Here you go Charlie!
I did a bit of re-engineering on the steering rack brackets. I added angled towers to the existing brackets to kick the rack angle forward another 25 degrees... This really opened up the upper u-joint angle and also added some angle to the lower joint. Really eased the turn down to the rack and now the steering action is smooth and consistant.
This is a shot of the initial set-up. The initial tip was right at 10 degrees from verticle. The protractor shows where it will end up.
http://images61.fotki.com/v440/photo...MVC002F-vi.jpg
Here are some pics of how I set the rack up to maintain the centerline in vehicle and get the additional tip. I set up a jig on the welding bench and located the body of the rack with some clamped on angles. This let me rotate the rack around it's own centerline to maintain the location in the van.
http://images16.fotki.com/v387/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
http://images57.fotki.com/v496/photo...MVC004F-vi.jpg
With the rack installed back in the van you can see the amount of additional tip really helped the u-joints open up and work as thet should. Compare this pic with the first one in this post...
http://images57.fotki.com/v1613/phot...MVC010F-vi.jpg
I can turn the steering by hand using the middle of the upper u-joint. It needs to be held in place by a bracket and I am designing that as I right this. It will bolt to the firewall and carry the rod end to support the upper joint.
http://images56.fotki.com/v1602/phot...MVC014F-vi.jpg
I also need to order another piece of the DD shafting... Now that I have the position optimized the original one I cut of is 3/4's of an inch to short... It works for mock up but i want a longer stick in there when it comes time for driving...
I am planning to make the rod bearing bracket out of 1/8" plate. Is that heavy enough? Any input? I don't think this bearing will see a lot of torque, it just supports the upper end of the DD shaft to keep the Double U-joint from flopping around.
Thank
Mark