An interesting idea... maybe!

I read with great interest, Magnumcharger's log of his re-make of the Dodge Dora. He seem like a very learned person, his detail and ideas were very impressive. I was very interested in the idea of the power forward steer mid-80's Toyota LE Van rack and pinion steering. He later decided not to use the system, I believe because of the location of the new frame rail system he had to install. Has any one ever tried this idea out? It seems plausable although I haven't been able to go out and look at the underside of the truck to see if it might be able to be adapted. By the way, the link to his blog is in the a-100 listing about the Dodge Deora.

Here's a link to Magnumchargers Deora replica construction pictures .

rack and pinion is not easily adapted to a solid axle....

larry do you do facebook? got a friend around here who is doing one and well under way with it.

RodStRace, What do you think of how he mocked up the rack on the axle? I was thinking about putting the "v" box in the same place as the original steering box. I figure one obstacle will be the lower air shroud that directs the air through the radiator. You might have to carefully put some holes in it to get the shaft from the "v" box to the front of the rack. It's kinda hard to go under my truck right now with all of the snow and cold here in Michigan. I don't have a garage (yet) to work in. Anyway I'd like to hear your thoughts. Thanks, Larry in East China Mi.

The rack either
Moves with the axle, requiring a flexible setup,
Stays on the chassis, causing bump steer.
If you can engineer a flexible mount between the rack and the bottom of the column, and have it connect the two, great!

I just don't understand the thrill of Rack & Pinion for anything that wasn't designed for it and is a fairly competent handler.
By the time you lower a van, install softer springs, tighter sway bars and shocks, low profile tires and really set it up to handle (which would probably require some unibody stifening), it may need a R&P. Until then, it's a bit horse before the cart....

RodStRace, The shaft between the "v" box and the rack had a rag joint and a universal joint in the shaft to allow for some movement. The whole idea in my thought process was not necessarily to gain rack and pinion but to add a decent power steering. I don't care much for a "power assist" steering system that to me is a band-aid type of a fix. I can't see that this would somehow decrease the handling of the pick-up. My main goal is a little easier effort in the steering. Since I've started driving vehicles with R&P I'd go out of my way to stay away from the old style of steering. It's just my Polish stubborness I guess. Did you happen to see the pics in his journal? I really think he had something, but it appeared that the new front sub-frame he had to fabricate prohibited or, possibly laid as unnecessary, the use or need of the R&P. Just my thoughts, Larry in East China Mi.

What about the Ford Pinto steering cable linkag. It's a cable about 8 inches long and about 3/4 inch in diameter. If you mate that to a solid bar linkage you could use one bearing to hold it up to the floor or frame and let the cable do the rest. The cable end would hook to the rack and go back to the air pan underneath at which point the solid shaft would be sticking out with the bearing holding it tight, and from there back to the steering box, with one u-joint. I hope this makes sence, cus it worked on my 1924 Dodge. I ran the cable through my motor mount to a rack from an 79 mustang, all hooked to a shortend ford tilt column. Man that was a sweet set up and work perfectly. The cable will bend to what ever angle you need.

Gotcha! P/S makes sense. Just wanted to see if this was a blind "gotta update" without thought toward how much effort and safety must be engineered in.
Sorry if I came off as negative, but there are some on these forums that need input to change a headlight, and I didn't know your reasons or level of ability.
Carry on and show us all how it's done! I haven't looked through MagnumCharger's site in many months, but have followed his progress from when he found the roof parts he needed.
Here is his build journal, with his input as he goes, not just pictures..
http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/journal.php?action=view&journalid=30254&page=1&reverse=1

Big W,
A good friend used the Pinto cable to move the steering in his race car ( a Pinto) to good effect. This was a 10 second 125 MPH drag car, so it had to be correct. The alchohol injected early Hemi was too wide to allow the original steering path!

I once had a 1971 Dodge Demon that the PO had put a R&P into. It used the same (I believe) type of flex cable as you speak of. I think that the "V" box and solid shaft that was OEM to Toyota may just fit the bill. (It may have to be modified somewhat) The two trucks that I own that are in the picture were pretty much engineered by myself. Some (most) of the welding was done by someone far more proficient than me. When I tubbed the A-100 for the 33.00X22.50 Hoosier tires, I had the frame rails stamped to replicate the original ones that were removed. I could of used a 2X3 tube but I wanted it to look somewhat stock even with spot welds instead of running a bead weld down the whole way. I'm far far away from being a genius, but I look at things and I can usually tell if it will work. You mentioned bump steer in one of your earlier posts. You should of seen it in the Demon when the Hemi let loose!!! The lower control arms were swinging in a different arc than the outer tie rods of the R&P!! whoo whoo what a ride that was!! I didn't feel you were coming off negative, maybe you just don't know me very well! No offense taken!! This is all too much fun to get pissy at people you don't even know!! My bride and I are going to be in Pinetop Az. at the end of Feb. and early in March. Maybe we could meet up. I Googled Chino Valley and, by the name, just knew that you were in Southern Cal.!!! But then you mentioned Prescott Valley. My former Battalion Chief retired there. So I started putting one and one together. Let me know if you'd like to meet! You can e-mail me off site if you want. Thanks, Larry in East China, mi. getting ready for a "little" snow this week!! (12-18")

Larry, great to hear it's all good! Yep, Chino is CA, Chino Valley is AZ!
My 71 cuda has a rack jammed into it, and it's a straight-line car only, if you know what I mean! The same issue you had and no ackerman at all!
Pinetop is way to the east from us, haven't been out that way.
I may try to get out to LA for the van meet in mid Feb.
We got dusted this morning, but it's almost all gone now.

I think I'm gonna have to find an old R&P from a Toyota and start measuring!

Glad you posted 2nd build guide Rod.I was rackin my brain on what front glass & rear roof section was from.That 2nd post is far more detailed,thanks.

if i'm not mistaken those ford cable couplers were recalled by ford and were to be replaced. the ones out there now are the ones that "got away"

Didn't know about a recall on these. Was there something that they figured was wrong with them or did something happen to someone that warranted a recall. Sure would be nice to no, cus if it aint safe...it aint worth the risk that's for sure.

the idea that i had was to use the v box mounted at the original
steering box location linked to a r&p mounted to the springs in
front of the axle, conected to the v box with a 3/4 shaft with
a u-joint at both ends with a slip joint in the middle like they used
in full size rear wheel drive gm cars. the r&p wil be mounted to a
pair of brackets that will be attached to the I beam u-bolts and the
springs. just need to find a r&p with the same width as the original
steering arms of the vans. just about everything made now has a
r&p as the steering box, its not about performance steering just less
components to make the steering linkage sys. why else would they put
one on an f150.

The pics that magnumcharger posted seems to be along the same lines as what you are describing. The Toyota shaft has a rag joint at the rack and a u-joint at the "V" box. the length of that shaft can be changed to suit the application. The length of the rack is small enough to fit on the straight axle. You would just have to change the tie rod lengths to develop the same distance as the drag link.