| This forum is for all years of the Ford Galaxie and all other Full-size Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury cars. This is a place to share information, skills, pictures, and stories for the purpose of building friendships and furthering the enjoyment and restoration of these cars |
Offline
Good news, glad to hear it is working well. I assume it is safe to say it was worth it? Was road vibration an issue as that was a question posted in another post?
Offline
It was worth it. The reduced turning radios bugs me a little bit so I may try to fix that issue in the future. There was no road vibration at the steering wheel. I didn't figure there would be because from the rack on we have things set up basically the same way GM did on the J-car, and there is no vibration on those.
The concern about removing the Rag joint comes from old school technology. If you remove the rag joint on OEM steering than you will get vibration.
Thread StarterOffline
Got all my parts back form the powder coater. I am very pleased with the way they turned out.
I also decided to weigh all the parts from the OEM steering to compare it to all the parts from the R&P and the weights are almost the same. My R&P setup weighs 48# and the OEM steering parts weigh 45# I was surprised that the R&P parts weighed 3# more than the OEM set up. I could have made my brackets thinner lighter if I I had used thinner angle iron on my side brackets but I was more interested in overbuilding it than saving weight 
Thread StarterOffline
Daze - Glad I found this post since I'm doing this mod right now on my '63-1/2. My car is quite a bit lower than stock so addressing bumpsteer would seem to be in order for me(?). I understand you're running coilovers but can't tell if you're as low as I am. All that to ask if you have experienced any noticeable additional bumpsteer and if so, how did you address it?
Also, I bought the Unisteer kit some time ago but returned when it didn't bolt up well. I figured if I had to make additional mods to the new column shaft, and rack mounting bracket right out of the box (all of which would void their warranty), I'd be money ahead to do it myself. [For the sake of full disclosure, Unisteer were very honest, timely, and supportive so I don't wish to paint them in a bad light here.]. The reason I mention the Unisteer kit is that unlike your bracket, their inner tie rods were in a very different place than the stock Ford drag link location.
I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on how lowering might affect bumpsteer and if the corrections (if needed) may be made at the inner tie rod mounting location while I'm at it. The Unisteer kit got me thinking this way but your posts would seem to show the stock location for the tie rods might be just fine as-is. Thoughts?
- Garrett
Offline
By building my take off bracket in such a was as to emulate the OEM suspension, bump steer is not an issue. In fact because of the Galaxie's center steer design, which makes the tie rods so long, you can make quite a few changes to things like spindle geometry and ride height with out creating bump steer. Each car is going to be a little different depending on engine, suspension parts used and so my advice would be to make your R&P as close to the OEM steering design as your combination of parts will allow. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Thread StarterOffline
Daze - Seems reasonable to me. Having gone through the effort yourself, would you do it again or would you go with the retrofit Borgeson power steering box? Specifically, does the feel of R&P steering outweigh the reduced turning radius? I'm at that point where I will either finish this project, or go buy the Borgeson box, and I'd like to hear from the voice of experience. - Garrett
Offline
BB-63 wrote:
Daze - Having gone through the effort yourself, would you do it again or would you go with the retrofit Borgeson power steering box? Specifically, does the feel of R&P steering outweigh the reduced turning radius?
Sorry it took me a few days to get back to you with an answer for this. I hadn't had the chance to drive the car much (other than my initial test drive) so I didn't have enough experience with the setup to answer your question. I have sense driven the car more and have some answers for you.
The loss of turning radios SUCKS. I really only notice it when parking and it can be easily over come by jockeying. There is no noticeable issue when actually driving, turning corners and on the highway. It is a bit annoying when parking.
The feel of the R&P steering is FANTASTIC!!! I love how responsive the car is. I am also extremely impressed with the complete elimination of slop in the steering. Best part is I can now take my hands of the steering wheel and the car holds the road straight and true.
If I was to do it again I would still go with the R&P BUT I am also going to get the turning radios back by reworking the steering arms on the spindles soooo my opinion is probably not the best one to determine if the Borgeson box or the R&P would be better for your application. Let me know if I can help further.
Thread StarterOffline
What is your plan for reworking the steering arms on the spindles? I am curious to know what modification you are planning to address the reduced turning radius. You may be the first to accomplish this?
Glad to hear everything else regarding the steering is an improvement over OEM and you are satisfied with the results.
I always felt that Ford vehicles in general seemed to have a better turning radius. So in my case the reduced turning radius might be in line with most of the vehicles I have owned. I may not even notice the difference by switching over to R&P? Hopefully soon I will find out.
Offline
Thanks, Daze. I'll probably keep to the plan and finish the R&P since I do so much freeway driving to work and back. I loathe sloppy steering and am not convinced keeping the drag link and idler arm would ever feel very tight enough with the Borgeson unit. Your description of the road feel has me convinced I'll be happier with the R&P. Regarding improving the turning radius, I assume you'll be shortening the steering arms on the spindle? - Garrett
Offline
What is your plan for reworking the steering arms on the spindles?
Simple answer is, I am going to shorten the steering arm by 1" which make the steering more responsive and make the turning radios slightly better than OEM.
The more complicated answer is, I am going to cut the OEM steering arm off completely and fabricate a new one that has the same steering geometry but is 1" shorter. I will also create brackets to mount PBR calipers to the OEM spindles and tie the new arm and the caliper mounting bracket together to maximize strength and functionality.
Thread Starter