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My two cents, for what it's worth, you can probably eliminate the support entirely if you use a single u-joint at the rack. The Unisteer kit comes like that and the angles are not too extreme to cause binding. Of course, that's with the upper u-joint in close proximity to the end of the column. My installation is similar to the Unisteer kit in that regard but I shortened the column a bit more to reduce the angles further. Also, if you use a double spline end shaft between the u-joints, you can "tune" out any "bump" resulting from slight angular mismatch between the u-joints.
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I had an extra u-joint so I tried that first. with the GM j-car rack going up almost perpendicular to the road there is two much angle and both u-joints bind. Like I have said before on some other posts even with the double u-joint there is barley enough angle change to make this work without binding.
The unisteer rack is similar to a GM j-car rack but is application built so they were able to set up the angles to use two single u-joints.
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Daze - I I remember right, the Unisteer rack and the GM J car rack had the same angles at the box when I had both racks under my car at one point. The Unisteer mounted the box perpendicular to the road as well so there was no difference there. They supplied a new steering column shaft that extended 2-3/4" past the end of the column tube, which was too long (part of the reason I returned it). The problem as I experienced it is the length of the steering column shaft. If it's kept tight up against the column tube, it seems to work. I bought a Borgeson shaft (PN 409036) that was 36" long, with a 3/4"-36 spline at the end and cut/welded my OEM column shaft to it in place of the rag joint (I used the spline rather that DD for bump tuning). I have a column shift (auto) so I used a bearing from a Spanish bicycle bottom bracket to center the shaft in the inner tube. The upper u-joint is almost touching the bearing race so it's really close to the firewall. The shaft between the u-joints on the Unisteer kit was 9" OAL. Mine is about the same. - Garrett
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Thought I would throw in my two cents: From my experience the connection between the rack and the steering column would not be possible without a double ujoint at the rack. I experimented a fair amount with different lengths of DD shafts and different locations and angles of the support bracket, all in order to decrease the ujoint angles. The result was exactly as Daze described. With the best configuration, their is barely enough clearance for the ujoints to prevent binding. I assume that if it would have been possible to do the R&P swap with a single ujoint at the rack, the previously available kit may have offered it that way. I tend to believe that the kit was designed after a lot of trial and error and so the final product was probably what worked the best. Why try to change anything unless you can make it better? I believe the only way to get more clearance for the ujoints are to either: Tilt the rack towards the back of the car or to shorten the steering column. I wanted to keep that rack in the same position offered with the kit for simplicity of installation and I didn't want to chop the column shorter in the event I wanted to go back to OEM.
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BB-63 wrote:
The shaft between the u-joints on the Unisteer kit was 9" OAL. Mine is about the same. - Garrett
That is probably the biggest difference. My shaft is 6.5" total length (obviously my double u-joint is part of the difference but I cant image it ads more than 1") and I even shortened the column a bit to minimize u-joint bind. I also moved my entire rack towards the passengers side That IMHO made for a cleaner install BUT added more angle to the steering shaft.
Also some u-joints are built to work to more extreme angles. the ones I have are budget minded e-bay joints and are not as good as some of the others on the market.
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My driver side bracket was situated on the inside of the frame like the Unisteer. Today, on a whim, I moved the bracket to the outside of the frame like you (Daze) and Dan. Obviously, the input shaft moved significantly toward the frame, which ended up working out even better. The upshot is the lower shaft shrunk about 3" down to to 5.75" OAL still with single universals on both ends. The angles are relatively mild now and there's still no binding. However, the clamp bolt for the lower universal fouls the frame so I'll have to move it away and down about .25" before I finalize the bracket. I'll figure out how to load pictures when I'm at the PC but for now, based on what I'm seeing, I'm still highly confident I'll get there with the single universals. I really appreciate all the input you guys have provided so far and hope I can return the favor at some point. - Garrett
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Did the dry test 2.0 today now that the new rubber is on the car. I could still see flex from the steering shaft support bracket when turning the steering wheel. The previous reinforcing I tried is still not strong enough. So, back to the drawing board. One thing is for sure, the next bracket will be thicker, wider and with larger gusset plates.
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even my 3/8" bracket with 1" rib still has a little flex. your probably not going to get all of it out just most. the reality is the car will be moving as you steer even if you loose power assist so the system should see the kind of stress the dry test simulates.
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Where did you guys buy your steering U joints for the swap?
IS one better then the other?
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I got mine from eBay. Wornt terribly expensive however there are better u joints out there that can handle steeper angles. If either gotten the better you joints with steeper angle capability it would've made my install little bit easier.
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