Transit Power Steering Rack

[Marishka]

Ive got Leyland P76 power steering on my green poptop
Works a treat.

[Gordon]

Hi Bugas, thought I would add my two cents worth to Rogue's already fantastic posting on the Transit power rack conversion in the hope that this might aid someone tackling this conversion in the future. I'll start off by describing the mounting option that I have gone for. I wanted to retain the original front beam towing eyes but at the same time get the new rack mounting as low as possible. So we ended up cutting a V section out of the top of the towing eyes and then welded in an angle iron. Apologies for the picture quality.

[Gordon]

Next step was to create a u shaped box section by cutting a face off a square tube. This U shaped section then drops down into the inverted angle iron that we welded into the front beam thus creating the necessary angle needed for the Transit rack mounts. This gives one a double sheer mounting point which is a certification requirement here in New Zealand.

[Gordon]

As a backing mount to the actual beam we used an 8mm steel plate that picks up the original Bedford rack mounting bolt holes, so that the conversion can be unbolted and the van returned to an original non power setup should this ever be required. The picture below shows the new rack mounted onto the front suspension beam.

[Gordon]

With the beam back in the van I double checked the steering rod angles to make sure that the universal joints won't be under too much of an angle. From the pictures below you can see that things line up pretty well with a standard Bedford steering column.

[Gordon]

The steering rod will consist of a standard Transit universal joint that fits directly onto the Transit power rack. The Transit shaft that is attached to the universal joint is then splined and mated to a Flaming River FR2526 universal joint that is a perfect match for the splines on the Bedford steering column. Pictures of the steering rod to follow once I get it back from the engineering shop.

[atk1]

Awesome Gordon, thanks for sharing. I will probably go this way aswell so this is very helpful

[Bedfordcrazy]

Hey Guys,
             when we did our Ford Transit Rack, we used all the original mounting holes for the rack and van. Because the transit rack bolts up at a 45 degree angle we made a bracket to replicate the transit  mounting holes. And with new heavy duty tie rods it worked a treat. Here are some pics.
One valuable piece of advice i would give is make sure if you are going with a different motor, make sure it is in first, we did the rack b4 the V6 and as you can see we had to cut a section out to fit the pulley, an hours work we could of saved if the V6 was in first.

george

[Bedfordcrazy]

and a few more

[Bedfordcrazy]

and finally