need to reverse the direction of my steering colum rotation ..looking for small gear

I've seen it done with a sun gear set out of an automatic transmission. If you hold the planetaries still, the outer gear turns the opposite direction of the sun gear.

 

When I made mine I clamped the two gears closely together and measured across the bearings to get my centers. Then bored the plates to that dimension and made an aluminum center spacer to go between the plates. One plate was longer to allow it to act as the mount. I then set the gear box up in a drill press and ran some fine lapping compound through the gears until it would turn very freely but with out backlash. Cleaned it and packed it with grease. Give it a squirt every now and then. Seems to return just fine. Come on people. You trust me to work on 747 steering. Why not a 32 Ford?

 

The difference Rich is that WE KNOW YOU HAVE THE SKILLS. The OP, not so much.

 

You hit the nail on the head.

 

With enough practice, I'm sure you could learn to drive it that way. Think of it as an anti-theft device.

 

Mount one of these gearsets to the firewall:

 

my buddie gave me a collection on late 70's street rodder mags...they had an article on mounting a manual rack to the axle..said it was the best set up going ..no bmp steer whatsoever.this jag unit is tiny..just looks like a pipe behind the axle..can hardly see it...i am using double universal joints on the rack and another set on the steering coulum..

 

They arent too hard to make... This one took about a day
.

 

Biggest problem with that is we don't have Bluebird's over here! I wonder what US model that is.

 

hey Rich, if the reverser box was at the same plane as the rear of the radius rod mounts, what was the angle of the steering column? Seems like it would end up like Bus Steering.

 

Yeah, of course it can be done.

But selecting the right part to begin with could be a better option than putting bandaids on it, and for him to try to micky mouse himself out of a problem.


BTW... I think I've read Etype rack in one of the OP posts.

They came in RHD and LHD...

 

I saw lots of them in LA 10 years ago.

U11 , U12 , or U13 Nissan is the model numbers . 1983-1997
It could be badged as a Stanza or Altima

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Bluebird

 

If no one had ever invented the universal joint you would be correct. Even so the column was kind of less than ideal. But the OP came here to get an answer. And he did. Reverse the Jag box. I would guess that any car that is sold with both left and right steering would have both left and right R&P units. They sell lots of Buicks in China. And when I was in Hong Kong they drove on the left. Lots of good cars in OZ. I really like the whole right hand R&P idea. But it was about 35 years ago that I reversed the steering in my coup. Didn't think about it at the time.

 

Well, scatch 747's off my list of no-fly's




JK,

 

35 years ago it wouldnt have been as easy as it is today.

You can go on Ebay UK now and probably get one without to much trouble.




So then that just leaves the whole R&P mounted on a front axle discussion....

 

One thing I forgot to mention here

A lot of Toyota Vans have a front steer rack with the pinion facing towards the front. Then they have a "V" drive steering box to get the column pointing up [ forward mounted controls ]
This could be worth investigating. [ It was safe for Toyota to do ]

I still think using the correct steering rack is better than trying to alter the rotation of one. [ more moving parts = more trouble ]

 

Ah yes, it's the Altima here!

Rich, I was just asking how your column came out, not saying anything about the OP's question or the myriad of good and bad answers. And I realize that you had to use U Joints, but it would seem that if the reverser were essentially at your feet, then that column would be fairly vertical, that's all (and it sounds like it was). By the way, China drives on the Right

 

I built a rack onto a 56 ford pickup axle, it works wonderfully. The motion on axle movement is much less as the shafts are long. It is taken up in splined sections.

 

I made a steering reversing box that looks just like yours except that I fitted zerks .

 

It is easier to turn the rack over than to make a gearbox. Unless you can't move the steering shaft to the other side of the engine(as was my case).

 

----
Ditto on what both "pasadenahotrod"
and "Kerrynzl" said! Get the proper
rack! Jeeze!!

Mart3406
================

 

As you should be able to see, the pivot point of my radius rods is somewhat froward of my feet. I believe you might also be able to see the angle of the steering wheel through the window. Picture was taken in '78. I am begining to think that my previous statement
"I know lots of "experts" who have never tried it would say else wise." has hurt some feelings. If you feel it was aimed at you,Sorry. I will challenge anyone to show me why a properly installed reverser steering box is any more dangerous than reverse gears in your transmission.

