hi has anyone got any numbers or links to anywhere i can get my escort rack shortened.
cheers rob

I didnt think the escort rack needed shortening I know the sierra one does then you extend the arms

well mine does, as it needs 4" taken out to get the inner joints to line up with the wishbones as it has masses of bump steer.
have tried to relocate the rack but with no success.

i know that MK Engineering can do them bit far away though in Rotherham

I took 4" out of mine as well, book front end, impossible to get rid of bump steer without, then added arm extenders.

[Edited on 17/8/12 by mark chandler]

did you shorten yours yourself?

Yes, not that I recommend doing this but it worked for me and I am very happy with the quality of my welding.

Removed the rack, shortened the housing then put back together, Marked the 'long side' on the outside of the bush and cut flush, then ground a 1/2" V in the end.

Reduced the off cut by 3 1/2" and ground a matching point to slot the two bits together. Laid in a V block to keep things square, ground some champhers into the join areas and welded up, to finish filed the welds back to shape so it fitted the bush neatly.

Okay, peeps will be shuddering at this, the rack is maybe 1" thick solid bar, the ball joint is tiny 1/4" at smallest point, you have to remove this first or the plastic bits will fry.

By welding a V you double the length on the weld and it goes in two planes so nice and tough.

I did crash my car into armco with a welded rack like this, the arm bent and the rack bent where the teeth are, the modded bit never moved

For rack extensions I had a couple of old escort TRE's, just cut off the ball joint ends, stuck the remains in a lathe to tidy up and tapped the holes all the way through, used a couple of old rack arms to provide threaded bar to complete.


Regards Mark

[Edited on 17/8/12 by mark chandler]

cheers mark for the info,
sounds fairly simple just needed a little push in the right direction.besides if it goes tits up i will just get another rack. anythings
better than how it is now.
cheers rob

These people can do it and much more
http://www.steering-racks.co.uk/contact/

cheers for your help and info.

shortened my rack today. was actually alot easier than i thought. got it done in about hour and a half.
just got to extend my tie arms and change my rack mounting pionts.
cant wait to get it done and take it for a test drive.