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steering rack move


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#1 _IN DETT_

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 09:33 AM

has anyone moved there steering rack down on a LJ/LC and modified there crossmember,(allow more room for sump) i am going to do this soon ,and how much difference does it make to handling to move mounting points for upper control arms down like xu1 cheers guys steve

#2 makka

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Posted 31 August 2006 - 01:15 PM

lowering your rack will give you more bump steer, unless you can modify your steering arms to sit lower as well.

#3 _IN DETT_

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Posted 15 September 2006 - 02:44 PM

Cheers mate,

are there any suspension/Steering gurus that can help us set up tori steering

LJ GTR
HQ front stubs & brakes
Std steering rack
Lovells heavy duty lows
koni adjustables

what i was thinking was were i mount steering rack lower i will make it adjustable IE able to move rack away & closer to crossmember,(ackerman)

then set up tie rod mount angled toward centre of the rear diff like ackerman says, is this correct???

am i suppose to set up for ackerman then work out bump stop???

If there are any sites for setting up this please let me know
Or if you have photos of a LJ setup for race or rally please post

cheers in advance steve

#4 Toranamat69

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Posted 15 September 2006 - 06:32 PM

G'day Mate,

Check out this link from the PS thread which I havn't updated for a while.

http://www.longacrer...rt.asp?ARTID=13

As Makka said if you lower the rack, you will have to lower the steering arm tie rod as well but by how much depends on a fair few dimensions and by how much you lower the rack.
How would you get around the steering shaft hitting the x-member if you tried to lower it at all? Doesn't the input shaft sit right on top of the X-member and it has a really long input shaft as well.

You are lucky you want to lower it from a steering arm point of view as the LC/J steering arms are higher than the LH/LX, UC and A9X, so you have 3 options you can go lower there (in that order too) . It will be a case of which ever is the closest unless you want to make a neat bumpsteer adjuster on the outter tie rod using a rod end. I plan to do that eventually.

I don't muck around with or have any LC stuff here anymore, only lX and UC so I can't measure anything for you. You would be surprised how similar most things are in the geometry of the LC and LX/UC's, most of the same things apply.

With regards to the ackerman adjustment, I can't see why you would want to move the rack further forward as the Torana front ends definately need more 'Ackerman effect' straight away as demonstarted by their crap turning circle.

I have actually just measured the Ackerman of the standard UC setup last weekend but I havn't plotted out my results into a nice curve yet.

I then measured the wheelbase, track and drew up a diagram to calculate the LX/UC Torana curves for pure 'Ackerman steering' (lots of trig here for those maths types) and the Torana steering is a long way short of that curve.

Btw, that concept of the steering arms pointing to the centre of the back axle is an approximation, not exact.
You do not want to run pure ackerman steering for a vehicle that travels at high speed as the tires start getting really complex with slip angles and things so you end up running something a few degrees less than that but still enough to turn tightly into car parks. That drawing with the lines through the steering arms you referred to should meet somewhere behind the rear axle.

I reckon the Torana could have done with another 2 degrees or so turn in on the inside wheel at full lock but you can only move out so far before you hit the disc rotor. This is where I am upto on my mission. Full lock is 30 degrees on the UC (outside wheel). I hope to machine the steering arms I have slightly and add a spacer to wring another little bit out of mine but I don't know how this will go.

The easiest way for you to measure the existing ackerman geometry in your LJ would be to go to the wheel aligners and line the wheels up straight ahead and then take a set of measurements of the steering angle of both front wheels every 2 or 5 degrees (of the outside wheel) on both left and right wheels (and measure turning the rack the left and then start again in the middle measuring turning to the right) I would say you will find similar results.

Interrested in how you go moving the rack rearward in the car but if you could achieve anything I reckon it would be a gain.

Easiest option (but not the cheapest) is to get the bits and just try it and measure the results as I am doing with mine.

M@

Edited by Toranamat69, 15 September 2006 - 06:47 PM.


#5 Toranamat69

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Posted 15 September 2006 - 06:40 PM

To answer your original Q'above about lowering the upper control arm mount as per the XU1.

I have the bits here and will soon be measuring the after effect of doing that mod on a UC front end. I already have the before measurements for a baseline.

The difference will be so close to identical on both front ends so it will be a damn good guide.


M@

#6 _IN DETT_

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Posted 19 September 2006 - 09:20 AM

thanks heaps for that

#7 Bart

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Posted 19 September 2006 - 08:50 PM

adjustable tie rod ends would be the go i reckon, dont know where youd find them in Australia, anyone?

#8 Rainman

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Posted 18 February 2020 - 02:30 PM

  1. Hello Members, hope we are all well. I have had a bit of noise from the front end. Something loose. I jacked up the front end. Were the tie rod end meets the rack ?? I think its the rack. Anyway I removed the rubber boot and noticed when I move the wheel the tie rod end moves up and down inside the rack. Only a little bit of oil dripped out after the boot removal. How do I fix this ? Ray


#9 308 Sunbird

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Posted 19 February 2020 - 08:19 AM

If it is the left hand side Ray it's probably a collapsed rack bush. Any oil is usually 

long gone by now mate which will probably account for the above wear. Time to 

rip it out for a rebuild to be safe.

Stuart.






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