The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Rack & Pinion w/straight axel????

Hi Everyone!

I've just finished looking through the old posts and a few websites and hoped to get a discussion going about peoples experiences and ideas regarding rack and pinion with a straight axel.

Here's the situation: I've got a stock front suspension (with lowered leafs and sway bar) and have been thinking about power steering. There are a couple of different ways to go about it, a new box using the stock steering components OR a power rack and pinion. Both options require borgenson joints etc...

So, I"m thinking a power rack and pinion would be easier than a reversed box, toyota box or box mounted on the outside of the frame requiring modifications of the steering arm.

The questions I've come up with are:

Mount the R&P to the frame or axel? If you mount to the axel, what factory applications had a slip joint in the steering column? (since I'll need to deal with axel travel)?

If the R&P is mounted to the frame, how could I reduce/eliminate bump steer?

Some threads talk about added unsprung weight if the R&P are mounted to the axel, but I'm not concerned with that as I don't think there'll be much weight difference compared to the stock steering components that I'll be removing.

Thanks for all your thoughts and input!