Hot Rod Institute 33 Chevy PU Chain Steer

Ok, so disregarding any previous discussions on chain steer systems, who thinks they are good, who thinks they are shit, and those that just do not care, here is mine that I developed for my 33 Chevy PU. I spent about 3 weeks on it and am pretty pleased with the results. I chose to do this for a couple of reasons - 1) after channelling the truck, I have just enough room for my pedals (it is a standard) and I did not want to try and fubar up the space with a column. 2) I wanted to give myself an engineering challenge. I have been learning a lot at the school, but this is something none of the instructors have dealt with. I was eager to flex a little creative muscle, and having their professional back up helped me work in the right direction - between the motorcycle instructor and his precision machining skills, the chassis instructor and his welding and metalworking skills, the body instructor/owners insistence on firewall support, and the performance instructors general expanse of knowledge, I was able to move forward and work out the issues along the way without much fear of completely screwing it up. 3) It just plain fucking cool - I really dig these things......

I first got the idea while looking through Speedway and seeing the Steer Clear system. While looking to be a relatively good system, you could not really tell, because all of the components are covered up. And while this may be a very good purchase for some, $700 is not something I was willing to drop - I would much rather put that money towards an air conditioner later on in the build. I am also trying to keep the build budget under $10,000, and considering I bought the truck as a runner for $5,000, I was again unwilling to drop the $700.

So I began thinking of how to develop a system of my own. I knew the concept would consist of 2 gears, a chain, and an idler or tensioner. So I went down to the local bearing dealer and picked up some sealed bearing idler gears with the intention of using them for my gearing. My initial thoughts were to press the bearing out and weld a transition from the gear itself to a U-joint. I then saw a posting on here of someone visiting Hollywood Hot Rod's open house and I saw a chain steer set up on one of the pictures. I messaged Troy, and he gave me some very useful tips.

After considering his input, I returned the idler gears and got some keyed gears with 16 teeth for a 40 chain. I kept one of the idler gears, 17 tooth. I also picked up two 3-point "firewall" bearing retainers and one 2-point (for the dash - inspired by Old Speed Hot Rods, whom also gave me some advice).

I started by measuring up where I wanted my sterring wheel to be - which was hard to do without the seat. I mocked things up using measurements of what I wanted and what I knew was going to be used as a seat. From there I determined what angle I wanted my steering wheel to sit, as it will not be a tilt. I gave it a slight angle to fall in line with my desired riding postition, and measured back to the firewall to mark my points where the U-joints will transition into the gears. I marked where my measurements needed to be and transitioned them into a 3/16 steel plate. I cut my holes for the bearings and the mount holes for them and got them set into place. I then cut two 5 inch pieces of 3/4 steering shaft. These were machined to fit the keystock for the gears in their respective locations and threaded at the ends for gear retaining nuts. I then cut a crescent hole for the idler gear so I could adjust tension accordingly. I then went to work filling and cutting in the respective places on the firewall to clean it up.

Countersunk holes were drilled for mounts on the system so I could mount flush mount allen head bolts to hold the plate assembly on the firewall, as well as the mount holes for the "firewall bearing retainers." I then matched the front plate with an 1/8 plate on the inside of the firewall, to effectively "sandwich" everything into place.

From there, the steering shaft "bolts" that were machined were fitted into the gears along with the keystock, and the retaining nuts fitted into place.This allowed me to mark and cut the steering shafts to be welded onto the U-joints. (All of the U-jounts used were weld-ons due to cost, and to act as retainers for the gears). With the U-joints welded into place, the remaining shafts were cut and fitted into the system. I only tacked the steering wheel assembly and left the shaft long, as I will wait for final fitment and measurements until after I have the seat completed. I metal-finished the U-joint welds, except the ones on the interior, as the welds are used to help reatin the bearings.

Overall the system turned out very nice, there is zero slack and everything is very tight. If I need to perform any maintenance, I can have the system apart in under 10 minutes. I am pretty happy with the end result. Note that the plate is not quite finished, as I am bumping around some different ideas. I like how it looks exposed, but that is not practical on a fenderless hot rod. So I am looking at sectioning some valve covers to cover up the system. One will be a complete cover, and the other I am going to try to use plexi-glass on part of it in order to still view the system. If that one looks like ass, I will have a full cover that I can take off quickly when I want. How I mount those covers will help determine the overall perimeter shape of the outside plate.

Let me know what you guys think, but do me a favor and spare us all the arguments over whether these systems are worthy of road use. I have read all of those posts, you are not going to be dropping any new information by saying it again. What would help me is explaining how YOU would have done it different, where you think a possible failure might arise, what you do like about it, what you dont like about it, the "whys" on those issues, ideas for covers, etc.......

If you guys are interested in seeing more work from the school, visit the new website at www.hotrodinstitute.com

 

They use a setup very much like that downunder to convert LHD cars to RHD. The chain 'box' runs across the width of the dash, not vertically as you've done.

Some people swear by it, some swear it's an accident waiting to happen. I have no personal experience with it, but it is approved by the transport engineers over here as an acceptable steering system.

The whole 'steer by wire' thing scares me though....

Cheers, Glen.

 

If it were me, there would be another plate on the outside of the gears. The axles for the gears would go through both plates and in effect, mount the sprockets double shear.

