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Recirculating Ball vs Rack and Pinion


AALAWS

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Hey folks,

So I have investigated the option of fitting Rack and Pinion steering to my KE25 Corolla.
With out delving uber deep into the science, I have ascertained that a AW11 MR2 rack, with KE70 brackets to mount it to the cross member, a KP starlet steering shaft and uni, and possibly some starlet outer tie rod ends.....it should work.

I'm at the point where I need to make the decision in my build to do it, or lose it and keep the standard recirculating ball set up......

Is it worth it to convert it? what will the benefits be for a road car (with 20v Blacktop 4age)......is it worth doing it? Yeah nah?

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I guess it depends what your using the car for, but a change to rack done correctly will make a much nicer car to drive IMO, and at a guess for a ke25 i think a starlet rack+housing+mounts would be about right for the bumpsteer, ke70 housing is ~1" wider so if anything you may need the starlet housing with the ke70 shaft inside,

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4 hours ago, ajg193 said:

Do you get any road feedback with recirculating ball? Less slop with rack

Last time I drove one was about 17 yrs ago so I can't say......
I assume a rack would be better than the standard set up, but just not sure if the gains will be worth the effort you know?

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A rack is more 'direct' feeling. 

However the biggest thing is getting the geometry correct. It is surprising how many people fit racks to improve handling, but end up making it considerably worse by not understanding how rack height/steering arm length etc all affects geometry 

I had a look at a car on monday that had a 1uz put in it and they had fitted a commodore rack to clear the sump. They had put the rack where it fitted, but it was too low, and it had 80mm of toe change from ride height to full droop. 

Another example on Tuesday of a charger with an aussie rack kit, its finally ok now the rack was lowered 20mm to correct the bump steer, previously it was about 50mm over its full range of travel fitted as per the instructions.  Which is twice as much as a standard one has.

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I'm thinking I might put it in the "Meh" pile.......
As a first build i've already got my hands pretty full. I found a pretty detailed break down on rolla club of a switch but it's using completely different parts (struts, LCA's, steering arms, non factory column and top end etc).

I'll set it up as standard for now and if it ever gets finished I'll drive it a wee bit and assess again then.

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5 hours ago, MaxPower said:

please go ahead and put a rack in your ke25 so i know what parts to use in mine. the steering is the one thing i would like to address in my track car, just doesn't feel good at all, could be the wide tyres on the front though. 

Look up the one on rollaclub, it's pretty thorough, just different parts compared to my setup. The pic above is from another rollaclub post from a guy in Dunedin, he used all the bits I mentioned in the first post.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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