can anyone offer any insight into changing the steering ratio on KE. (ie different box or different arms). i want to reduce the lock-to-lock turns on a KE17 we are building up for racing.

thanks, terry

We used to just cut a piece out of the steering arms under the struts and re-weld them. I'm sure that would be illegal on the road these days, but it used to work for rallying.

I know it can be done but you would want to know how to weld and get your pre and post heat treatment right......

Even with heat treatment, I'd be reluctant to do it. Better off (and likely cheaper) getting some machined up from scratch.

ok, so it seems there is no bolt-on stuff that anyone knows about?????????????????

 

i am currently making a new idler box with brass bushes to get rod of all the slop in the crappy rubber bush

 

this is for a track only car, so i can make/weld anything i like. i have all the facilites to do this, but i was just trying the easy route first

 

thanks guys

+1 to philbeys comment... or perhaps look at t3 website? you could even ask them to make em i believe.

if not get friendly with cad or a cnc machinist.

Get the knuckles to us and we can mod them up. Our knuckles offer extra lock with less turns lock to lock :)

what part are you calling "knuckle"??????????

bit that bolts to the steering arm. and spindle/lca

I'm interested in this as well for my track ke70, but, it might be a dumb question, would luv if someone can explain it too me, how does modifying the tie rod ends reduce the lock to lock turns of the steering wheel??? isnt the only way to reduce that to increase the ratio inside the steering rack/box, as the lock to lock stops are in the steering rack/box?? if someone can explain it would be helpful, thanks heaps

I'm interested in this as well for my track ke70, but, it might be a dumb question, would luv if someone can explain it too me, how does modifying the tie rod ends reduce the lock to lock turns of the steering wheel??? isnt the only way to reduce that to increase the ratio inside the steering rack/box, as the lock to lock stops are in the steering rack/box?? if someone can explain it would be helpful, thanks heaps

 

It's not the tie rod ends, it's the steering arms. People either replace the steering arms with shorter ones(power-steering arms) or shorten the existing steering arms. When you turn, the tie rod ends travel in an arc, with the centre being the ball joint in the lower control arm, and the radius being the length of the steering arm. If you shorten the steering arm, you reduce the radius, but the length of the arc remains constant(as the steering rack still pushes/pulls the tie rods the same distance), therefore the angle at the centre of the arc must increase, which is your steering angle.

 

eg.

if the radius [r] = 200mm (steering arm)

and the arc length = 400mm (distance the tie rod end is pushed by the steering rack)

and the angle at the centre = θ (in radians)(the angle at the LCA ball joint between the steering arm in it's 'full lock to the left' position and 'full lock to the right' position)

 

s = θr is the equation for the arc length.

400 = θ x 200

θ = 400 / 200

θ = 2 radians (which is like 120 degrees of steering from lock to lock)

 

if you reduce the steering arm [r] to say 100mm

 

s = θr

400 = θ x 100

θ = 400 / 100

θ = 4 radians (which is like 220 degrees of steering from lock to lock lol)

 

The values are a bit extreme, but you can see how you would get more steering lock by reducing the steering arm length

 

If your original lock to lock steering angle was 2 radians (120 degrees) and your new lock to lock angle with the 100mm steering arms is 4 radians (220 degrees), to achieve the original lock to lock angle with the new 100mm steering arms;

 

s = 2 radians x 100mm

s = 200mm

 

Therefore the rack only has to move 200mm with the new steering arms to achieve the original amount of steering angle, as opposed to 400mm with the original steering arms, which means you turn the wheel half the amount of turns as you originally did, which = awesome

Edited September 7, 201115 yr by rianwest

thanks a lot for the math lesson rianwest, probably a great help for the majority of readers, but as a professional with a full workshop, I can handle that much already.

 

i would point out that you are referring to "rack" based system , not the steering box and arms like the early KE10 etc, which is what i'm dealing with

 

the early KE10 etc steering arms (the bit that bolts to the ball joint) can't be easily/effectively changed, however i have worked out a couple of ways to alter the idler arm and pitman arm and acheieve what I need. i was really asking for help with swaps to different arms, but it seems that is not possible so mod time, here we come .

 

thanks again to everyone for comments. i will post a reply once i've got it all sorted

thanks a lot for the math lesson rianwest, probably a great help for the majority of readers, but as a professional with a full workshop, I can handle that much already.

 

i would point out that you are referring to "rack" based system , not the steering box and arms like the early KE10 etc, which is what i'm dealing with

 

the early KE10 etc steering arms (the bit that bolts to the ball joint) can't be easily/effectively changed, however i have worked out a couple of ways to alter the idler arm and pitman arm and acheieve what I need. i was really asking for help with swaps to different arms, but it seems that is not possible so mod time, here we come .

 

thanks again to everyone for comments. i will post a reply once i've got it all sorted

 

Sorry Terry, I was replying to corolla_bitten's question about reducing the number of turns from lock to lock in a KE70, I have no idea how you would do this in a KE1*, I've never even seen a KE1* in real life.

Edited September 9, 201115 yr by rianwest

firstly, sorry terry for hacking your topic, just didnt want to start another one when mine related to yours

 

and secondly

 

thnakyou ryan for explaining that simply, makes soo much sense now. :)

okj just to clarify the situation for anyone reading this in future............

 

on a rack based car, you change the lock to lock turns by altering the rack & pinion ratio (changing the pinion teeth usually)and/or altering the length of the arms on the bottom of the strut

 

on a car with a steering box, you change it by either altering the worn & nut inside the steering box and/or altering the length of the arm on the bottom of the steering box (called a pitman arm) AND equally altering the length of the arm on the steering idler box Opposite side of car to steering box). to make it quicker (ie, less turns lock to lock), you lengthen the arms. about 10-15mm is is usually enough