Contacting Woodward Steering USA

[Chris Lane]

Hi Guys,

Trying to source a rack for our car....

We had planned to use a woodward unit, but I can't get in contact with them? I have sent them a few emails and even a letter via fax but nothing.

Does anyone have a contact for Woodward that they know works? I am in Perth, Western Australia so it is very difficult to call due to the time difference.

Failing that, does Stiletto have an email these days? All I have found is a phone number and that they live in Illinois (presumably Chicago).

I would very much appreciate any assistance that can be provided.

[flavorPacket]

We ordered a custom rack from them this year. It took 4 months to get the right thing ordered. We used the number on their website.

Good luck, it was less than easy to get through to the right person (Tony). But I will say that the product we received was well worth it. That rack is a work of art.

[Chris Lane]

A 4 month lead time????

Is that a result of communication breakdown or an actual lead time from order date?

[J. Vinella]

We ordered from Woodhaven Industries (Stiletto Products). They shipped the rack and pinion the second I got off the phone. No email, but good things happen when you pick up the phone.

[flavorPacket]

Originally posted by Chris Lane:
A 4 month lead time????

Is that a result of communication breakdown or an actual lead time from order date?

Woodward wasn't too enthusiastic about making the rack we wanted. To quote Tony, they thought that "there's no way in hell that we can make a rack that f***ing small." So it took some convincing. And it wasn't cheap.

From order date to the part being shipped was around 10 weeks.

[Woodward Steering]

I would ask the readers of this thread to consider that the frustrations recounted by some of those unsuccessfully "ordering" product from Woodward Machine Corporation have another side.

As a 30-year-old company supplying power steering systems and components to auto racing, OEMs and the US military, we have certain commercial constraints acting upon us. Principal among these is the old economic relationship of time vs. money. I am well aware that such a concept is not exactly uppermost in the undergraduate mind (it certainly wasn't when I was in school) but when the catalog clearly names the dimensional and other data to be be supplied by the customer in order for a rack to be built, and this request is routinely ignored by the student, what should be a quick and efficient transaction turns into a protracted email exchange. If you live within the four US time zones, just use the telephone like it says on the website.

Frequently the requestor will be unaware that it actually matters how long the rack is (!) and then I or our staff then have to devote costly time patiently trying to explain it.

At the other extreme we are sometimes subjected to lofty pronouncements, such as the student project is such an advanced concept that the details cannot be revealed to us (really). Or that, because the tolerances are so demanding, the students are going to make the rack "in house" and so all they really need are the simpler components...like maybe the pinion. Oh, and, like, you know, the, uh, rack. And of course these would have to be manufactured from ion-implanted Unobtanium. And so on, ad infinitum. But when confronted with the brutal reality of making payment, these geniuses will inevitably ask for sponsorship or an educational discount.

Although there have been certain notable exceptions, these factors in the aggregate make dealing with student teams an appalling drain on our resources. Each and every Woodward FSAE rack is a one-off design, produced at varying degrees of loss, in the hope of contributing to a student's real-world experience. We have to fit these projects in between activities that actually earn money. We could perhaps simply offer one or two standardized sizes and not be bothered with any discussions, and it may yet come to that. But I remain optimistic. Perhaps posting this will help things happen more effectively for everyone involved.

Sincerely,

Tony Woodward
CEO
Woodward Machine Corporation

[Chris Lane]

Originally posted by flavorPacket:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris Lane:
A 4 month lead time????

Is that a result of communication breakdown or an actual lead time from order date?

Woodward wasn't too enthusiastic about making the rack we wanted. To quote Tony, they thought that "there's no way in hell that we can make a rack that f***ing small." So it took some convincing. And it wasn't cheap.

From order date to the part being shipped was around 10 weeks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

When we ordered ours last year, we got it 3 weeks (i think) from the date we paid them. I would go so far as to say that both Woodward and Motorsports Spares International were the two best US-based companies we dealt with.

If you know what you want, and you've read Woodward's product catalogue and technical pdf (which was really helpful by the way), then this shouldn't be a problem.

[Kevin Dunn]

We're happy with our Woodward rack and the services we recieved as is our Baja team. The two orders did get mixed up but it's not the first time and is totally understandable realizing the quantity of custom racks being made.

BTW, we run a Motec ECU and an M&W CDI Ignition, both of which are based in Australia...I've personally dialed the bagillion numbers early in the morning here in Detroit to get some questions answered avoiding the numerous emails it would've taken.

[Brian Schien]

We have Woodward rack on our 2006 car it is a very nice piece I don't know much about when it was ordered but it sat on the shelf for quit a while while the car was being built. It is what some would consider large for an fsae car, but so is the rest of our 2006 car which probably has the largest tires ever competed in the history of the competition. I also have a Woodward rack and servo on my personal track car. It was very expensive took a long time to get but well worth the money.

It would be nice if you offer some thing with pivot distance around 9-8 inch with some adjustable ends and smaller monoballs something with a 5/16 thead.