Steering racks - 4cyl vs. V8 rack?

MrKwik

Founding Member

Jan 29, 2000

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Kansas City, Kansas

May 11, 2005

#1

• May 11, 2005

• #1

Anyone know how to visually tell a V8 rack from a 4Cyl rack. I bought a reman rack from the auto parts store for a GT to replace a 4cyl rack. When the parts cat looked it up in the computer, it showed the same part numbers for V8 or 4 cyl cars. It did ask some questions about 1 piece or 2 piece bushings and ford or TRW gears but which would be the high ratio V8 rack and how can I tell by looking if thats the one I got?

 

MrKwik

Founding Member

Jan 29, 2000

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Kansas City, Kansas

May 12, 2005

#2

• May 12, 2005

• #2

anybody....anybody?

 

M

mikeflys1

Founding Member

Aug 27, 2002

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CT

May 12, 2005

#3

• May 12, 2005

• #3

Visually you cant. When i was converting my old 4cyl i put in the "quick ratio" one and they looked exactly the same.

 

T

tjm73

Founding Member

Aug 3, 2000

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Rush, NY

May 12, 2005

#4

• May 12, 2005

• #4

The factory quick ratio rack had the ratio ink stamped on it.

 

MrKwik

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Jan 29, 2000

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Kansas City, Kansas

May 12, 2005

#5

• May 12, 2005

• #5

tjm73 said:

The factory quick ratio rack had the ratio ink stamped on it.

Click to expand...

This is a reman rack thats painted black so I assume that any ink stamping is long gone.

 

MrKwik

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Jan 29, 2000

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Kansas City, Kansas

May 12, 2005

#6

• May 12, 2005

• #6

OK, I just went out to compare the new rack to the one on my 4cyl notch. The notch will turn exactly 2.5 turns stop to stop. The new one will turn just a butt hair over 3 turns. Now Im really confused. I mean the rack in my 4cyl car should have more turns if the new rack it the V8 rack or at least the same if they gave me a 4 cyl rack right? How many turns should a V8 rack have?

 

OL' WHITEY

New Member

Jan 28, 2004

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Weddington, NC

May 13, 2005

#7

• May 13, 2005

• #7

Take this rack back and order an AGR rack from Summit. Trust me on this. I've gone through two replacement racks from Advance Auto. The car has wandered on the road ever since I took the original rack off (due to worn inner tie rods). The replacement racks are crap. The inner tie rods start to pop in less than six months. I'm still running one, but as soon as I can get through a couple of other projects, I'm going with the AGR unit.

 

rd

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Jan 12, 2000

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Ocean Springs MS

May 13, 2005

#8

• May 13, 2005

• #8

There are several variations on Mustang racks, and most will fit one way or another. Between two cars, since 1981, I have changed at least a dozen, and my lifetime warranty Pep Boys unit is failing now.

If possible, the quick ratio rack should be used with a gt pump, which supposedly has a higher flowrate to match the quicker movement.

The slower racks will work fine with any pump.

Beware, there are two types of stub shafts, fully splined and ones with an index flat, and Tbird racks have longer tie rods, but can be fit to a Mustang if you just bottom tap the outer end threads with your handy 9/16 fine tap.

Line fittings also vary, but there are adapter kits, that allow fitup of most variations.