Steering universal joints (or alternatives)

[SeanTLindsay]

For those of you running a steering column with a bend in it, I'd like to hear what type of joint you used.

We put a very expensive ball joint-type u-joint from McMaster in our system, which has the advantage of no pulsations during rotation but unfortunately, has around 5 degrees of slack by itself. Previously we had a series of pin and block type joints that offered less (but still considerable) slack, but the pulsating effect was a problem.

[SeanTLindsay]

For those of you running a steering column with a bend in it, I'd like to hear what type of joint you used.

We put a very expensive ball joint-type u-joint from McMaster in our system, which has the advantage of no pulsations during rotation but unfortunately, has around 5 degrees of slack by itself. Previously we had a series of pin and block type joints that offered less (but still considerable) slack, but the pulsating effect was a problem.

[mizzouracing]

We use Apex Universal Joints from Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies. We have used them for several years and have not had any problems with slop or pulsations. Unfortunately they are a bit pricy.

[Kevin Hall]

We are using a pair of Browning Universals in series to get the right bend.....essentially by lining them up in parallel, and joining them with as little material as possible, we made a neat little CV that weighs around 150g

[RagingGrandpa]

helicopter joints, look 'em up

[Jarrod]

we used needle roller universal joints this year, they were italian, S.I.T i think, no slop at all, rated to past 40 degrees.

[Micko..]

one idea that i have heard and thought could be usefull, is using beval gears, more specificaly beval gears from an angle grinder. small, light, strong, cheep. all you need to do is find a old grinder, just a thought.

[ashish]

can you guys gimme a rough idea on what kind of angular movement (degrees) do the u joints that you use give?

ashish
university of delhi

[Frank]

http://www.teausa.net/admin/uploads/04-Uni-Joints-3.pdf

the "1H"

cheap, and a bit heavy

[Sam]

bevel gears.. see that one frankie??

we had a dude with that idea. in theory it seems like a good idea. the box failed after the first test. Frank solved the problem with the above uni joint.

the housing became the workshop ashtray for frank and myself.

http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Frank]

yeah it wasn't the bevel gears fault though

the idea seems simple though

has anyone done it yet?

[Farls]

I think Swinburne used a bevel gear setup in 2002. The setup I'm thinking of had a horrible dead zone.

[Kevin Hall]

Bevel gears can work, but make SURE they have a good enough bearing to support the loads. It is very easy for bevel gears to skip over each other when a light weight mount is made. The problem we ran into with a setup a few years back was that it used small bearings, and stub shafts for easy disasembly. The short stubs could deflect very easily. On the same note, even if the stubs were welded to the rest of the linkage, any small amount of wear in the bearing, holder, or shaft will give enough play to cause the gears to skip and rip eachother apart (not good at 85MPH on a straight heading hard into a hairpin). U joints have worked well. I think the next setup I make will have the rack up high, and directly in line with the steering wheel. The CG penalty is worth it for the simplicity