AWD Rack and Pinion install
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2019 9:12 pm
Well a Durango R&P unit finally fell into my lap so I figured I should do something with it. Timing really couldn't have been much better as I recently snapped off the drivers side idler out in the way back. But that is another story (Astros will steer with only one idler as long as you tie the broken one up out of the way), heck, steered as well as these vans ever do!
I had decided on a Durango R&P some years ago, due mostly to the fact they use the same size hose fittings as our vans and that magically the hoses might work. Also the Durango has 7" of travel, more than enough. Lastly the mounts are toward the bottom/rear rather than the front which I thought would lend itself better to the mounting arrangement I had envisioned.
Durango R&P with tie rods removed I live pretty remotely so I wanted this project to be as simple as I could make it with the least amount of fabrication (though there is still plenty). This project involved some liberal use of a cutoff wheel on an angle grinder so if you are squeamish when it comes to cutting chunks of metal off your sub-frame you may wish to stop reading now...
I had seen where a guy had pulled off something similar on the other forum. He did an immaculate job but had the benefit of a sub-frame sans body. I was hoping for something a little simpler that I could hopefully pull off "in car." This project was also carried out using simple tools (with exception to the lathe: the aforementioned angle grinder, tablesaw with cutoff wheel, lathe and of course the standard array of hand tools. The van was never jacked (ramps only), and the only parts that needed to be removed (that weren't being discarded) was the swaybar (to allow removal of the OEM steering box). Also, this is my garage. And this is my work bench Before I got into this project to much I had to do a little research on steering geometry, and soon after I learned that a "plug and play" option was out of the question. Rather, I would use the R&P to "drive" the existing Astro crosslink and tie rod ends. Doing so, I would eliminate those damn idler arms as well as the steering box and draglink; this cuts the number of moving joints from 10 to four and by using the existing crosslink and tierods there would be no need to ream the steering knuckles and all the OEM geometry would be retained.
I had hoped to mount the R&P to a"simple" mounting frame bolted to the front lower control are pivot bolts. But after pulling all the OEM parts out and holding the R&P in place I found that it would need to be rotated forward slightly, so mounting was going to be a little bit more problematic. Also, because the hose ports are to the rear I would need to whittle away a little at the left front diff frame mount.
I had decided on a Durango R&P some years ago, due mostly to the fact they use the same size hose fittings as our vans and that magically the hoses might work. Also the Durango has 7" of travel, more than enough. Lastly the mounts are toward the bottom/rear rather than the front which I thought would lend itself better to the mounting arrangement I had envisioned.
Durango R&P with tie rods removed I live pretty remotely so I wanted this project to be as simple as I could make it with the least amount of fabrication (though there is still plenty). This project involved some liberal use of a cutoff wheel on an angle grinder so if you are squeamish when it comes to cutting chunks of metal off your sub-frame you may wish to stop reading now...
I had seen where a guy had pulled off something similar on the other forum. He did an immaculate job but had the benefit of a sub-frame sans body. I was hoping for something a little simpler that I could hopefully pull off "in car." This project was also carried out using simple tools (with exception to the lathe: the aforementioned angle grinder, tablesaw with cutoff wheel, lathe and of course the standard array of hand tools. The van was never jacked (ramps only), and the only parts that needed to be removed (that weren't being discarded) was the swaybar (to allow removal of the OEM steering box). Also, this is my garage. And this is my work bench Before I got into this project to much I had to do a little research on steering geometry, and soon after I learned that a "plug and play" option was out of the question. Rather, I would use the R&P to "drive" the existing Astro crosslink and tie rod ends. Doing so, I would eliminate those damn idler arms as well as the steering box and draglink; this cuts the number of moving joints from 10 to four and by using the existing crosslink and tierods there would be no need to ream the steering knuckles and all the OEM geometry would be retained.
I had hoped to mount the R&P to a"simple" mounting frame bolted to the front lower control are pivot bolts. But after pulling all the OEM parts out and holding the R&P in place I found that it would need to be rotated forward slightly, so mounting was going to be a little bit more problematic. Also, because the hose ports are to the rear I would need to whittle away a little at the left front diff frame mount.