I'm in need of a manual lightweight front-steer gear box (CW input = CW pitman-shaft rotation, as viewed from above) that mounts vertically to the inside of the frame rail. Do any of y'all know what cars had/have 'em? So far, my limited searching has yielded (1) [Reversed] Vega, (2) [Reversed] Saginaw 122/525, (3) Early Mustang, and (4) Ranger........but, I'm sure there must be a lot more choices "out there". TIA!
This might be a long shot, but early international pickup trucks were front steer. The only issue is I think they are outboard of the chassis rail. If you can find a right hand drive one at the right price is should work on the inside of the left chassis rail as it is mounted outboard on the right chassis rail. Steve from down under
I dont really understand what front steer means,but The F1 truck box mounts through the frame,and the mounting flange is easy to modify.
My understanding of front steer is the steering box is forward of the axle. Therefore it has to work opposite to a rear steer steering box. The steering arms are angled differently as well to maintain ackerman. Steve from down under
I have both a front steer and rear a steer vehicle. Both have aftermarket Vega boxes. The rear steer has the pitman arm pointing to the front and the front steer points rearward. If you're early in the build, you can make it work unless there is something in the way. Gary
To help you we need more information, such as: (1) What kind of vehicle is the steering box going to be mounted in? (2) Are you planning to use cross-steering or drag link steering? (3) Will the steering box be mounted in front of or behind the front axle? And as always, pictures would be nice.
. THANX for all the replies guys! First off, I'm sure many of y'all have forgotten more than I'll ever know ~ soooo.......I'm hesitant to be the newbie defining "front steer". BUT.........here goes: Front steer simply means that the steering arms on the spindles/knuckles extend forward as opposed to rearward. The type/style/brand or mounting location of the gearbox has no effect on the strategy, other than rotating in the correct direction to make the vehicle turn right when the steering wheel is turned right, lol. Reidy was correct about his mention of steering-arm angle with regard to Ackerman. When making a turn, a vehicle's turning radius varies from side to side, because the "inside" tire/wheel must not only turn sharper than the "outside" tire, but it also travels less distance while completing the turn. Proper Ackerman corrects the resultant misalignment by turning the wheels at different angles compared to each other, thus minimizing excessive tire wear/scrub. Proper Ackerman is implemented into the steering geometry by angling both steering arms so that an imaginary line intersecting the steering axis (king pin or ball joint) and the outer tie-rod ends ALSO aligns with the vehicles' rear turning "center" (center of diff housing or imaginary center, as with FWD vehicles). Ackerman can be implemented in both front-steer and rear-steer designs, but doing so with a FS vehicle requires steering arms whose tie-rod ends must be farther "out" (left and right) from the vehicles' centerline and thus requires a wheel design that allows backside clearance for the arms and tie-rod ends. Obviously, the spindle/knuckle differences between the two strategies require that they only be used according to their intended orientation. Using rear-steer spindles (early Ford, for example) in a front-steer configuration would not only defeat proper Ackerman, but would result in "Anti-Ackerman" (made-up phrase, lol). IOW, the tires would scrub severely when turning. WHEW...........SORRY for the lengthy dissertation.
. THANX for your interest, goldmountain, BUT........after starting this thread, I was subtly made aware that my project doesn't fit the "traditional" requirements of the forum (too new) ~ so, I can't elaborate any further w/o thread deletion. However, I appreciate all the responses. I was especially interested in Gary's ("blue 49") response, saying that his front-steer car - with a forward-pointing pitman arm - uses a Vega steering box. This was a surprise to me, since I thought that all non-reversed Vega boxes were "reverse rotation" (CW input = CCW output, as viewed from above).
. Well.....I got excited there for a minute, but ~ it turns out that the "front-steer" Jeeps (and S-10's) have rearward-pointing pitman arms that won't work on my application, since I can't mount the steering box that far forward. But, THANX for trying! . I was hoping to source something at my local P-n-P self-serve J/Y, but......I guess I'm gonna be stuck paying big bucks for a Borgeson or Flaming River reversed Vega or 525 steering gear!
Wait...I am think that a box off a Dodge from the 70's might work, aluminum box. I have one somewhere, let me have a look.
BMW 2002 Rear steer with trailing pitman arm [the opposite to GM with Front steer with trailing pitman arm] Also Early VW [tube mounted] Rear steer with trailing pitman arm. The pitman arm can be clocked 180 deg
. THANX for your research, Mimilan. I haven't seen a whollotta 2002 Bimmers in the J/Y's lately, altho I DID see a couple of eBay sellers hocking 'em for $150-ish. BUT......mounting one of them thar boxes might be a bit challenging, since they're apparently intended to bolt onto a crossmember that's 90° to my preferred "inside-frame" mounting position. I was hoping to discover a "usable"/lightweight manual steering box in a more-common foreign or domestic application that would be readily available at most J/Y's. BUT......I'm beginning to realize that none exist, besides those in Ford Rangers.......which, unfortunately, are a little on the heavy side and have a very-slow ratio (5+ turns lock-to-lock). .
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