1965 Mustang Rack and Pinion

8025dave · Jun 1, 2009

I have a TCP rack that predates any info on the Total Control website. It is installed on my 65 coupe. It is built for a 67-70, not a 65, so its a little wide. I am worried about bump steer issues due to the tie rods overall length being about 2' shorter on each side. Is anybody familiar with this rack? Any experience with bump steer associated with such a setup?

Also, I will probably change this out for something better suited the suspension geometry of the 65. Anybody have any sources on what racks work well? It looks like a lot of the aftermarket stuff is OEM based.

Thanks

rebel65 · Jun 1, 2009

Hi Dave, welcome

just do a search this forum for "rack and pinion" you'll find more than your fair share of posts.

tweet66 · Jun 1, 2009

Is this the rack they first came to market with? Looks alot like a pinto manual rack? If so, I have this on my 66 coupe. I can tell you that with my car lowered 1.5" all the way around AND Granada brakes I have massive bump steer

truck90278 · Jun 1, 2009

try talking to TCP? They've always been responsive to any questions I've had

5280/4 · Jun 2, 2009

is this the rack with the center take-off. If so the channel that bolts on can be redrilled to accomodate longer tierods.

the tcp rack i have in my 65 came with the channel drilled for both 65 and 67. the 65 mustang needs to have a tie rod seperation of 18.25"

to minimize bump steer start with tryin to make the tie rod parallel to the LCA with the same length of 13.5" long.

8025dave · Jun 2, 2009

Looks like it is made by TRW and used on a bunch of Ford cars in the 80's. AKA. Pinto Rack. It is not the center take-off mount style. It has a U shaped bar that replaces the original cross member, and the rack is about 4”rear of this mounted with 2 large blue CNC aluminum brackets. It is definitely distinctive looking.

That is a bummer about the bump steer. Since its already mounted and I have fabricated a ton of small parts to use it, it will stay for now.

tweet66: Do you have adjustable bump steer tie rod ends? Since my car is light with aluminum heads, fiberglass hood, has stiff springs (450lbs) and limited suspension travel, maybe it will be ok for now.

I should mention that TCP was helpful in giving information, but they didn’t seem to want any association with this unit. I believe it was made before the current ownership bought the company.

5280/4 · Jun 2, 2009

what is the length of the tie rods?
What is the dimension between the end link on the rack?
post some pics, please.
The adjustable bump steer just changes the connection point on the spindle. this is simply to make the LCA and steering linkages parrallel. i made my own by drilling out the spindle to 0.495" and replaced the tapered tie rod with a 1/2" bolt and a rodend.

tweet66 · Jun 2, 2009

8025dave said:
Looks like it is made by TRW and used on a bunch of Ford cars in the 80's. AKA. Pinto Rack. It is not the center take-off mount style. It has a U shaped bar that replaces the original cross member, and the rack is about 4”rear of this mounted with 2 large blue CNC aluminum brackets. It is definitely distinctive looking.

That is a bummer about the bump steer. Since its already mounted and I have fabricated a ton of small parts to use it, it will stay for now.

tweet66: Do you have adjustable bump steer tie rod ends? Since my car is light with aluminum heads, fiberglass hood, has stiff springs (450lbs) and limited suspension travel, maybe it will be ok for now.

I'm in the process of hooking up a bump steer kit but I'm seriously considering building my own cross member and using a J-car rack. The cars not going to be in the ground any time soon (new floors going in over the next couple of weekends) and switching back to the original spindles for 13 Cobra brakes, so I have some time to figure it out.

jikelly · Jun 3, 2009

Welcome to the forum Dave!!

Glad to see you are getting your questions answered. I knew the guys here could help you better than I could with sorting the rack.

8025dave · Jun 3, 2009

Response to all:

The length of the tie rods is about 10”. The length of the LCA is about 12.5”. These are rough dimensions.

Tie rod ends:
I used a ¾” rod end, drilled out spindle to .500, and made reducing bushing for the tie rod end. See pic. Similar to aftermarket parts but bigger (most kits use a ½” rod end). Bump steer geometry is pretty close (tie rod arm and LCA parallel), but I have not adjusted it yet. This is the trial assembly. Like I said in previous post, the problem lies in the racks overall width (centr-centr). My car is light and has stiff springs. I also had to limit upward travel to compensate for the offset of the wheels. Perhaps this will help reduce bump steer.

As a side note I also trimmed the LCA’s about .5” where the rod-end joint goes in on the inboard side. This an idea I had and confirmed by TCP to tuck the wheels in further to allow more upward wheel travel.

The 1st & 2nd pic show the rack. The 3rd and 4th show the tie rod ends. The last 2 pics shows the trimmed LCA and rod end that attaches it to the car. I am just posting these to share. I got my questions answered: No this is not the right rack for a 65 stang. Yes there will be bump steer issues.
Thanks

Attach: 2342,2343, 2344, 2340, 2357, 2380

8025dave · Jun 3, 2009

Pics...

8025dave · Jun 3, 2009

Last of pics. 6 total.

5280/4 · Jun 3, 2009

here is a crappy picture bumpsteer diagram that i did a quick drawing.

this looking from the front on the driver side.

The dashed shows the line the inner mounting point of the tie rod should be mounted on. the only way to adjust this on your rack would be to move the rack up or down.

The red line is the tie rods and the black cross is where it mounts to the spindle, the steering arm that u drilled out to 3/4"

the blue lines are the control arms.

I hope this helps.

unfortunatly, with the short tie rods it will be hard to remove all bump steer.

5280/4 · Jun 3, 2009

also take a look at the suspension i built for my 65 falcon, you might be interested.

here are sime links

http://forums.stangnet.com/786029-new-custom-suspension.html

as well as the blog in my signature

8025dave · Jun 3, 2009

I saw your pics. Very nice work. I started down this path then stopped after buying all the 4130, bending, and threading it. I found some ebay TCP control arms and fabricated upper and lower shock mounts with QA1 coil overs. I also fabricated the tubular strut brace sytem similar to TCP.

I can actually move the whole rack up and down the way it is mounted. However the best location is all the way up, to minimize the steering column angle and u-joint binding.

Do you have a better pic of your bump steer diagram? That one is too low res to read. Thanks
Dave

5280/4 · Jun 3, 2009

i will try to get a better pic. Im at work an cant access a host for pics like, photobucket. so i tried to upload the pic here and it kept telling me the pic was to big so i kept resizing it. and now its hard to read. i will work around this and get something up shortly.

tweet66 · Jun 3, 2009

Dave, that's the same rack I have... I like the bump steer setup especially the adjuster sleeves

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