914turboford

I recently got my 75 mercedes 280 sedan running with an LR4. I used the stock mercedes front suspension but put in a rear stear Toyota steering rack because the stock steering wouldn't fit. After the first few low speed drives it became clear that there wasn't enough steering travel so I shortened the steering arms and moved the rack from 6.5" away from the ball joint pivot to abour 4" away. I had bump steer issues before moving the rack and, of course, they are exacerbated by moving the rack closer to the ball joints. I have the tie rods close to parallel with the ground but the bump steer is intolerable. Should I try angling them up and down? I guess what I really want is them to be parallel to the theoretical arm which the two a arms generate, right? Any thoughts?

rotor vs. piston

iTrader: (3)

The pivot on the inner tie-rod should about the same place as the pivot for the lower control arm. Basically it's important that they move in the same arc, which it sounds like isn't happening.

I've seen some companies/people take whatever rack they wanted to use and then make brackets that connected to that, that located the inner tie-rod pickup point in the location needed for the arc to be correct.

bczee

iTrader: (12)

There are some good write up on the web.. There are many aftermarket kits out there to convert cars. But I would do a lot more research before installing one. As well as modifying one.

http://www.circletrack.com/chassiste...d/viewall.html

http://www.i-car.com/pdf/advantage/o...003/090203.pdf

http://www.longacreracing.com/articles/art.asp?ARTID=13

sierrac3_s2000

iTrader: (6)

I think your best bet would be to have a custom rack made to your dimensions. They are around $400 to $500 so its not a huge expense and should solve your problem. Here are a few companies that offer them in custom lengths.

http://www.cachassisworks.com/cac_pr...anualRack.html

http://www.unisteer.com/custom_built_rack_pinions.html

http://www.flamingriver.com/index.ph...nd-pinion-FAQs

914turboford

Thanks for the replies. I did some research and on one site found that I should have my tie rods parallel to the lower control arm. I tried that and it seems to have corrected most of the bump steer. Based on a low speed test drive yesterday I think it is at acceptable levels. One thing I should mention is that my tie rods are not the same length. The passenger side is about 2" longer than the driver's side.This was necessary to center the steering. I agree that the rack I have is not ideal. I went to the JY and got one that was as close to my needs as I could find but I still cut the steel body and rotated it 90 degrees to get the hard lines out of the way of the oil pan.