Rack & pinion for 58-64 ford

The question is not if my set up is the same as the stock 60 Ford. I KNOW IT IS FOR SURE!!!. The point Dirtynails has is that Ford had it wrong and I should correct it. I have had several 57-64 Fords and I thought they went down the road much better then the 49-51 Fords I have driven. If the 60 Ford was designed with bump steer it doesn't seem to efect it's handling.I think given the choice I would tend to stick to the original geometery that was built into the 60. I was not aware of all these other aftermarket kits. I guess I need to pay more attention to stuff. A few of you guys that have used these other kits seem to think they work just fine. I guess I'll give Brent at Fatman a call and pick his brain!

 

he will not tell you that the gm power pump pressure is too high.you will find out on your own.speedway sells a fitting to cut the pressure down or remove shims from the pressure orifice located where the hose threads into rear of pump.take the fitting out and remove a shim and experiment until you feel the road.

 

Thats a "Wurth-It rack", = http://www.wurthitdesigns.com/


I looked at his when I was looking at doing rack conversion (ended up having it done locally). People got some out of him, them then ran into hard times, got behind on them and vanished for awhile. Hes now relocated in Cali and last I heard he was trying to get back at it. His journeys can be found if you look around here http://www.57fordsforever.com/smf/
We used a rack out of a 2000ish intrepid or Cavi. They are perfect for this and are quick.
Dirtynails is bang on, bump steer is a bitch, make sure your geometry is right......

 

dang.......right out of the blue

 

Im interested! Id like to put them in my 62 galaxie & 54 merc.

 

There seems to be a question on bump steer of this installation. Hot rod Dons post has some what pointed it out but that picture assumes that the tie rod pivot and the lower A frame pivot are at the same point. Depending on the positioning of the steering arm on the spindle this might not be quite accurate but correct.

About the only thing that is easy to do is approximate the tie rod length at rest. To do this you first have to realize that the upper and lower control arms must pivot within the same arc. To determine the correct length of the tie rod with the vehicle at ride height you first must determine the instant center of the upper and lower control arms. You can plot this on a sheet of paper by simply determining the heights of the ball joint centers and the control arm pivots. By drawing a connecting a line thru the lower ball joint and the lower control arm center and project it towards the center of the vehicle and then drawing a similar line thru the upper ball joint and upper control arm center you can determine the intersection of these two points. This becomes the instant center of the suspension at ride height. This is similar to the picture Hot rod Don posted and instant center actually can be a longer distance past the center line of the vehicle. Now the next step is to determine the length of the tie rod. To do this a line drawn between the upper and lower ball joints and a corresponding line between the upper and lower control arm pivots. By extending a line from the steering arm ball joint horizontally the length of the tie rod would theoretically be at the point when the tie rod line and the line from the inner control arm pivots junction. This substantiates Dirtynails position. In this case the steering arm tie rod end is positioned almost parallel with the lower control arm on this model car and this creates a link that runs almost parallel to the lower control arm. Now based upon the swing of the control arm due to ride and roll movement the length of the tie rod can actually be longer or shorter than the length of the lower control and still maintain minimum bump steer and scuff: refer to post 18 picture..

The issue with this setup is that it fails to take into account that the original tie rods are fixed to a center link assembly. The center link is connected to an idler link and to the steering box. As the steering box pitman rotates it swings the center link thru an arc that brings the tie rods thru an arc compensating for the control arm arc change and maintaining minimum bump and scuff during wheel bump or body roll.

The rack being in a fixed position does not compensate for this. Because of its linear motion, the center tie rod mount creates different geometry in the tie rods during steer, bump and roll motion. With out plotting this it might be ok during small ride changes but create a larger scuff angle or even a toe in or out situation when turning during larger bump and roll movements. The same would hold true in any rack application using this center pivot setup.

 

Yep, saves some 'cuttin' and bendin'! After all was said and done, I had to make brackets with slotted holes to tweak the perpendicular of the tie-rod on mine, (was ignorant of the existence of these little jewels at the timne!) .........live and learn, so now I'm set for next time
Here's link to just one mfgr that I found googlein' with picture below.
http://www.arringtonengines.com/p-850-lx-bump-steer-correction-kit.aspx

Not on mine, which is off-center with right tie rod cut off some. Stands to reason, the shorter the tie-rod, the more likelyhood of bump-steer, given the angle changes, but I haven't had any with my setup. I'm of the opinion that a suspension with softer springs, with the accompaning increase in ride travel, would make b-s pronounced.

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i see this thread is old, but has anyone tried or discovered anything new on this topic with 60-64 fords?

 

the setup should function... just look on the original steering on a Chevy from the early 50s. I did a similar setup on my 50 Chevy,using a GM rack, great handling,,,,and bumpsteer it doesnt! The worst thing you get.......is loosing the 50s steering feeling, it would feel more like a moden car ......

 

Inside the tierod mounting places are a plastic coupler, and this make the small play. At least one manufacture of r&p set in US claims this ain´t any effect. On my own r&P setup i could feel the play when checking, but in daily motion, it has no effect on the steering. Although European rules make trouble when it has play.. Search for a guy in U.K. belived at the Rodders Journal forum some time ago, he reworked the plastic "spacer" to an alu one, and get away with the play.

 

i read something about putting a crown vic front end under a ford full size. anyone done it?