The second plate would also act as a gaurd to prevent road debris from getting trapped in the chain.

 

I like the way that looks. I'm probably going to have to do something similar to that if I'm going to run the stock GM exhaust manifolds in the frame of my Dubble A.

I agree with this in theory, but that chain'll snap long before those bolts break. Looks like the one is a 5/8 to 3/4 diamater grade bolt.

 

I thought about that for a while, but the problem would come with both gears. The shafts are kind of like a mirror image of each other. Top shaft goes into the cab, the bottom to the steering box. Building a box to cover the inside shaft bolt on the bottom of the system would cut back into the cab where my master cylinders will be located. In terms of strength of the system, those shaft bolts are actually 3/4 steering shaft threaded on the end. The other side has a ujoint welded to that same shaft. Those gears have absolutely nowhere to go. Once I hit final assembly, I will either use red loctite, 3/4 locknuts with loctite, or perhaps castle nuts. As I said, I will be fabricating a cover to keep any debris out of the system.

 

Interesting... not quite up to your quality, but here are images of a couple of modified stock cars using chain drive. I had a couple more images, but can't find them. Gary

 

Those are pretty cool - I was looking for images of that type before I started setting mine up, but I was not able to find any......

 

looks ince ,but I'd be tempted to make it redundant. two sets of sprockets and chains

 

I agree, I never really gave it a lot of thought, but I don't really see anything wrong with it now that I look at this and think about it. And if it were redundant, I think it'd be fine for street use especially on a light weight hot rod. It's just that as an old dirt bike guy, who's broken his share of chains, I still get an uneasy feeling about it.

 

Being a do-it-myself kind of guy, would never pay for something I could build, I like the idea. You have adapted the concept to fit your car. Excellent. Looks good, looks functional, don't cover it up for bling! Stuff like that need to be out where people can see and understand.

One question; Is there a rigid bracket backing up the dash sheetmetal bolted behind the pillow block?

 

Rather than make it redundant, the chain portion could be eliminated completely with a few more gears. Just make it gear-to-gear setup.

 

The dash is actually heavily braced with 1x2 steel tubing across the bottom of the entire dash from left side to right side A-pillars. The top is reinforced with 3/4 inch tubing. The "firewall bearing bracket" (I call it that because thats what the parts store called it) is mounted directly above that brace. Right now, the dash is loose, but it will be fastened to the 1x2 brace when I am finished with my dash work.

 

....stamp it (approved)...

 

Here are some pictures of the cross brace without the dash installed.

 

Pretty sure that's how the speedway ones are set up. I'd be more comfortable with gear-to-gear and a cover over it all.

 

I'd be less worried about the chain breaking and more worried about it jumping off one of the sprockets. But then again, I worry a lot, which worries me too.

 

Nice to see the answer to the question never asked.

 

You did see that I said I was going to fabricate some different covers, right?

 

looks nice. i woulda tried to hide the assembly on the inside tho, just to clean up appearances. just my preference tho....

 

I thought about that, but I kinda prefer the mechanics being visible. I will have some kind of cover for it, but it will be something that I can take on and off easily. Also, if I had put it on the inside, I would not have been able to get it as low as I needed it, and it would again impede my use of pedals and mounting of the master cylinders.

I will be cleaning up that plate for a more aesthetic view, but I also have some pretty gnarly ideas for covers that might end up taking care of that issue for me.......

 

oh ya, pedals and such. yup, might be in the way, lol

 

Looks nice, but If it were mine I'd feel better running gear to gear as well

 

I like it. For those doubting chains, consider how many motorcycles run chains without issue for years with little maintenence. Now consider how much force they endure. I am certain that that steering setup will never face that kind of force or wear.
We think nothing of using thin cables to control multi ton aircraft, but we get skittish at using a chain to steer a little hotrod?

 

Yeah, or the forces exerted on timing chain setups! Or, what about the timing setups that use belts and never fail between change intervals. I like the crap out of that setup you've built there. A+ in my book.

 

That is where I was going with this as well. The torsional force required to turn the gears is actually quite minimal. It is a one to one gear ratio, but it feels like power steering. With the firewall support, weld in u-joints, everything is set. Those chains are made to be in constant rotation, and on this steering set up, they will likely never see 1/4 of the use a chain will see in normal use.

 

If you sandwiched it all between 2 sheets of 3/16 or 1/4 inch plate there'd be no way it'd jump off track.

Like I've said, if I run the stock 350 pickup exhaust manifolds on my Dubble A, then i may have to run something like this through the open frame rail in order to clear everything.

I didn't think about it, but using 2 different sized gears could result in a sort of power steering type setup. I agree about the use the motorcycle chains get, but in time they do stretch and require adjustment. Timing belts are good for a selected amount of time, but they do work for their intended purpose.

 

Maybe someone mentioned this, but a change of sprockets could change steering ratio?

 

I dig it. I'm sure that chain is stronger than a rag joint but no one seems to worry about those.

You could carry an extra set of gears with you, like a quick change rear. Have a road set and a track set.

 

looks like it will work ok!

 

You'll never tear it up with use. That's basically an indestructible setup.

The only thing I'm concerned about is the chain hopping off. Maybe build a guard (not just a cover) to keep it from happening. The chain jumping off is about as likely as a steering wheel coming off in your hands.

That looks well-built to me and should be fine.