Rack & Pinion Swap

[Total Control Products 24]

The people who are mentioning that you lose turning radius, bumpsteer, etc etc are ones that are using one of the rack and pinion kits adapted from another car, and I have no doubt that those problems exist.

 

However, both TCP manual and power rack use the ORIGINAL ford steering geometry. Their centerlinks put the original inner and outer tie rods in the same place as the original system.

 

TCP designed their's from scratch for the very specific reason and retaining the original steering geometry.

 

I have had TCP power rack for several years, and it is tied with the 5 speed conversion as the best investment I have made in the car.

 

 

TCP is hands down the best designed and best quality rack out there. It is also the most expensive though.. I have been so pleased with it that I would do it again if I ever get a second mustang.

 

Wow, thanks for the glowing review! I haven't been on this forum much lately so it's always a pleasant surprise to find nice things about us close to the top.

 

For anyone who has questions about any of our systems, we have a huge technical library HERE with instructions, application charts, and technical data sheets. To read details about our rack and pinion steering systems, Click Here.

[69gmachine 15]

Not trying to throw a wrench in the works or spend your hard earned money, but I hope you have better luck doing this than I did. After having to replace this stuff more than once...I found out that spending more money up front on something better designed was money well spent vs throwing money at the same parts once a year.

 

I had the same experience with replacement original parts years ago. At that time there were only rebuild services for the gearbox and control valve and slave cylinder, but they lasted less than a year. Since installing my own coil over front suspension and rack and pinion steering, I have driven cross country and raced (autocross) my car and nothing has needed to be replaced after several years and thousands of miles. Once you switch to a rack, I can't imagine anyone would ever go back to a gearbox.

 

 

If you do decide to go with a rack and pinion, do you research. stay away from any of the racks that have the inner tie rods as part of the rack. These ones ALL have steering geometry issues.

I would also concur with this assessment. It is almost impossible to place a late model Mustang style rack high enough in the chassis to work with a stock style rear steer spindle and not have severe bump steer.

 

As far as I remember there are only 2 systems that use the correct "center take off" design. TCP is one, and I believe Randalls Rack is the other. It takes about 3 minutes of comparison to find out that the TCP unit is far superior.

I have no expectation that anyone would remember that I have an alternate design rack and pinion system that uses a centerlink but it has no bump steer issues even with very large (P275-17) low profile front tires. Like Randall, I use the GM J car rack because it's rear steer, readily available and inexpensive. Unlike Randall's, I don't modify the rack in any way, which keeps costs down.

 

Since I've never driven either a TCP or Randall's rack equipped car, I can't compare either of them, and I hope your comparision is based on an actual test drive and not just a data sheet comparison.

 

The J-car rack does however have less travel than the stock drag link, so I designed a rear steer spindle assembly to work with it using the Wilwood forged spindle that uses the '70 up Mustang pin. This resulted in a much quicker turn rate as well as a smaller turn radius that's comparable to any modern sports car.

 

Even though the TCP rack has the necessary travel to work with the factory spindle, the long factory steering arm requires a lot more steering wheel input (turns) to result in the same turn radius as my design. That equates to time when you're on an autocross course. If all you do is cruise around town, this is probably not a concern.

 

I have not made a production run of the centerlinks yet, and I only hav one customer so far (one of our members). He's using it with the factory spindle and doesn't mind the loss in turn radius. If there was sufficient interest I could make a run of the centerlinks.

Edited April 23, 2014 by 69gmachine
spelling

[Total Control Products 24]

Since I've never driven either a TCP or Randall's rack equipped car, I can't compare either of them, and I hope your comparision is based on an actual test drive and not just a data sheet comparison.

 

Even though the TCP rack has the necessary travel to work with the factory spindle, the long factory steering arm requires a lot more steering wheel input (turns) to result in the same turn radius as my design. That equates to time when you're on an autocross course. If all you do is cruise around town, this is probably not a concern.

 

Our rack is three turns lock to lock. Actually, it's 2.9 if I recall correctly. We cut the internal shaft using our EDM and we make the pinion gear too.

[69gmachine 15]

I should have said a little more steering wheel input rather than a lot. 2.9 turns is not bad at all.