Steering racks/ratios etc

Start reading here:

https://www.speedsterowners.co...5#692914442419465885

https://www.speedsterowners.co...ic/what-rack-is-this

https://www.speedsterowners.co...7#716283191909731457

Excellent 👍

You will probably have trouble with both bump steer and Ackerman if you try to use a conventional/modern rack on a beam suspension.

Follow the thread Rick linked and you'll see.

@DannyP posted:

You will probably have trouble with both bump steer and Ackerman if you try to use a conventional/modern rack on a beam suspension.

Follow the thread Rick linked and you'll see.

I've been reading through all the info in those links, it's certainly a well-travelled road 😄

I gather the stock front suspension has a certain degree of bump-steer anyway, given the geometry of the trailing arms?

Keeping the tie-rods as long as feasible, and close to equal length seems to be recommended.

I'll pipe up, since I'm one of the few folks with a conventional rack (albeit on a speedster) and using a beam.

I have had a VW Golf rack since 2005, and while it is not perfect, it has not been a problem... and an order of magnitude better than the average VW steering box. Danny's standard VW steering box is set up nearly perfectly and is accurate and tight, but most stock boxes are a sloppy mess. If I were starting from scratch (as you are, @550aus), I'd definitely follow the advice of Rick and Danny and get a Polo setup rather than something else.

FWIW, CSP markets a Kerscher setup similar to Alex's, but available through conventional channels. No secret handshake needed, but like most cool stuff -- 1000 euro (plus freight) and "more than 4 week lead-time".

Good luck.

So...unless I'm mistaken, which is frequently the case, those mk1/2 Polo racks are all LHD

@550aus posted:

So...unless I'm mistaken, which is frequently the case, those mk1/2 Polo racks are all LHD

They made them in RHD also.

@LI-Rick posted:

They made them in RHD also.

I shall keep looking. I couldn't find any, quite likely a different part number. Or the Beetle guys have snapped them all up.

Edit. I've read on other forums that only a relatively small number of the early versions were RHD, and only the LHD steering racks are being reproduced.

Any reason why I can't use a LHD polo rack upside down? Apart from the different steering column knuckle arrangements.

There's plenty of good quality new LHD racks, whereas the only RHD racks available are from wreckers

I would think the angles of the u-joints needed for that would cause some binding in the steering.  A cleaned up, undamaged one from a wrecked might be a better bet.

@550aus posted:

Any reason why I can't use a LHD polo rack upside down? Apart from the different steering column knuckle arrangements.

There's plenty of good quality new LHD racks, whereas the only RHD racks available are from wreckers

I went to the CSP site t study the rack and I think it might be possible. I'm assuming rack lubrication wouldn't be an issue with it upside down. The center fixture to attach the ball joints could be made in a mirror image, that's the easy part.  You'd have to make a different bracket to attach it to the beam and get the alignment of the steering shaft close enouch to the original steering box location. The universal on the shaft would have to follow the rules about being in phase with any other universal joints so there's no binding (I don't think there are any others, though). Depending on how that worked out you might need another steeting shaft support or even another universal joint, but that's just welding.

I'd grab a sh*tty one from the junkyard and offer it up to the beam and see what it looked like. Then some CAD work (carboard aided design) to work out the bracketry. You might be able to pull it off.

@JMM (Michael) from what I can see, all of the bracketry to fix the rack to the beam, or the tierods to the rack, are clamping to tube in one way or another. It should be easy enough to rotate the rack into a better orientation for the steering connection if it's being used upside down?