 

And 737s. and 57s, 67s, 77s, and A319 and 20 aircraft. But you should be alright. I retired 14 years ago.

 

Which is fairly untraditional.

 

What's the design-spec on the gears the average, non-machinist, non-metalergist is going to have access to?
Is there any kind of analysis as to what kind of forces would be placed on the gear teeth while driving the car on a regular basis? There's a fair amount of resistance and stress on my steering wheel when I'm backing out of a parking space in my '61 Suburban or '54 Buick with manual steering.
Over time, will that kind of stress be enough to severely wear, or even sheer, the teeth that are going to be found on the McMaster-Carr gears in that reverser box?

Stripped gears in a transmission rarely result in the car driving straight when the road curves. Stripped transmission gears will rarely result in the car driving into on-coming traffic of its on will.

If not the gear teeth, how about how the gears are attached to the shaft? Are theybroached with a key, D- or Double-D shaft with the same in the gear's center? Pinned? Set-screw? Welded?
And what is the builder's ability to properly install these gears on the shafts? What tools does he have access to? How good is the machine shop he'll hire? Will they understand how critical the components are, and design them accordingly? Will they want that liability?

I ask that last part specifically for this reason: If he had the skill and ability to do it, he wouldn't have come on here asking about it, he'd have just done it.

-Brad

 

Rich, it wasn't your comment about "Experts" that bothered me, I didn't think that was directed at me, since I never questioned or doubted this working. This - If no one had ever invented the universal joint you would be correct. Even so the column was kind of less than ideal. But the OP came here to get an answer. And he did. was what I thought was a bit of a snide remark that was pointed at me (since you said it in a quote of my comments). Don't worry, I'm not hurt by it, just thought it was a bit uncalled for.
As for the pivot points, since there previously was no picture I was thinking more of the common longer, further back mounting position of say a split bone or longer hairpin. Your picture clears up that question.

 

OK. Everybodys happy now. The people who were against reversing the rotation of his steering shaft, were in the end correct. Because of the design of the R&P he is using, flipping the piece is a much cleaner and better way to accomplish what he wanted to do. Still on my car reversing the shaft rotation was, I felt, my best option. And it worked fine for me as it has for others. It could be unsafe if done poorly. As could be numerous other modifications we do to our brakes, steering suspension and so forth. Anyone who isn't comfortable with their personal skill level is right not to do these modifications. But skill comes from experience. And you can't build experience without trying things. And I didn't mean to be snide concerning universal joints. Maybe I just came across that way inadvertently. Sorry.

 

Exactly! Instead of trying to
re-invent the wheel with
homemade gearboxes and other
Rube Goldberg-like contraptions
- just get the proper gawdamn
steering rack - one that's already
configured to turn your wheels in
the proper direction! What's so
hard about that? You bought the
wrong steering rack, that's all. If
you bought the wrong intake
manifold - say, one for Small Block
Ford when you needed one for a
Big Block Chev, what would you
do? Would you change it for one
that would fit your engine - or
would you try and cobble up
some homebrew adapter to make
it work? What would be the point,
of that right?? It's the same thing
with a steering rack, except that
steering is a whole lot more critical
and your life depends on it. Just
change the rack It will be cheaper,
easier and quicker to do, and you'll
know that it's properly engineered
and it that will be SAFE!

This is steering you're dealing with
for gods sake. And it's not just you
and your life that's at stake - it's my
life - and the lives of everybody else
who uses the road too - not to
mention the reputation of the
whole 'old car' and hoit-rodding'
hobby as well. Politicians, insurance
companies and litigation lawyers
just love stuff like this and go
absolutely nuts when some idiot's
homemade modification fails and
kills a bunch of people - and
then they crack down on everybody
else who drives an old or modified
car and make all of us pay the
price.

GO AND BUY THE PROPER
RACK! THE PARTS STORES
AND BONEYARDS ARE
OVERFLOWING WITH THEM!

Mart3406
=================

 

It's all good - Sometimes I get a bit defensive, or so my shrink says

 

Hey Chaz and Dennis G

Where did you get the gears and mounting? I've got a Saginaw steering box that sticks back toward the cab further than the steering column sticks out, and this looks like a better solution than using several U-joints to make an S shape steering column.
Thanks
Abe