Rack and pinion on a strait axle sounds like a bad idea to me. You will get exess unsprung weight on the axle and any connection to the steering colunm would be shakey at best due to having to flex with the suspension movement. Some thing else to consider, none of the OEMs ever tried to do that,all rack and pinion setups are bolted to the frame. Racks cannot tolerate much flex in their mounting. I have seen a kit that uses 1/2 of a rack, Cavalier I think, that works as a drag link. It's bolted to the frame and is a cross steer type like the mid '30's ford or Jeep/Dodge trucks with solid axles. So far I've only seen them for early style hot rods, and I don't exactly remember who made it, but it looks much safer to me.
