Hello All

[Lance-W]

The bigger racks are just not going to work.  Period.  There simply isn't room.  When i built the two seater I tried knowing that the small rack linked above was marginal.  There needs to be a medium sized rack.  They just don't exist.  If you go any bigger the tie rod fouling issue will get worse as a result the location of the tie rods moving forward.  The location of the tie rods is already a design issue with the Edge design that Tony refuses to address.  You cannot go wider either or you will induce bumpsteer.  Just buy one of the small racks linked above and modify it to match what's in there.  It'll last a long time.  When I built the two seater I bought two racks and modified both so I would have a spare.  The spare has never been out of the trailer.

[dsrace]

well....there you have it, straight from the designer/builder!     

[Toufs]

The bigger racks are just not going to work.  Period.  There simply isn't room.  When i built the two seater I tried knowing that the small rack linked above was marginal.  There needs to be a medium sized rack.  They just don't exist.  If you go any bigger the tie rod fouling issue will get worse as a result the location of the tie rods moving forward.  The location of the tie rods is already a design issue with the Edge design that Tony refuses to address.  You cannot go wider either or you will induce bumpsteer.  Just buy one of the small racks linked above and modify it to match what's in there.  It'll last a long time.  When I built the two seater I bought two racks and modified both so I would have a spare.  The spare has never been out of the trailer.

Hey Lance sorry for the long halt on the update, been real busy at work with doing expansion on the store and getting new stock for the season. I realized after reading some of the meet and greets that I forgot so mention what I do. My brother and myself own a women clothing and shoe store so my life is like when you guys have to go shopping with your wife or girlfriend lol I hate it but it pays the bills lol.

Thanks for schooling me and putting me straight on the rack options, I needed that. I have a great idea and I think you gonna love it how about you selling that ready to go rack you have sitting in storage PLEASE lol that would be great. If you cant I understand. Let me ask this before I buy the same rack and have the same problem. Should a new rack like that one have 1/2" play left to right and also should it rock front to back on the heim ends?

Anyway I have some good and bad news. the bad is not so bad and the good is very good. The good news is the overheating was the gauge messing about all along. put a temp gun to it when the gauge was showing way high and the temp gun was normal. The bad news is 1 injector is sticking. Getting current but not firing. So tomorrow I will take the injectors out and clean them out with carb cleaner. Then once that goes well it should be running perfect and the next step would be (after Lance tells me "yes I will sell my already ready rack to you) get the rack, have it aligned and Im ready to go racing. Oh and some heim joints need to be changed, maybe I will change all in the front end.

[fabr]

When you change out the heims,be sure to very precisely measure center to center distance to keep the arms as close as possible to how Lance set it up originally. Hopefully,last owner did not screw with that before you got it.

[Lance-W]

I have a great idea and I think you gonna love it how about you selling that ready to go rack you have sitting in storage PLEASE lol that would be great. If you cant I understand. Let me ask this before I buy the same rack and have the same problem. Should a new rack like that one have 1/2" play left to right and also should it rock front to back on the heim ends?

The rack I have will not work for you.  The ends are at different angles.

Rocking back and forth front to back sounds like the mount is just loose.  You really need to take it off and see what's wrong with it.  I can't speculate from here what might be wrong.

Yes it will have some side to side play in the steering wheel.  There's way to many joints between the steering wheel and the tires and every joint is cumulative and adds to the slop.  It'll never be like automotive rack and pinion steering.  Just ain't gonna happen.

[dsrace]

well all in all good to hear.      lance......does doug have one of these rack and pinions he would sell? sounds like he would just like a new one to install and save the old for a spare,

[Lance-W]

well all in all good to hear.      lance......does doug have one of these rack and pinions he would sell? sounds like he would just like a new one to install and save the old for a spare,

Nope   Doug does it a completely different way.  It would require re-welding the bracket that mounts the rack at a minimum.

He just needs to buy the parts I linked above and take them to someone with a lathe (Drill press would be hokey but ya never know) and mod the parts to match the one that's currently in there and he'd be back in action.  It's really not that hard just takes a little bit of fab.   First step I would take would be to take the one that's in there out? and look at what's actually wrong.  But were not even at that step.   
As I remember there's a snap ring in there that holds it all together.  It could simply be that it popped out.  BUT you have to take it apart and look................................

[Toufs]

I have a great idea and I think you gonna love it how about you selling that ready to go rack you have sitting in storage PLEASE lol that would be great. If you cant I understand. Let me ask this before I buy the same rack and have the same problem. Should a new rack like that one have 1/2" play left to right and also should it rock front to back on the heim ends?

The rack I have will not work for you.  The ends are at different angles.

Rocking back and forth front to back sounds like the mount is just loose.  You really need to take it off and see what's wrong with it.  I can't speculate from here what might be wrong.

Yes it will have some side to side play in the steering wheel.  There's way to many joints between the steering wheel and the tires and every joint is cumulative and adds to the slop.  It'll never be like automotive rack and pinion steering.  Just ain't gonna happen.

The rack is bolted on tight, no shaking on the mount. I noticed (I don't know what you call it) the shaft that comes out of the rack that connects to the steering column is also rocking in the rack housing. Will take it off and have my fab buddy have a look at it as I personally am not sure what exactly to look for lol. Fabbing a new rack should be a breeze at the a machine shop near by where I live. I have had awesome work done there and seen some very impressive stuff. So I think they will sort me out pretty good.

Whats killing me is what you said about the "slop". And I hope im not sounding rude so please don't get me wrong because I know you know what yu are talking about but, how do Yamaha and Polaris get away with it? I guess I will go by some buddies and have a look at their Yamaha and Polaris steering set up. I don't know if that will help rest my brain lol.

