xratty steering rack on volvo 240

There has been some chitchat about putting a xr4ti rack in a 240, thus resolving the schoolbus steering in the old hippy mobile. Both are ZF steering racks only the housings are of different design. The overall dimensions are about the same with the mounts being the only obstactle. I originally posted this in turbodicks but was kindly referred here by JV.

So my question is: has this been done before? What would it take to make it work?

Here are some pics for reference. My first post here so I might have boofed the upload.
madan=xratty rack and slum lord
rack=volvo 240



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2012 12:11PM by ryanfay.

Anything is possible. That first pic is of an XR "Waffle" rack. There were 2 XR racks, one at near 4 turns lock to lock, and the desirable one at 2.4ish lock to lock. Forget which is which. The 4 turn rack was only in the early cars, like 85-86.

I would think if anything you might run into some bump steer issues. And you would just have to make your mounts

Is the Volvo just a slow ass ratio? Maybe thoughts of adding a steering quickener.

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"Rally racing makes a heroin addiction look like a vague craving for something salty"

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phlat65
Anything is possible. That first pic is of an XR "Waffle" rack. There were 2 XR racks, one at near 4 turns lock to lock, and the desirable one at 2.4ish lock to lock. Forget which is which. The 4 turn rack was only in the early cars, like 85-86.

Actually there were three racks in US Xratties: 2 from TRW/CamGears in Luton Bedfordshire and the fine ZF rack from "Zandrad Fabrik" in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg.

The TRW/Cam Gears were early and were wither 4.1 turns OR---and I have had 3-4, and heard from guys with maybe 4 more ----2.65 turns

All the ZF racks are 2.65 turns

The rack travel per turn is about 64mm
while Volvos ZF is about 55mm/turn so it IS a faster ratio, not just a limited travel..

And yeah I came across a photo of a Swedish GroupH car some years ago so its been done...

The LOA from flat to flat where the "outer tie rod assemblies" screw in is maybe 10mm longer on the Ford rack meaning we're all going to die.

The threads on the tir rod assembly are the same outer (M14 x 2) and I'm 99% sure they're the same on the inner assembly---at least from what I've seen... That means there are half a dozen tie rod assemblies for different lengths.

The only tricky thing is to cut a "bite" out of the Volvo crossmember to have a place to hit the bottom of the mounting lug.


You need a Xratty "intermediate shaft" , got one?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I did just get one (intermediate shaft). Only it was off an '85 with the stoompid trw rack. It has a little baby guibo inline. I dont recall the ZF one having it. The ZF racks must then appear on '86+ cars. The TRW rack in the farifield pnp appeared to be 3.4ish or slightly under 3.5.

gonna be starting this swap on tuesday will take piccies

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what could go wrong?

Quote
ryanfay
I did just get one (intermediate shaft). Only it was off an '85 with the stoompid trw rack. It has a little baby guibo inline. I dont recall the ZF one having it. The ZF racks must then appear on '86+ cars. The TRW rack in the farifield pnp appeared to be 3.4ish or slightly under 3.5.

Same splines.. Ford is big enought to say "You guys make it to OUR splines, gottit?"
Volvo and worse, Saab take what they get.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
ryanfay
I did just get one (intermediate shaft). Only it was off an '85 with the stoompid trw rack. It has a little baby guibo inline. I dont recall the ZF one having it. The ZF racks must then appear on '86+ cars. The TRW rack in the farifield pnp appeared to be 3.4ish or slightly under 3.5.

Same splines.. Ford is big enought to say "You guys make it to OUR splines, gottit?"
Volvo and worse, Saab take what they get.

Rad. Sounds like a memorial day rack party tomorrow. Between Al, Mike and myself, i'm sure we'll figure something out.

Quote
ryanfay

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
ryanfay
I did just get one (intermediate shaft). Only it was off an '85 with the stoompid trw rack. It has a little baby guibo inline. I dont recall the ZF one having it. The ZF racks must then appear on '86+ cars. The TRW rack in the farifield pnp appeared to be 3.4ish or slightly under 3.5.

Same splines.. Ford is big enough to say "You guys make it to OUR splines, gottit?"
Volvo and worse, Saab take what they get.

Rad. Sounds like a memorial day rack party tomorrow. Between Al, Mike and myself, I'm sure we'll figure something out.

And since I'm the instigator and looking after the kiddies maybe a phone call here to clarify rather than me typing some fawking novella

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Certainly. Expect a ring ring around the noonish hour.

After playing at Mikes house today, we realized this might actually be a quite easy swap. With the lines removed, there is nothing to interfere with motorwise. The xrat rack is only slightly under two inches longer than the volvo, meaning about an inch longer on either side. The pinion angle is roughly the same, nothing the ujoints cant handle.
Connecting to the volvo steering shaft might be easier than previously thought. What seems to be easiest is to cut down the shaft a 1/2" or so and use on of these to adapt the two:
http://www.flamingriver.com/index.php/products/c0005/s0004/FR1782
Im not sure of the spline count. Too crosseyed to count now. Maybe after I get back from babysitting caltrans tomorrow.
We didnt make any progress on the xmember since I didnt want to chop up Mike's and I can easily do this back at home.

got my old rack out and did some comparison today. the one on the bottom has the nuts left in place where the alignment was straight. gonna have to lose about 1 3/4" off each side of the zf rack. thinking i should extend the threads up the required length.

the flaming river hotrod stuff will be the easiest way to connect the volvo linkage to the ford rack

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what could go wrong?

more pic

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what could go wrong?

Holder yer horses on the spending the money...Oughtta be easier and above all cheaper let me look a bit.

Next: screw off the whole tie rod assembly on both. (peel back the boots and put a big ass pipe wrench on the inner swively thang)
memory sayz that both are male M12 x 1.5 threads on the inner pivot end..
In udder words you ought maybe be able to use the Volvo tie rod on the Xratty rack bar...

Was that Professional and Mature enough?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

the acme of proffeshnalizum

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what could go wrong?