A friend of mine, who's pretty knowledgeable, claims that the rack inside the unit isn't perfectly flat...that it actually has a peak at the center of its travel and that this peak is slightly off center. When I installed my rack I measured the turns lock-to-lock, found half way between the locks and installed it with the wheels pointing forward. He claims this is the wrong way to install it, that when installed in the Cavalier there was more travel in one direction than the other and straight ahead should be at the peak of the rack not at the center of its travel. Any comments?
May have something to do with Ackerman , although I doubt it...intesting question as I had considered this install in late 40s early 50s mopars as kits are available...
That sound wrong. IIRC , the CCI rack kit for Tri fives centers the travel. Why would it be any different? Are there steering stops built into the system?
By not having the main shaft centred and biased to one side or the other, the entire front end steering geometry would be compromised IMHO with the suspension moving in different arcs to the R&P and not as designed. The pinion gear meshes with rack shaft and may be shimmed for adjustment so I can't imagine the main shaft having too much crown either. I've done a few R&P conversions and always centred the rack body and rack shaft so that pivot points of the arms are where they were in OEM configuration as well as maintaining Ackerman. What is your installation, front or rear and in what body? Are you happy with the way your car drives and steers with your set up?
Installed the one in my shoebox the same as root66. Seems to work fine, have about 20000 miles on it, no problems