[Toufs]

When you change out the heims,be sure to very precisely measure center to center distance to keep the arms as close as possible to how Lance set it up originally. Hopefully,last owner did not screw with that before you got it.

I am with you on that bro. I don't know if it is or not aligned (probably is not as its pulling so hard to the right) and would have to get the alignment spcs from lance to take to the alignment shop. Im counting different numbers on the threads of all front end heims left and right. Maybe that's normal but i would need you guys to tell me so. Man I don't even know if it can go on an alignment machine or if its a situation where I have to count the threads on the heims.

[Toufs]

well all in all good to hear.      lance......does doug have one of these rack and pinions he would sell? sounds like he would just like a new one to install and save the old for a spare,

Thanks dsracer Im really happy that I got that sorted.

[dsrace]

When you change out the heims,be sure to very precisely measure center to center distance to keep the arms as close as possible to how Lance set it up originally. Hopefully,last owner did not screw with that before you got it.

I am with you on that bro. I don't know if it is or not aligned (probably is not as its pulling so hard to the right) and would have to get the alignment spcs from lance to take to the alignment shop. Im counting different numbers on the threads of all front end heims left and right. Maybe that's normal but i would need you guys to tell me so. Man I don't even know if it can go on an alignment machine or if its a situation where I have to count the threads on the heims.

don't need an alignment machine although that would be nice to do a 4 way alignment but again not needed. just need to get the specific alignment info from lance and do as instructed. my money is still on a bent component either in the rack or at the ends but a bent heim etc etc steering component will do it too. as far as comparing it to a yamaha     be mindful that diff rack styles have diff characteristics. i say this as most utv's have  electric power steering ( eps ) so to compare this you would need to take the body skin off to view the entire steering shaft to carefully watch it but the tq sensors inside the eps compensate as load and movement are applied. at idle if is what i think they are then the eps is at full assist so most sensitive so simply turning the wheels and watching really doesn't work. i just added eps to mine last winter and am very happy with it infact i would build another personal rail with out one but the slop i felt before , i do not feel now and it was min but i know it's still there in fact should be worse as i now have 4 u joints rather than 2 in order to install the unit so that should be double the play i had before in  u joints alone.

[fabr]

If heims are in good condition and all u-joints are in good shape there will still be slop in the rack as is used in almost offroad cars. It's just the nature of them even in perfect condition. Rebuild the rack,set up the alignment according to what Lance says he set it to and make the lower a arm the correct length Lance designed it to be. This is very important unless you just like chasing your tail for the fun of it..
  Remember/be mindful of the reality that not only does the caster/camber/toe-in all need to be set at ride height but due to the nature of these things front suspension travel being much more than any street driven vehicle you will likely need to set all 3 then go back and readjust all 3 and then likely have to do it again till all 3 start to work in unision. Even then you may still have bumpsteer that cannot be minimized until you get the lower a-arm set/adjusted to the length Lance designed the arm to be. EVERYTHING revolves around this critical dimension.[/color]I hope Lance has that info for you. If not you will just have to stert in and chase your tail for a while.   
  I use this type caster/camber gauge and they work remarkably well.

https://www.joesracing.com/i-21091898-joes-caster-camber-gauge-with-magnetic-adapter.html

 And when you do rebuild the rack,add a rack snuggy from fastcorvairs so you can keep the slop,as much as is possible,adjusted out of it.

 

[dsrace]

well said
fabr nice tool btw!

[fabr]

As long as we're discussing steering u joints, I will only use Sweet u-j's. Very good quality,zero slop and they have almost everything ever made for these things except for the Unisteer EPS bastards. Realistically,there should be no slop anywhere but in the rack and ,most likely,the steering shaft bearings if plain bushings were used. That can be minimized by replacing them with delrin bushings fit just snug enough to remove slop but not so tight to cause shaft binding.  If heims are used for shaft support,it is what it is.

 Removing any end play in steering column will help remove felt slop also.

[Toufs]

Hey there DTS brothers, just want to let you guys know YES she is ready, well the power and cooling is sorted out and now just to get the slop and pull out of the steering which I think after studying it for a while will not be a problem.

The overheating problem was fixed with a new radiator. the old one was warped and I didn't notice for a while. I replaced it with a high performance radiator by Yonaka Motor Sports for a civic and BOOOOM she takes a while now to get to running temp and will not over heat sitting in traffic like street bikes do. NO MORE OVER HEATING!

The problem with lack of performance was du to a (and wait till you get this, was so simple) cut on one of the fuel injector O-rings and it wasn't even cut all the way through. When that was fixed OMG she burns tires on tar road all the way through third gear. I took it to the local drag strip and I woopt a Toyota supra butt and did 13.0 seconds at 98mph through the 1/4 mile from a stand still. All with no traction on those off road tires lol lol she is a beast and No mods not even an exhaust.

Lance I remember you told me you toped it out on GPS at 85mph. Is it possible you had that injector O-ring problem from since then and not notice? Tell you what bro I am no where in your class of being a mechanic or builder but if you were only topping out at 85 then I think the problem was there when you bought the engine. And maybe you were not very used to the power of these engines and thought it was fine? I don't know bro but being that I am used to sport bikes I know that, the performance was nowhere near normal when I got it, even with the weight difference I know it has to be a lot faster than that first test ride. But now BRO from gear to gear is like blinking. She is a monster that struggles for traction lol I love it. Cant wait to get some street and strip tires and go back up there. Then when I get the slop in the steering sorted I will take it to the rally track.

My biggest problem is time but I get some sometimes lol. Loving my toy tho and loving the adventure that comes with it.