How do i upgrade to rack and pinion in my 47

[craigs47mopar]

I am wanting to upgrade all original suspension and put a rack and pinion on it without cutting my original frame. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks for looking!

[falconvan]

Do you have access to a MIG welder and are you comfortable using it? If so, some pics of the one I did are about halfway down this page:

http://p15-d24.com/topic/33656-1949-busy-coupe-update/page-35

Edited May 9, 2016 by falconvan

[fstfish66]

if your front suspension is in good condition,upgrading it is the way to go in my  opinion,,, several  people offer front disc brake kits, and relocating the front  shock mounts makes a night and day  difference, fat man fabrcations in charlotte is the only guy  i know of  with a kit to put in a rack and  pinion in these cars, he supplies the  brackets for the rack,,,but they need to be  shaped and  trimmed and welded to the   frame,,,he also  supplies threaded adapters for the  tie  rod  links,,,you will need  to find a donor car for the inner tie rod arms, some are available new at rock auto,,,but  from a donor car  work  great,,,the donor car will be a chevy  caviliere,, 1987 till some where in the 1990s,,,  if you go to rock auto search the cavilere rack,,,click on the correct link,  it will show all the other GM bodies that use the same rack,,,manual racks are near impossible to find used or rebuilt, you will need to  fab  brackets for a power steering pump,,,it sounds harder then it is,,,also  fat man  has the  brackets to relocate the front  shock mount,,but others on this forum have made or  adapted there own brackets for the shocks   hope this helps

[James_Douglas]

At some point I thought about a rack for the 1947 Desoto.  But, I could not find one that had the ball socket in the correct place to make sure that I do not get bump steer.  I called Flaming River and Uni about a custom rack, but none of them make a rack for a car over 3500 pounds.

 

I did get an opportunity to drive '47 Desoto with a Cavalier rack and you could in fact feel a slight bump steer.  With a power rack, the power part sort of masks it.  We put a set of Bump Steer gauges on it as the owner said it was in my head.  Sure enough, a fair amount of bump steer.  He did mention that his front tires wore faster than he thought they should but at a 1000 miles a year...  

 

For a car I drive every day, if I ever do a rack, I will have to make it from scratch so as to not get bump steer.

 

James.

Edited May 24, 2016 by James_Douglas

[Plymouthy Adams]

At some point I thought about a rack for the 1947 Desoto.  But, I could not find one that had the ball socket in the correct place to make sure that I do not get bump steer.  I called Flaming River and Uni about a custom rack, but none of them make a rack for a car over 3500 pounds.

 

I did get an opportunity to drive '47 Desoto with a Cavalier rack and you could in fact feel a slight bump steer.  With a power rack, the power part sort of masks it.  We put a set of Bump Steer gauges on it as the owner said it was in my head.  Sure enough, a fair amount of bump steer.  He did mention that his front tires wore faster than he thought they should but at a 1000 miles a year...  

 

For a car I drive every day, if I ever do a rack, I will have to make it from scratch so as to not get bump steer.

 

James.

this was covered last time you made the comment there is no rack and pinion for a weight above 3500....Sprinter cargo van....like anything not made for the car specific you will have to innovate, adapt and overcome..