steering racks - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

eage8 · 12-02-2009, 12:43 PM

ok, so I finally got my power steering working on my car after my swap and now I remember how horrible that rack is...

first: The power steering is horrible and has no feed back what so ever. This is most likely because it's a Toyota and there is nothing I can do about it except for going to a manual rack :-P

second: the steering ratio is horrible. I go around decently small turns and have to turn the steering wheel almost a full turn, this may be made to seem much worse than it actually is by my giant stock steering wheel (which has been compared to a bus steering wheel by many...)

so I'm in a pickle. I would like to convert to a manual rack, but not only will that have an even worse steering ratio, but I've heard it requires a new steering column.

I could just de-power my current rack (the wrong or right way, I'd have to see how un-liveable the wrong way is first.) (wrong way = looping the lines at the rack)

So finally here are my questions:

does anyone know if the GT-S rack is faster than the SR5 rack? I know it's slightly different because it has the vacuum line outputs on it, but I don't know if the ratios different.

has anyone tried putting a quickener on their steering column? how'd it go :P .

eage8 · 12-02-2009, 01:01 PM

So after googling some I found good old AE92gts.com:

http://www.ae92gts.com/ae92gts_gen_dim.html

it seems like the GT-S does have a different rack. (a "Variable ratio rack and pinion")

has anyone driven both an SR5 and a GT-S that can compare them?

Donald · 12-02-2009, 01:16 PM

I haven't driven an SR-5, but I have a GT-S and had a sedan. I can't really say that I feel a difference, but maybe I need to drive them back-to-back.

Have your alignment checked. It can make quite a difference to the feel.
Toe in will make the car feel like it wants to wonder from side to side, but will also make the steering feel lighter.
Toe out will have the opposite effect.

eage8 · 12-02-2009, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donald

I haven't driven an SR-5, but I have a GT-S and had a sedan. I can't really say that I feel a difference, but maybe I need to drive them back-to-back.

Have your alignment checked. It can make quite a difference to the feel.
Toe in will make the car feel like it wants to wonder from side to side, but will also make the steering feel lighter.
Toe out will have the opposite effect.

hrm, I'll have to look at the FSM when I get home. Maybe it explains the differences between the racks.

I get my alignment checked fairly regularly. I'll play around with toe, but I'd rather change that to make turn in and response better not steering feel. Hopefully if I increase the caster a good bit it'll make the steering feel a bit heavier.

***SCT*** · 12-02-2009, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eage8

Hopefully if I increase the caster a good bit it'll make the steering feel a bit heavier.

Wouldn't that add more strain to the power steering and kill it? If you want that, I say remove the 'power'. My friend did it to his civic and it's going fine so far.

Yea, looks like if you swap for the VRP, you're gonna need an extra foot when doing a you turn :p At least the steering response comes up a bit.

4doorGTS · 12-02-2009, 04:03 PM

I am not 100 percent sure on this but here's my take, as far as I know the vacuum valve on the rack helps the gts's have a light steering feel at low rpm's then once you open up and vacuum decreases you'll have a heavier feel. I have owned both a sr5 and gts but can't remember exactly as I do not drive them quite as hard as you guys. I would like to know if the gts has a better ratio as well. I was debating for a while if I should go with a gts rack in the sedan, but didn't want to spend the money on a new one.

If I can find time somehow I have both a gts rack and a sedan one I can compare.

Blof-fan · 12-02-2009, 04:35 PM

I overhauled my GT-S manual rack (If you like to see pictures, see my website).

And I have got a P/S rack from a GT-Z lying around...should dismantle that one to take a look at the differences...Not going to use it.

Maybe I'll take a look at it some day

eage8 · 12-02-2009, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blof-fan

I overhauled my GT-S manual rack (If you like to see pictures, see my website).

And I have got a P/S rack from a GT-Z lying around...should dismantle that one to take a look at the differences...Not going to use it.

Maybe I'll take a look at it some day

wow, you should test the turns from lock to lock on the GTZ rack and I might be interested in buying it off you

Could someone with a GT-S test their turns from lock to lock on their racks? That should be a decent way to compare ratios. I'll test it on my SR5 when I get home.

Blof-fan · 12-02-2009, 04:52 PM

Euh...like I said...I have it laying around...can try to turn it by hand though.
But I don't really think it is different than the GT-S P/S rack.

eage8 · 12-02-2009, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blof-fan

Euh...like I said...I have it laying around...can try to turn it by hand though.
But I don't really think it is different than the GT-S P/S rack.

yeah, I was thinking turn it by hand or with vice grips or something

most of the cars I've worked on have had several different steering rack ratios between models. 2nd gen RX-7s have 3, imprezas have at least 3 probably more.

I'd be interested to see if the GT-Z rack is faster.

you could also open it up and out the number of teeth

eage8 · 12-02-2009, 07:09 PM

I just counted my Turns lock to lock and it's 3.4 for my SR5 rack.

Blof-fan · 12-04-2009, 11:14 AM

I'll have a look at both my manual rack and the GT-Z P/S rack when I'm in my workshop again. But that won't be in the next couple of days. Not much time at the moment.

But I'll get back to you on this...

eage8 · 12-04-2009, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blof-fan

I'll have a look at both my manual rack and the GT-Z P/S rack when I'm in my workshop again. But that won't be in the next couple of days. Not much time at the moment.

But I'll get back to you on this...

awesome.

Can someone test their power GT-S rack?

4doorGTS · 12-04-2009, 06:31 PM

I just tested both a gts rack and a sedan rack, depending on where you start counting from I guess but I got 3 turns lock to lock for both of them. I feel better about not having a gts rack in my sedan now but also was hoping the gts would have a quicker ratio deep down. I would have changed racks if that was the case. I know some guys on club4ag had a gb on replacement gears for the aw11/ae86 non-power steering rack, wonder if its interchangeable with our cars?

Blof-fan · 12-08-2009, 04:07 PM

Ok, I was in my workshop today and looked at the steering racks

The manual GT-S rack: 4 turns lock to lock
The P/S GT-Z rack: 2,5 turns lock to lock

Picture of the GT-Z rack, just in case It might be different: