I bought a remanufactured power rack and pinion to replace my manual rack and pinion. I also bought the brackets and all that good stuff to convert to power steering. However, after putting up a brand new power steering pump, and all the brackets and changing the alternator, i discover my brand new rack and pinion wont bolt up! The mounting holes are about 1/2" off. From center to center the mounting holes are 16" apart on both my 76 which i am working on, and my 74. The holes on the rack and pinion are about 15 and a half inches from center to center, with the bushings in place. I dont understand that. Is that just a difference between power and manual steering cars? Or is there something wrong with that new rack and pinion? If i have to elongate either or both of the holes, which one do i elongate? The new rack has 2 holes and my original unit has 3. The parts store says the computer says they interchange... but that assumes manual to manual and power to power. Help! lol. I was gonna take this car out of town tomorrow and wanted to do it with a nice tight steering instead of the sloppy steering it had. So i'm either going in my wagon, or staying home. Not sure yet. lol Any help would be appreciated guys. thnks ahead of time.
The crossmember shows to be the same 74-80 and the p/s rack&pinion shows to be the same 75-80 in the Ford parts catalog. So I would think that the bolt holes should be in the same for all Pintos with p/s. Perhaps the rack that they gave you had the wrong part in the box. The 75-78 MustangII also uses the same rack as the Pinto.
What year are you working on?
There are two different racks, the "Ford" one and TRW I think.
Don't know if that would make a difference.
Bill
Quote from: billnall on March 28, 2007, 06:21:51 PM
The crossmember shows to be the same 74-80 and the p/s rack&pinion shows to be the same 75-80 in the Ford parts catalog. So I would think that the bolt holes should be in the same for all Pintos with p/s. Perhaps the rack that they gave you had the wrong part in the box. The 75-78 MustangII also uses the same rack as the Pinto.
What year are you working on?
Im working on a 76. I ordered a rack and pinion for an 80 model since thats the car i got my core and the rest of the power steering parts from. Should be the same as a 76 tho. They should all be the same i'd think. My 74 has the same distance between the rack and pinion mounting bolts as my 76 does. (16") However my 74 has only 2 bolts where my 76 has 3. Those are supposed to interchange too. Im wondering if they didnt give me the rack and pinion for a 71-72 or a 73?
Quote from: 77turbopinto on March 28, 2007, 08:34:55 PM
There are two different racks, the "Ford" one and TRW I think.
Don't know if that would make a difference.
Bill
I'm not sure on that either. I think mine is stamped "FORD" on it... but TRW may have stamped FORD on their units i dont know. I havnt checked to see if my old manual rack says ford on it or not.
Quote from: 77turbopinto on March 28, 2007, 08:34:55 PM
There are two different racks, the "Ford" one and TRW I think.
Don't know if that would make a difference.
Bill
I do not see any TRW racks listed for Pinto/MustangII in the Ford parts catalog.
Thats probably just a book for ford only parts. The parts store asks if its ford or TRW and also how long the input shaft is on the rack.
One of the other rack and pinions bolted right up. Now the steering arm that goes from the bottom of the steering column to the ragjoint will not bolt up. The ragjoint is too thick and so they dont match up. i think i need a shorter arm, either that or the adaptor that adapts the rag joint to the rack's input shaft is too fat....not sure which.
Ford says to use D9BZ3A525A ragjoint to make the late rack fit the 74-78 Pinto. Green sales may have some.
Quote from: pintoguy76 on March 30, 2007, 05:03:53 PM
One of the other rack and pinions bolted right up. Now the steering arm that goes from the bottom of the steering column to the ragjoint will not bolt up. The ragjoint is too thick and so they dont match up. i think i need a shorter arm, either that or the adaptor that adapts the rag joint to the rack's input shaft is too fat....not sure which.
Hm.... that thing must be awfully thin lol. I'll look for one.
The splines on the shaft are different between the power steering rack and the manual steering rack. I think the shafts are the same but I am not 100% sure.
I had to buy an adaptor (flange) that goes on the bottom side of the ragjoint that connects the ragjoint to the rack. However, I think there may be a few different types of those. Mine is almost 1 1/4" thick and there is no room between it and the bottom of the steering arm, for a ragjoint. That tells me something is wrong either the arm from the column to the ragjoint is too long, or the flange is too thick. As it is, the ragjoint would have to be about 1/8" thick to go in between the arm and the flange LOL. The ragjoint is about 3/8" thick so the flange or the arm need to be shorter by about 1/4" or so.
Also, i bought a new pressure hose and the nut screwed all the way in on the pump side and wouldnt tighten anymore with the wrench. The line is loose, and will wobble up and down. The instructions say that "late" ford hoses are supposed to swivel and go up and down freely without leaking but this doesnt quite seem right to me, and, is 1980 considered a late model ford? The car now has a new power steering pump, a new pressure hose and a new rack and pinion with new inner and outter tie rod ends. I wanted to go out of town with the car the next day, I had no idea this conversion would be such a pain in the A**. lol. I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end. This car desperatly needed atleast new tie rod ends and this way it'll have new tie rod ends, and power steering which is supposed to also have a lil quicker steering ratio.
