Hello,
I have a question for the suspension experts.
Its about Escort Mk2 steering.
If the steering rack (pivot of track rods) is wider (1"/25mm) than standart and because of this the track rods are shorter, will I get bump steer?
Whats your opinion?
proberly,pivots of steering rack should be the same dimension as the tca inner pivots,anything else and it will track on unusual arcs
Pivot points inner and out must be the same so that both parts susp and steering move in the same arc. And both susp and steering arms to run parallel to each other
OK, that is what I have thought also.
The problem is, that the steering rack that I have bought was sold propably several hundret times. Maybee thousend.
So, I got the steering rack today. It is a left hand drive heavy duty 2.4 quick rack, newly manufactured, not original Ford.
The ball joints of the track rods are the modern type and different from the original Escort design. The complete ball joint and track rod assembly is directly screwed to the rack shaft. Thats all ok, if the measur from pivot point to pivot point is the same as the Ford steering rack. But its not.
It is not easy to exactly measure the pivot points. I think I measured with a tolerance of 1 to 2 mm. But the difference from Ford (595mm) to the New (620mm) is 25mm or one inch!
Because of this the track rod has to be shorter, TCA and track rod are not parallel, track rod has a steeper angle than TCA.
I am very surprised, that someone takes the effort to build new steering racks, but at the same time makes such a mistake.
And the bush of the rack shaft on the off side (your near side) of this "heavy duty" rack is plastic.
There are ways to set it up to minimise the amount of bump steer, but it's a lot of messing about and will require the removal of the springs and depending the amount of adjustment required it may need the fitting of rose joints instead of t/r/ends then using spacers to get things right
You are right, but if I am buying a sterring rack which is stated to fit Escort Mk1 and Mk2, I dont start to rebuilt the whole fornt suspension.Originally Posted by Colr6
The sterring rack I have got, can be bought as LHD and RHD, HD and not HD with 2.2 or 2.4 turns.
So, a lot of people must have fitted them into their cars allready.
I cant belife nobody has noticed the problem jet.
Hi,
I've seen some rack that are longer sold by GP4 if I remember well. That's clearly mentioned. May be you have one of those.
I've bought one from Motorsport-tools, an HD one also, and it's too short for my application, I had to add some spacers !
I had a HD rack a few years ago that when the rack in the middle of its travel, one of the track rods needed to be substantially shorted than the other for the car to track straight, i.e. the "rack" was off-center to the rack-mounts/cross-member/front suspension, so it had it had more lock in one direction than the other...
Full lock one direction the tyre would rub, full lock the other direction didnt give as much lock...
The rack I am talking about I have also bought at motorsport-tools.
It is not mentioned that it is wider than original.
The Item number is MSTRD804. I think is originally from Rallye Design.
It looks exectly the same as RD804 on the RD homepage.
I think RD801, RD802, RD803, RD816, RD818 and RD870 are all of the same type, and therefor are all too wide.
And if you take a look on other parts supplier HPs, you find them too.
But motorsport-tools also sells reconditioned genuine Ford racks and new manufactured racks from a different manufacturer than RD.
So maybe we are not talking about the same kind of steering rack.
What setup are you driving, to need a wider rack?
My spare steering rack is from Gartrac and that is approx. 595 mm wide.
i would put it back and get one from gartrac/race/gp4 and save yourself a heap o hassle,as above it should be 595mm
Could these be supplied to go along with another crossmember with wider inner tca mounts ? Which would give neg camber without the use of adj tcas
You really should ask the seller that. (or RD)
Neither on the MST or the RD webside it is stated that the rack is only suitable for a wider track Escort.
Maybee the rack is suitable for this, but it is not sold as such.
How much negative camber would a 25mm wider track give?
And many thanks to Miniliteman for confirming my measurement (595mm).
Mine is this one :
MST1098 - Escort MK2 Kiley Clinton EXTRA HEAVY DUTY Steering Quick Rack 2.4 Turns LHD
And I have just adjustable TCA, a little more camber, don't know why my rods are too short. Not that much, but I prefer having more material in contact with the Steering rack, so I made small extension welded to the genuine track rod end.
I have to check the measurement as well, just to have an idea.
So, you dont have extended the rack shaft but the track rods/track rod ends because of the longer TCAs.
Would be interesting to know if the Kiley Clinton rack has the same dimensions between the pivot points as a original Ford rack.
And how much longer are the TCAs and how much camber do you get with them?
By the way, wrote the seller about the issue yesterday, I'm already curious what he says.
Looking at the racks on Rally Designs site the tie rods look very similar to Ford Transit ones.
I have now sent the RD rack back to MST and hope to get a reconditioned Ford rack from them soon.
Hi all, I have been wondering which way to go but reading this has made my mind up!
kiley clinton racks are a different kettle of fish compared to the HD rally design items, the rack itself is the same wodnth but if you require longer tie rod ends then they will supply these for you at the required length!
I need a new steeringrack myself, are kiley Clinton better than grp4 fabrications?
I got one from kiley Clinton. Their product and their service was spot on. I needed a standard width rack with custom mounts and differently sized and threaded tie rods. They made it to spec - no drama and no extra cost.
To me it seems like a no brainer, with Killey Clinton you are dealing direct with a British manufacturer that will custom make virtually any rack you want. Rally Design are renown for selling cheap components that are sourced from China.
I shall be calling KC in the new year for one of their long GP4 UJs.
Yea kiley Clinton are actually cheaper to deal with direct also!
Iv got a feeling grp4 sell the KC,
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