who trust flaming river?

RAYZEN CAINE · Jan 15, 2008

I was looking at some older post on flaming river. And I saw a thread that is making me a little nervous about there steering shaft, but I only found one bad thread on them. Does anybody have any experience with flaming river?

I bought a parts car with the flaming river rack & pinion, steering shaft on it. And I'm on the fence about reusing the steering shaft on my project car.

Thanks

Darkwriter77 · Jan 15, 2008

Could you elaborate on (or post a link to the thread) what it is, exactly, that makes you feel leery about the Flaming River steering shaft and/or rack?

stang&2Birds · Jan 15, 2008

I assume you're talking about:

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=731272&highlight=flaming+river

First: I have to say you're VERY LUCKY you didn't ask this on the corral. If you did, I would be very frank about what I thought about someone seeing that thread and then going with POS Flaming River and not MM.

But, I do have to ask. Did "voices" tell you that MM will eat your soul if you buy anything from them? If not, I'm completely confused.

Heck, I didn't even get into how INFERIOR the Flaming River design is compared to the MM design since it doesn't allow for the real-life movement ("length-wise") between the steering rack and the steering column.

Last: Unless you're a Principal Engineer with a Mechanical degree and 10+ years experience, *what* that I posted didn't make sense?

Do a search on the corral. You can see what others, also with engineering degrees and /or mechanical experience, also said when I dared to point out the issues. Many people just say "XYZ" sucks. I say WHY and back it up!

stang&2Birds · Jan 15, 2008

See also:
http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=980065&highlight=flaming+river

FYI:

stangPlus2Birds said:
Some info:

FYI:
I wish that other people came forward before and said what a HUGE POS the flaming river steering shaft is. Since my post, I've heard from people that have had the set bolt and nuts come loose and also knew/suspected that it was a bad design.

Well, unlike the morons that designed that shaft, I do Mechanical Engineer professional. I'm mainly a Computer Engineer. But I have my 3 years of ME schooling also, and I often do "not very complex" mechanical stuff. I brought the shaft to work and showed the Principal MEs the design. They either broke out in laughter, or had a near heart attack knowing that people are driving with those things on the same street they they and their families drive on. I didn't know about the MM shaft back then. If I did, I would have never gotten the Flaming river shaft.

http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=833174&highlight=flaming+river
http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=828645&highlight=flaming+river

If you showed just the two following images to any Mechanical Engineering student and they couldn't immediately see many problems with the design, then I think that any University would be fully justified flunking them out of school! And, I say that as a former engineering teacher! Uhm, ignore the length of the bar stock. It's the depth of the screws and the flat locking nuts "locking against" the round body. Plus, the moronic very shallow depth that flaming river suggests for a counter sink. For one thing, WHY so shallow? Geez, do they know anything at that company?

Close up of the Flaming River rod and joint assembled:

Another close up of the Flaming River rod and joint assembled:

Flaming River shaft instructions:

My solution to the POS Flaming River design. Compare the counter sink amount to the pictures above. Also, the JB Weld I used was has a very high temp rating (the shaft is next to the headers).

Here is how much I did the counter-sink for the screws. You can see the difference in height in the set-screws fro the side and the flat.

The JB-Weld job isn't pretty, but MY steering assembly is never coming apart!

IMHO, the MM design is tons better!

PUNISHER RACING · Jan 15, 2008

I just welded mine I felt skiddish about the set screws also

stang&2Birds · Jan 15, 2008

PUNISHER RACING said:
I just welded mine I felt skiddish about the set screws also

My guess is that you're also very good at welding (going by reading your posts). All of the Mechanical Engineers (all had over 15 years experience in aero-space) that I talked to didn't "feel comfortable" welding because of the risk of damage to the seals at the bearings in the u-joints. But, most of them felt that "it might be possible" (to weld and not damage the seals). We've all seen the work that top welders can do. However, none of us are in that class.

I was going to use "blue death" (commonly used in aerospace and military applications). But, "by the specs", JB Weld seemed better with regards to heat. Also, we have been able to (mega) heat parts (for a long time) that have been "blue death-ed" together and get them apart. But, that was after high heat for many many hours. "Blue Death" has been used for ?20+? years and is approved by NASA and DoD for many applications. And, I know that people have used JB Weld on heads and so on, and it's seems to hold up.

strtrcr50 · Jan 15, 2008

In the event of a front end hit, I would prefer a collapsing steering shaft. MM for me when I get one.

PUNISHER RACING · Jan 15, 2008

whats it matter the steering column is bolted securely in 4 places under the dash so its not gonna give anyway...........I tig welded it in place!

ttop88 · Jan 16, 2008

PUNISHER RACING said:
whats it matter the steering column is bolted securely in 4 places under the dash so its not gonna give anyway...........I tig welded it in place!

+1 on both counts. Mine has 200,000 miles on it also. Was on the road for 7 years with no problams. Now it on the garage floor. (put the car back stock and sold it.)

strtrcr50 · Jan 16, 2008

Something in the steering column has to give if it's a hard enough hit.

SVT32VDOHC · Jan 16, 2008

I wouldn't want anything that was "flaming" in or near my car.

Dean85GT · Jan 16, 2008

what about their manual racks?

85_SS_302_Coupe · Jan 16, 2008

I'd use their racks but not the steering shafts.

RAYZEN CAINE · Jan 16, 2008

stang&2Birds said:
I assume you're talking about:

http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=731272&highlight=flaming+river

First: I have to say you're VERY LUCKY you didn't ask this on the corral. If you did, I would be very frank about what I thought about someone seeing that thread and then going with POS Flaming River and not MM.

But, I do have to ask. Did "voices" tell you that MM will eat your soul if you buy anything from them? If not, I'm completely confused.

Heck, I didn't even get into how INFERIOR the Flaming River design is compared to the MM design since it doesn't allow for the real-life movement ("length-wise") between the steering rack and the steering column.

Last: Unless you're a Principal Engineer with a Mechanical degree and 10+ years experience, *what* that I posted didn't make sense?

Do a search on the corral. You can see what others, also with engineering degrees and /or mechanical experience, also said when I dared to point out the issues. Many people just say "XYZ" sucks. I say WHY and back it up!

Yes that is the post I was looking at.

Nothing against you, I was just basically asking for a second opinion that’s all. The only reason I was curious is because my parts car already has it. And I was going to put it on my project car. But after looking at the steering shaft closer, and seeing the set screws are sheered off and then on top of all the negativity with f.r. I'll just play it safe and pick up a new shaft.

I’m assuming using a flaming river rack should be ok, just stay away from the steering shaft.

who trust flaming river?

RAYZEN CAINE

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