gets a bit dicier, too. Beginning to see why rack and pinions and solid axles aren't real popular? Do the Model "A"/F-1 deal and be happy.
Totally agree with Chipper, I could not locate a F-1 box, So we moved the F-100 BACK a ways, and made the column slightly less of an angle. Used stock gas tank and used a old Chevy connecting rod for a increased column drop. we be cool..
i brought a A coupe from that side of the pond with unisteer it drives like a big bowl of jello , DON'T do it give me a worn out stock box any day ...the rack is coming out and f 100 going in SOON (as summer is over )
The Pinto Flex shaft that Rich talks about was only used in '71-72 before Ford swapped to a traditional shaft and U-Joints. They said it was due to vague steering in the flex shaft and potential for failure over many thousands of miles - although I've never head of one failing. Trying to find one now is very difficult - Ford discontinued them Many years ago and the aftermarket didn't seem to make a replacement.
Like you say They were only used for a short time, I had several, and on a whim, after listen to a bunch of "authorities.' I cut one apart with a cut-off wheel, talk about a bitch and a waste of great product. What I found was inside was another cable wrapped the opposite direction. IMO no way in the world that sucker could ever fail. I still have two. Years ago, I used one on a Corvair front end I put in a OT vehicle. and it worked very well.
Just some food for thought but in my 21 stud powered model a coupe I used the stock steering box moved back 6 inches and shortened the column six inches. Cleared the stock manifold fine and mounted to the column drop fine. Saturday afternoon project using what was there and the car steered properly. Not what you were asking for but something to consider.
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