From what I understand, there are more then a few different steering racks manufactured for our Fox bodies, such as TRW, etc.
And, they are not interchangable?
How do I tell the difference?
I've had a dozen or so racks in my two cars. TRW and Ford both made the power racks. One has the central rack piece made in two parts, one is a one piece casting. I think the valve area is different.
As far as I know, they will all interchange one way or another.
However, I have found two types of stub shafts, one with a flat to index and one that is all round, with a master spline to use for alignment. They have different mating pieces on the lower part of the rag joint. As long as you have the correct spline type fitting on the rag joint it works. Either type part will fit on the rag joint assembly.
The hose fittings have also varied, but most replacement racks come with adapters.
T bird and related racks are the same, but the inner tie rod part is longer, and may not thread far enough into the outer tie rod to allow setting the toe in. It can be fixed by cutting off some of the tie rod, or by bottom tapping the outer tie rod threads.
I have changed or fit a rack with all of the above to one of my cars at one time or another. Finally went manual on the 82!
RD probably knows better than I, but on my stock rack, i found the part of the rack where the steering shaft goes into the rack (at the pinch bolt) and below that boss, was the part number. i decoded it and went from there. (It was a Ford Q.R. rack).
Ok guy's, great info.
But, how would I identify what rack I have? do I need to pull it first?
Should I just try to get the part # as you said Hissin50?
Is there a way to tell if it is the splined or flat shaft without pulling it apart.
Because, being the lazy bastard I am, I would like to replace it with the same type.
I will defer that to RD - he has a lot more experience and info with the different racks and their interchangability. Once i knew what I had, I simply asked for the same thing. RD probably knows if something is better than what you have.
I have replaced a few racks on my cars and actually just did another this weekend. When you buy a rebuilt rack at the parts store, even if you specifically ask for whatever year rack for a GT, the parts guy will ask if you want the TRW rack, Ford rack with one piece bushings, Ford rack with 2 piece bushings, and if car is equiped with performance suspension or not. Answer wrong and you end up with the 4cyl rack. It will bolt right in place of the V8 rack but will have the slower ratio. I have yet to have a car that was equipped with a TRW rack so I dont know what application they are used in. All my racks have had the Ford logo stamped into the case near the driver side bushing if memory serves. All of my cars also use the 2 piece bushings so again I dont know what application used the one piece bushings. I buy alot of auto parts so my parts guy was happy to order all 4 racks so that I could compare and twist em around to compare lock to lock turns. The one listed for performance suspension turned out to be the one for a 5.0 car but it only comes with the one piece bushings. Other suppliers may have it with the other bushings but this particular rebuilder didnt offer them that way. When I replaced the rack in my 86, the PS line connection at the rack was a different style than any of the later racks I have done. I have also found that there are at least 2 styles of fittings at the pump. The fitting is interchangeable from pump to pump and doesnt seem to be based on if its a 4cyl or V8 pump because I used a V8 line when I changed to the V8 rack on one of my previously 4cyl cars and the fitting on the V8 pump was different but I was able to take the correct fitting from an old 4cyl pump I have lying around. I also compared the 4cyl and V8 line at the parts store and all the fittings were the same so I am assuming that any fitting variations must be year dependant.