Rack & PInion Install

[Cobra]

that is seriously pro.... i see a business oppertunity

[Rebel]

Skips good, no doubt about that. I'm headed to the garage now to get started on this jewel.

Hey Larry you got to stop coming up with these new ideas.It could cause me more work than I had planned for.

Gary,,all the blame should be directed down towards Orlando way. He's the one who brought this whole deal up in the first place.

Skip,,told ya you better get the material in stock.

[SafariRob]

Y'know, guys, with all this talk about racks, I'm really surprised that nothing has been posted in the Anything Goes section.
Are we getting old or what?

[Rebel]

Y'know, guys, with all this talk about racks, I'm really surprised that nothing has been posted in the Anything Goes section.
Are we getting old or what?

LOL,,a local did kill a 12 point this year. Big deer with a huge rack.

[Rebel]

Got er done. After Skip doing all the work there was nothing to installing the rack. The worst part was working with it by myself and trying to get everything lined up for the bracket welds.
I installed the shaft and spherical fitting bracket first. The shaft has the Astro fitting at the top and then changes out to a Mustang fitting on the other end and has a total of 3 u-joints. The slide joint and spherical fitting allow for any adjustments that might need to be made. Of course no adjustments needed, Skip had to have tried all this on his Son's van before he shipped it to me. Everything was exactly right.



Second u-joint just before the spherical fitting. The bracket for the spherical fitting uses the same bolts and holes in frame that held the Astro gear box.




Third u-joint on the Mustang fitting to rack shaft.


Rack installed along with the high and low pressure hoses. I put a slight flare on the high pressure tubing from the Mustang and pump side so it should stay on ok. Got a boot there on the driver side that I never sled back into position after removing the travel limiters from inside the rack. By removing the limiters or stops, which are C-shaped pieces of plastic inside each end on the rack, you gain more travel. I see I forgot to install the lock nuts Skip sent so I'll be changing those on the rack brackets you see in the pic.




That's it folks.
Thanks Skip for all the great fab work and for the answers to at least a thousand questions I had before this mod. got started. You're a real jewel my man. A true professional at what you do. Everything fit like a glove and I appreciate all your work.

[astronut74]

Now that's beautiful!! So, why isn't this stickied yet? Larry, now it looks like you can kick back and down a few .

[SafariRob]

...The worst part was working with it by myself and trying to get everything lined up for the bracket welds.

Larry, you mean to tell us that Skip didn't stop by and help you install the parts?
Skip, Skip, where's your sense of brotherhood?

Just kidding, Skip! Great work on the parts. In fact, it just may be something I need to do to my 89...

[Smiliesafari]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. It's what I do. Building things is what I love. I don't get to do enough of it. I do mostly general mechanic stuff. It's kind of boring but it brings home the bacon.
Larry.... Man, you knocked that one OUT. Nice install. I'm proud of you Bro. One thing though. I'm not sure the pressure hose will stay together with just a clamp. GM steering pumps can generate as much as 1100 PSI. And that's the reason they use a special high pressure hose with crimped high pressure fittings. Because you have a Ford fitting on one end and a GM fitting on the other you need to fabricate a special high pressure hose. If you want, I can make up that hose for you. Just let me know. And again, NICE JOB.

[HPbyStan]

*

[Rebel]

Thanks to everyone and thanks to you Skip.
I had debated on using the HP hose so I hung on to it. In fact I have new one still in the box. Didn't you say you silver soldered the Ford to the GM tubing ? Understand about solder pulling toward O-ring. I was a pipefiter in another time and just about all I did was silver solder large copper tubing. Been a long time though,,what % mix did you use for that pressure ? To tell you the truth, I had no idea the GM pump made that kind of pressure. One of our old quick fixes was putting a slight flare in the tubing to keep the hose clamp from sliding off. Usually worked but have to clean end of tubing real well to keep from cutting small pieces of rubber off inside when sliding hose over flare
Thanks for the offer on making the HP hose but you've done more than enough.
Thanks again Skip

[phr1$k37]

That is super purrrrty! WOW!

[Smiliesafari]

Larry, I'll check on the mixture. I don't have that spec in my brain at the moment. It just occurred to me that you can silver solder the GM end to the Ford hose. That way the heat from the silver soldering won't bother the 'O' ring in the Ford hose fitting. :-k

[peter]

Awesome install. Looks clean too! Kudos Larry, You're good, Smiley!

[LiftedAWDAstro]

AWESOME job!!!! =D>

How close to the road is it? I would add some sort of skid plate around it unless your roads way down there are better than ours! I would be afraid of hitting some debris and smashing the rack.

[Merlin]

Great write up and love the pictures. Let us know how this works out while driving for a few miles. Looks like a winner from here.