Swapping to rack and pinion steering

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- joint and outer tie rod do not follow the same arc (because one is longer than the other, or their inner pivots are in different planes)  the steering arm will move in or out to compensate.  This movement creates toe in or toe out on its own (bump steer). Bump steer must be understood, so it can be eliminated in the design/set up stage.
 ==Turning radius==
 Many cars suffer from poor turning radius after an R&P install.  There are 2 basic reasons.  Either the rack was placed too far left and interferes with the wheel, or no adjustment was made to the steering arms.  On a typical RB type steering box the pitman arm has a “throw” of 7 inches, side to side.  It is usually connected to steering arms effectively measuring 7 inches long.  (The 7 inches is measured from the center of the steering arm mount, where the king pin or ball joint pivots the spindle, to the center of the outer tie rod where the steering pivots.)  Typical racks (Cavalier) have 6 inches of throw and originally connected to the upper strut in a manner that represents about 5 ½ inches from center of the strut to the center of the tie rod.  Connecting the rack to the original arms causes a loss of nearly 20% of steering angle.  It is strongly recommended that this be dealt with before installing the rack.

Revision as of 15:32, 9 July 2009