55 chev rack vs 605 box??opinions

any input of a 55 chev front end with a rack and pinion steering on lowered stock suspension w/disc brakes versus the same setup with a power 605 or 500 power box- hAndling -wandering- bump steer-etc. pros, cons??? looking for anyones input or past experience. thanks

 

I just switched from 605 to 500, will not be able to drive it for awhile. As far as R&P steering, i have always felt it looks light duty under a 5-7' Chev's size & weight. But , what do i know ?

 

always heard bump steer with rack & P.
talked to one vendor last summer who relented and said his had it.

 

605 looks much like a real car.

 

its the bumpsteer problem that im worried about. ive heard even unisteer has it??

 

I ran both on my 55 Chevy sedan. Ran the 605 first and experienced some wandering with it. It also was a little scary whenyou made a quick passing manuver. Ran the power rack the last few years that I had the 55. I loved it. I had no bump steer at all. I made all my own brackets and mounts patterned after the ones offered by the Classic Chevys. Worked good for me.
Later,
Dick

 

Some of the wandering problems on trifives can be traced to the small amount of caster with stock A-arms and use of radial tires. Upper arms can be relocated or use aftermarket arms with more caster built in ,most with 6 deg. built in.

 

get a set of bearings for the idler-arm instead of bushings . the car will have alot better steering (about 50% better than without) & still be stock appearing . the conversion kits were out of production for a long time but i've seen them in 1 or 2 repop catalogs lately

 

They have rack and Pinion in full size pickups now- I do not think the right
setup would have a problem in a mid 50's chevy if the geometry was correct.
That said I have no experience with this .

 

I would not use the 605 box, 500 or R/P yes, but not the 605. My experience with that box is it has poor return to center response even with 7 degrees of caster in the car I had it in and I have spoke to a few 57 owners that had the same problem. Myself I would go with the 500 box.

 

605's tend to leak a lot

 

anybody know who handles the 500 kits ? i assume they are bolt in replacements.best one to go with??? thanks for all the input

 

http://chevyps.com/kits.html\ Steve is very good to do business with.

 

I have the Classic Chevy R & P setup in my '55 sedan. Easy steering with no bumpsteer.

Turning radius is great now that Ive switched to the "improved" steering arms.

 

The 500 PS box can be had from CPP along with offset upper shafts and /or tubular upper / lower arms . These cars had a problem with the front crossmember bending after many hard miles , the upper a-arm attaching points become closer together and the camber becomes impossible to set because you can't take out enough shims. A good alignment shop can put frame gages and bend the crossmember to specs. Another fix is to for remove the upper mounts and weld on some replacments in the proper location. CPP or Danchuks carry the ball bearing idler (poor mans power steering) for those with manual steering.

 

I ran the Classic Chevy R&P with great results. Zero play or wandering.

 

I drove a friend's 57 with a Unisteer R&P. Radial tires, discs, non-stock alignment. Not sure what his settings are.

The car drove very nice. Good feel with no play, good assist; felt like a modern car. I would have put a bigger roll bar in it to reduce body roll.

 

The R&P units I have seen appear to lower the scrub line.

I have two inch drop spindles, and that gets the car pretty low. In fact I cut off my transmission frame horns and raised my exhaust pipes.

 

I also cut out the transmission side mounts so I could get my exhaust even with the bottom of the frame.
I was so concerned that my rack would be too low that I drove super cautiously for the first week. I haven't hit anything with it yet, and everything is above scrub line.