I have about pulled my hair out..... that hair which hasn't fallen out or jumped out at my age, trying to get a rack & pinion to fit my frame and quarter elliptic front springs.
I concede my failure to figure this out without extensive changes to existing components. So, I've decided to go the more conventional steering route. My project is most like a T-bucket for purposes of painting a picture for you.
I think I need a Corvair or Vega steering box or something similar, but I don't know which. The pitman arm must point upwards from the box in order to work.
So, which box works like that and if it's the Corvair, does it need to be reversed?
I used a Mustang box on my A and it mounts with the pitman arm up...this box does not have to be reverses. Yes you have to reverse the Corvair box. The Mustang box side steers it like most T buckets....A vega box cross steers.
You can get a new reversed corvair box at Speedway, but I heard that the pitman arms they sell have been discontinued, total performance was the mfg of those arms. I think the pitman arm hangs down on those.
I've seen side steering with the pitman arm mounted pointing up and it was an early VW bus.
If the Pitman is pointing up, the Vega box will work, and so will a Corvair box. If I recall correctly, the Corvair box will need to be reversed if the Pitman arm points down.
Because you are using quarter elliptical springs whcih puts the front axle out in front of the frame a fair ways it will be much easier to use a side steering box like a Mustang, 54 Ford F100 or reversed Corvair rather than a cross steer like the Vega or Unisteer.
If you are looking at a side steer with the Corvair box, it depends on where you are going to mount it.
If it's going on top of the frame, you won't have to reverse it to have the arm pointing up. Problem with this is that your drag link will be at a severe angle down to your spindle. A reversed box would eliminate that problem.
If it's going under the frame, It will need to be reversed to point up. The problem with this could be ground clearance.
IMO...Of the choices you have, I would go with the 'vair box reversed on top of the frame. It's easy to adjust the height of the box to keep your drag link level by rising the mount for the box.
Youngster
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