I have a relatively new box , drives lovely with no play. I increase the PSI on the tyres as there 205 x15, certainly makes a difference
Don`t think it`s power steering but how does the Rascal rack conversion work ?? Does it use the original box or is that ditched and a suitable donor aquired ?? I really should stop sitting at the back and pay more attention ...
Mine is loads better than it was but needs that final adjustment which unfortunately the box cant provide. I run a stock setup so currently running something like 30/40ish PSI although somebody recommended experimenting with higher at the front as that might aid handling a tad.
I hear such conflicting statements on racks that I remain to be convinced. Guys that have it love it (I'm sure somebody will be along soon to re-ignite Rack Wars) but the engineering seems very convoluted to me. I am a member of the Stock Height & Aircooled contingent but TLB is a broad "church" so each to their own .....as long as it is a freaking late bay lol
As I suspected, going for PAS is not straightforward and the comments so far show that. So if the old steering box is suspect and 'new' ones are not much better, then presumably it has to be a steering rack option followed by the PAS kit. From the comments even sourcing a decent rack is going to be difficult. My thoughts are that installing the PAS kit using the old worn steering box would give lighter steering but still wander due to the steering box play. Maybe the wander will be worse and happen more quickly. Ideally, the best thing would be to find someone who has done it all and go and see it and talk with them and you will find out how it was done and the difficulties along the way. Good luck.
I think as per some top feedback on here I will source a hopefully decent second hand steering box. That should be the final piece on sorting out the front of my van, then get the PAS installed after that. No point doing the latter until the box is sorted. Personally not going to go near a rack. The Litesteer PAS is electric and I believe based on the corsa system and looking at the installation video is pretty neat- check it out on youtube. It is only a few hours installation but a bit steep Some guys on here are doing their own diy pas much cheaper which is great but I am not really in a position to do that.
Reading through the above there seems to be a lot of discussion about re-con boxes. People have rightly drawn attention to their shortcomings. But surely that is not the point here - the OP has (judging from his signature) a LHD Bus - LHD NEW boxes are available from Heritage for £200. Even if these aren't as good as the original ZF German made ones they are easily going to last the rest of the vehicle's life. Surely this is the way to go rather than contemplating dodgy recon boxes, rebuilds or PAS systems. RHD owners don't have the option of new boxes available.
I have gone down the red 9 design route, mainly for the steering rack that it comes with. I won't need PAS with this, hopefully it will also be light enough for Mrs Pkrboo to drive as well. All in all though I just want to stop getting blown around between lanes!!
Yes the getting blwn around gets a bit tedious. I think the East Anglian triangle must be linked too some local vortex phenomenon.
If I can get an original part that is hopefully less worn than mine, at a decent price, then I think that is the best solution. However if they are £600 quid then fk it I will go with the £200 aftermarket route. Getting PAS is a separate requirement to sorting the steering box.
New LHD Varga steering box from VW heritage https://vwheritage.mobi/GB/productDetails.cfm?iItemID=40531
Good to see you are getting lots of ideas on here. I had a look around with google about Rascal rack option and there is lots of stuff and pics on other forums. It all looks a bit messy and technical to install a rack. Some good pics of split and bay installs. Worth you having a look to get the idea. Meanwhile are you going for a new box?
I've got an Astra rack which works well and is considerably lighter than the old steering box. The installation is a bit convoluted but it does what it's supposed to.
Looking at used box and if that gets too expensive I'll go with new. Not convinced on racks for my bay although will have to look into it for my sunbeam.
Are these the ones where the rack replaces the box but leaves you having to have a idler arm cast and specially made and you still have the ultra-Marmitee-and-nearly-always-to-blame-for-slackness - idler pin and bushes? This seems mad to me and being a cynic if I had gone to all this trouble I would probably convince myself it was better even if it really wasn't. I think most of the peeps doing this have early bays? Early peg and worm boxes are a nightmare and do wear beyong recovery - pegs are available but the quality is very poor and caused mine to jam up going round roundabouts, I could have let go and carried on going round and round. However it's dead easy to convert these to later boxes which as well as being a tougher design are geared better with about (I think) an extra 3/4 turns of the wheel to get from lock to lock. After driving an early box when I did this to mine it felt like I had power steering already! But I have driven a bay with PAS at it niggles at me now because it really was very nice. I tried hard but couldn't fault it, it's also far less bulky and intrusive than the pics make it look. However we still have my pet hate - the idler pin. If there was a nice (engineering) way to replace this with a rack where it should be, like baysearchers, I'd be under my bus right now with the spanners.
