Universal joint for steering column
Turbo Mini Forums

I know this has been covered before, but i just wanted to double check UJ i've found is suitable, as there is a massive difference in price's.

The first one i found was the race tech one on deemon tweaks at the best part of £130, but after searching on here i found the ones on rally design, at less than £20 + vat. Whats up with the massive difference in price? And which of the two on rally design do i need? (assuming they are ok?)



Any help would be much appreicated, cheers guys.

Edited by george91 on 2nd Dec, 2011.

Anyone able to help at all?

Both the rally design ones are Escort splines. Which will make it difficult to mate a BL column.

The Montego/Maestro/Maestro van has a UJ that has the correct splines. Not so easy to get hold of these days though.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

Any help?

http://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/UNIVERSA...a36080e4f6e9694

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Thanks for the info, mike i have looked at them but i wanted to know if there was a cheaper alternative as the racetech are about £130.

I think the universal Gear Joints are about the cheapest you will find, Ive used one similiar to yours, the problem is one end is a sqaure hole and the other splined. Ive managed to drill out each end, but its by no means perfect. Ill be buying one of the above when I make some more alterations to my car.

Ta

Mike

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Thanks for that mike, good to know. I'll stick to a standard column for now then and do it at a later date because of the price.

George

not related to your query I'm afraid but a little bit of technical blumph for those to think about if they are going to put a UJ in the steering column.

one of the reasons a mini's steerting is so "pure" is that the steering column is direct onto the pinion gear of the rack without any joints. If you put a single UJ in the system and two column shafts then you disconnect the angle the steering wheel turns through compared to the angle the input shaft moves in the rack. You introduce a "phase" shift into the relationship between the steering wheel angle and the steering rack, a sine wave, the distance between peaks (out of phase relationship) relating to the angle of the the two column shafts either side of the UJ and the physical dimensions across the yokes of the UJ as well. What this feels like is a change in effort/feel through the steering wheel in relationship to what the wheels are doing. We went to great lengths on the design of the Elise to introduce two UJ's into the system that counteracted each other to minimise the sine wave effect, a small reason why the Elise has "pure" steering feel as well. On Evora it was impossible to achieve as pure a steering relationship and this had to be tuned around with the power steering rack blade stiffness and valve tuning.

as with all types of design work, if it was easy everyone would be doing it.

JK

If Carling made Mini engines
it would probably be like this one!

That, John, is very interesting.

For me though, the fact I could move my seat much further back and have the steering wheel somewhere where I could reach it (important when you have lots of power,an LSD and weedy arms) was more important.

As it happens the 'feel' of the steering on my hillclimber is the best I have ever driven in a mini, whether it is more or less 'pure'.

I guess I fluked it!

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

Hi Wil - I'm full of useless information as usual.lol!

the changes you've made to the rest of the suspension to make it suitable for its use will as you've mentioned outweigh the changes to the steering column mods for your application.

If Carling made Mini engines
it would probably be like this one!

The same thing happens with hardy spicer driveshafts, and that is the real reason racers would talk about keeping the driveshafts as straight and level to the drive wheels as possible. The tendancy for the universal joint or Hardy Spicer joint to accelerate and decellerate through one rotation puts cyclic stress on the drivetrain. Constant Velocity joints are just that, they rotate at the same speed irrespective of angle within its operating range, so the perfectly straight and level driveshaft is not critical anymore. Its funny how racers still talk about it, even though the theory is pretty much redundant.

What size UJ is best for this? 1/2 inch?

Edited by luipollastrone on 8th Aug, 2013.

Believe it or not, I did consider using a CV joint in my steering column, and only discarded the idea because they were all too bulky.

I eventually used a Ford KA double UJ steering joint, a short length of mini inner column,(to connect to the rack) and a fabricated upper column with bronze bushes - a lot of work but the only way I could get what I wanted

I used escort ujs and found the splines fit a mini steering rack :)

Avon 2010 class c 3rd
Avon 2011 class c 2nd 13.8 @ 98mph