New Aftermarket manual steering rack

M.fate
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New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby M.fate » Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:10 pm

(EDIT) I'm getting the feeling there is not much interest in this idea. I guess I got a little ahead of myself. Well if anyone changes their mind just PM me.

So on a whim I wrote the folks at Flaming River Industries about what would be need to get a Manual rack made for our 86s. They replied with the fallowing:

Overall length
Inner end pivot points
Inner end thread
Front or rear steer
Will we be providing a mounting solution or just a rack that the customer will make mounts for
Long or short pinion
Amount of travel needed

If you get this info I can look into it. If we are doing mounts I will need at minimum an original rack to see where the mounts need to be on the rack and if it is feasible.

Thank you,

Tech Support Dept.
Flaming River Industries
800-648-8022


First I would like to know if anyone is interested in the first place?
I would also like some help answering their questions I’ve had some difficulty tracking down any technical info. I know some of the old school pros on here will just know. :D
If interested, do you want them to come up with a mounting system? I personally think it would be more convenient even if it adds to the cost.

I have an old power steering rack I could send them as well as thing it mounts to(k-member?) if necessary.
Last edited by M.fate on Thu Apr 05, 2018 11:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
The 4ag'er formally known as nlt4ac
Kingsland GA

Autohaus_Z
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Re: New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby Autohaus_Z » Tue Apr 03, 2018 11:17 pm

What is wrong with the traditional route of MR2 manual rack? AFAIK You can still buy new units here stateside.
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M.fate
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Re: New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby M.fate » Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:26 pm

You can, but the ones I was finding were, $400-700, and you still need the other parts. In original email to the guy I talked about having one made that used all AE86 parts. Like the intermediate shaft and U-joint. Also I think with it being made for us we could also change the steering ratio to what ever we want.

As a side note- for people that have done the AW11 route. How did the core charge work? Did you just take the loss on the deposit , or were you able to send in your corolla rack??
The 4ag'er formally known as nlt4ac
Kingsland GA

CloudStrife
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Re: New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby CloudStrife » Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:19 pm

Why do you need a new manual rack? It's a manual rack dude..thick metal teeth on metal teeth.. lol.

I just bought a used AW11 rack, and bought brand new internals from Toyota. Everything is still available. Then I just painted/powder coated the housing.

A new rack is stupid expensive. You don't even need to replace internals on the AW11 rack, just a plastic bushing that goes bad, and slap on new inner/outer rods.

That being said, there are suspension geometry issues when swapping the AW11 rack into the AE86 (look up the thread that continues here). If you were to get that made, I'd be honest and I'd probably swap out my AW11 rack for that. But I don't know about this company as I have no experience with them.

The other point to be made, is that many competent guys who track their cars state that properly de-powering a rack is better than the AW11 rack. Although from my experience the de-powered racks are harder to turn without movement then manual racks (although I've never driven a proper depowered rack).
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CloudStrife
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Re: New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby CloudStrife » Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:21 pm

Oh yeah, and if you want to be a real cunt (which was what I was gonna do lol), you would just pick up a AW11 rack from AZ, put your old PS rack in (take off lines), and give em the box. Half the time they don't even bother looking, the other half the time they can't tell the difference haha.
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Deuce Cam
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Location: AZ

Re: New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby Deuce Cam » Thu Apr 05, 2018 3:26 pm


CloudStrife
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Re: New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby CloudStrife » Thu Apr 05, 2018 4:16 pm

Thanks Deuce, I was being lazy :).
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scalpel
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Re: New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby scalpel » Thu Apr 05, 2018 6:32 pm

wow didn't know about the bump steer

but if I am reading correctly if we add an RCA it should correct it?

and a side question any opinion on the quaife qsr with aw11 for an ae86?

Deuce Cam
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Re: New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby Deuce Cam » Sat Apr 07, 2018 10:14 pm

Aw11 housing is the problem (part that bolts to x member). The actual rack is fine (e.g. what the quaife qsr replaces). If you center the rack (equal turns lock-to -lock from center), the overall tie rod length will be different on both sides - this causes the bump steer. You could prob adjust the tie rods to be the same length, but then your steering rack wouldnt be centered (amount of turns lock-to-lock not equal).

I have a quaife qsr with a ae rack housing. Going on 7 years with it now and its still one of my fave mods.

scalpel
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Re: New Aftermarket manual steering rack

Postby scalpel » Sun Apr 08, 2018 7:06 am

Hmm so i guess the best option is to get a manual ae rack?

Which is already hard to get haha

What would you do if you had a aw rack?