Measure the lenght of your shaft from the column to the ragjoint and I will see if I have one that is a little shorter. I have a few here at the house that I can measure against. I know the Mustang II ones are longer than the Pinto ones but I was unaware of there being a different between power steering and manual steering other than the piece that fits over the splines.
It's about 9 inches. From the flange, to the part that connects to the steering column. To be exact it was like 8 and 15/16". About 7 and 15/16" from the top of the lower arm itself down to the bottom of the flange. I think it may be the adaptor that adapts the rack to the ragjoint that has the differenece but im not sure. If you could check the arms to see if you have any shorter ones, and any of the adaptors that you may have (ragjoint to power rack adaptors) thatd be great. My adaptor is 1 and 3/16" thick. It if were closer to 1 inch or so it'd give me the room i need.
Sorry, I do not have any shorter shafts or adapters here at the house. They are the same as what you have. The one off my 73 is even longer? I do have some more in my storage area but it will be tuesday or Wednesday till I will be there.
Bill, green sales CO says that part number you gave me is that metal adaptor ive been talking about. I'm gonna go ahead and order it but im not too convinced it will work. It seems as tho I about have to cut the arm in half, take 1/4" out of it, and weld it back together to get it to work. :o Is it possible that the steering colums are different between power and manual steering cars? The only other thing it could be is that maybe the rack and pinion is still not right yet but i dont think that is the case. I'm about stumped on this. If this doesnt work, i'm going to have go back to the manual rack and pinion and I really dont want to do that. Im ready to have a nice tight suspension on that thing and with my manual rack, its quite sloppy right now.
NOOOO! Please continue, I've been planning on doing this swap and thought it was going to be a simple bolt in. I was more worried about installing a different pump then anything. I've been watching this post and hoping to see you finish this.
Oh i dont seriously plan on giving up that easy trust me. LOL. I may have to put it back together with the manual steering to drive it out of my driveway and to place where i can work on it, but with me having as much money into this project as i have, i'm not about to seriously give up on it. I'll pull the steering column and look at others or do literally whatever it takes to get this to work. I'll keep this thread up to date so you and others can see the progress. It SHOULD have been a bolt in, thats what i was planning on, but because i had the wrong rack and pinion the first time, i had issues there, and now the gap being to small for therag joint to fit in. But after i get over that little hurdle, all should go over smooth. So far i havnt had to modify anything to get anything to bolt up, and i shouldnt have to. These cars are built to where pretty much all the provisions for most options are already on the car. For example, even tho my car came factory with only one speaker in the dash, the holes are back there in the back for some 6x9 speakers but they are just covered up. Another example is, if you have manual brakes and want to convert to power brakes, all you have to do is change the brake pedal and bracket, remove the old master cylinder, and unbolt the plate from the firewall that the master cylinder mounts from, and bolt in the correct plate and then bolt in the booster and master cylinder. With all this said, the power steering swap should be the same, i just have to find the correct parts. I've been informed that atleast some if not all pinto steering columns have an adjustment in the length of them (slide in and out) that would pretty easily take care of my problem. Like i said i'll keep everyone posted. Thanks for everything so far, guys.
The steering column shaft is the same 74-79 for p/s and m/s.
Also the lower shaft that includes the rag joint is the same 74-79 and there is no difference between p/s and m/s for these parts.
Quote from: pintoguy76 on March 30, 2007, 05:03:53 PM
The ragjoint is too thick and so they dont match up.
You may already know this but I remember when I replaced my rag joint with the aftermarket kit I thought it was too thick but I had to loosen the rack bolts then bolt the rag in place then tighten the rack bolts. When the job was complete the rubber part was not straight but was bent and the metal parts almost touch each other because the rag is there for flex.
I could try that. I thought about it but havnt done it yet.
Quote from: billnall on April 11, 2007, 12:01:57 PM
....but I remember when I replaced my rag joint with the aftermarket kit I thought it was too thick but I had to loosen the rack bolts then bolt the rag in place then tighten the rack bolts. When the job was complete the rubber part was not straight but was bent and the metal parts almost touch each other because the rag is there for flex.
Come to think of it, I remember having to do something similar on my old 79, except we loosened the steering column. Left the rag joint looking like an 'S' almost. Worked great though.
I got it fixed today guys. The power steering works great! A HUGE thanks goes to TIGGER for telling me about the steering column that telescopes in and out, all I had to do was tap the end of the column shaft with a hammer until it went in enough and gave me the clearance I needed for the ragjoint. Now all I need is an alignment! I'm loving that nice tight suspension!! I dont have to worry about losing a tie rod end while im driving down the freeway. That wouldnt be fun. LOL.
Your welcome ;D, glad I could help.