Unisteer rack and pinion

bucketmouth · December 11, 2010, 08:31:10 AM

Has anyone used one of these unisteer rack and pinions for their hotrod.
I like the idea of a half rack for cross steering has anyone had any experience with one.
Secondly saw this mob www.hotrod.us in Street Rodder but can't get into their site. Anyone used them at all or know about them?

wayne petty · December 11, 2010, 09:07:33 AM

did you mean this article..

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/1011sr_street_clear_steering_system/index.html

or was it this....

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/tech/0812sr_rack_and_pinion_steering/index.html

you could also try this...

http://www.streetrodderweb.com/sch/02/steer/articles/index.html?SearchSource=SourceInterlinkMedia

this will search out articles with the word steer in every magazine they have.. and thats a LOT.. there are more than a dozen car magazines... a dozen truck magazines.. a few motorbike.. atv.. jet ski... surf..

you never know what you will find..

steering you the wrong way...

wayne...

enjenjo · December 11, 2010, 10:34:03 AM

I have installed a couple Unisteer racks. The only problem I have had was an increased turn radius, but I found a trick tie rod end at Speedway that reduces that a lot. Other than that, they bolt on and work fine.

57larry · December 11, 2010, 06:21:40 PM

anybody install one in a 57 Chevy?

kb426 · December 11, 2010, 07:09:14 PM

I have one in my 32. I have 11,000 miles on it so far and I'm happy. My truck weighs 3000 lbs and is heavier on the front if that helps. I also put a 17" steering wheel on cause it's manual and I'm old.

1800guy · December 11, 2010, 10:43:15 PM

Quote from: "kb426"I have one in my 32. I have 11,000 miles on it so far and I'm happy. My truck weighs 3000 lbs and is heavier on the front if that helps. I also put a 17" steering wheel on cause it's manual and I'm old.

57 is old? You ain't seen nothing yet

WZ JUNK · December 13, 2010, 03:24:38 PM

I used one on a 32 roadster I built. I agree with Frank, it worked okay but you lost some of your ability to make a sharp turn. Not a lot of difference but enough that it is noticeable compared to a Vega box. At the time I bought the one for the 32 it was less expensive than a new Vega box.

John

enjenjo · December 13, 2010, 05:05:48 PM

If you use one of these ends from speedway, this allows you to connect the drag link to the tie rod, which makes the wheels turn further for the same rack travel.

It's actually an old Jeep tie rod end from the 50s, but it has the same threads, and pin taper as a Ford end. The one from Speedway is already tapered from both sides, this will allow the drag link to be behind the tie rod.

bucketmouth · December 15, 2010, 05:59:56 AM

Okay guys thanks for the feedback on the Unisteer and with Enjenjos sugestion to use the Speedway end I think it will work a treat.
Just have to get them to do something about their exorbitant shipping costs.
I bought the coupe two years ago and had it shipped to Oz. I've been trying to get approval to license it LHD but the powers to be have said no imported LHD rod will be registered in any state of Australia. It's a * off as anything else can be licensed with the wheel on the wrong side. For some reason they see rods as being different.
Unisteer does a 1/2 rack for RHD so that's gonna be the start of the conversion.
While it doesn't matter so much now I would still be keen to get in touch with the original builder if anyone knows him.

bucketmouth · August 13, 2015, 08:06:07 AM

I know you all have been holding your breathe and waiting for an update as I started this in 2010.
So without any further ado I did fit a steering quickner that one of my buddies made which is similar to what Enjenjo suggested.
I removed the drag link from the furthest point on the steering arm which is the outer hole of the two.
Shortened the track rod added the quickener and shortened the drag link and connected it to the track rod.
It gave me more travel and more steering lock than I had before making steering in to parking bays a hell of a lot easier.
But as you know for every action there is a consequence and in this instance it has made the steering heavier at slow speeds but on the open road it is ok.
So now I'm thinking about fitting smaller tyres to the front and maybe a larger diameter steering wheel.

chimp koose · August 15, 2015, 03:27:12 AM

I may be wrong but I think if you have a lot of positive caster it makes it hard to turn at low speeds . How much caster are you using .

bucketmouth · August 15, 2015, 07:54:48 PM

You are right about caster but I have about 6 degs