**Steering Rack Solution for Early Bays**

[Graham L]

New from Midland Early Bay a steering rack conversion for your early bay window bus. After 6 months of development in conjunction with Jimmy & Ellie at Valley Gas Speedshop we are now in a position to offer this solution to early bay owners initially although a version for late bays will follow.

The rack is a new item imported from the US, it is mounted to the chassis via a laser cut tig welded bracket that utilises the existing steering box mounting holes. An additional pick up attaches to the diagonal chassis member under the cab floor, on pre 1970 MY buses an additional cross member will be supplied with the kit.

The kit is available to suit both RHD & LHD buses and will fit lowered buses but is not suitable for ‘slammed’ buses. The test unit is currently fitted to ‘Monty’ our 1969 Shop Bus and is available for test drives from our Solihull premises.

Monty will be on our stand at Vanfest so feel free to come along and have a look.

Price for the kit is £995.00 + VAT exc fitting

Introductory price available to EB Forum users of £920 + VAT exc fitting

 

[Austin]

Looks like a great bit of kit G, cant wait to see it, gonna try and make it to VF.

 

[froggy]

Looks good (if not a bt pricey though)

 

[Graham L]

Hi Austin

If you do make it to vanfest we are in the Wyre Halls, stand W13 from memory

Hi Simon

Its more expensive than I wanted it to be but by the time the rack is purchased from the US and imported, the bracket tig welded and a sum added in to cover the development costs it all mounts up.

If we can get enough interest I'm hoping that we may be able to get the price down but we have to start somewhere,

 

[Wensbry]

Looks pretty impressive and I will deffo have a look at the weekend but a recon steering box is £275.

Maybe a group buy will help !!

 

[froggy]

If we can get enough interest I'm hoping that we may be able to get the price down but we have to start somewhere,

Graham,
Not knocking it mate just comparing it to what you get with the wishbone kit of red9,and i will definately be over at vanfest to have a mooch around.

 

[Graham L]

Steve

The problem we have found is that some reconditioned steering boxes are being filled with grease rather gear oil and are in need of being replaced again after 12 months. I'm not pointing the finger at any particular re conditioner but I've heard it more than once and seen in the flash where recon boxes have come back full of grease and swarf and hence why we looked for an alternative longer term solution. I think the problem is that parts to rebuild the boxes are no longer available and no one is re manufacturing steering box components that I'm aware of.

 

[faux]

Well done Graham, a great looking piece of kit.

I'm a bit gutted that it won't go on my bus but there are plenty of buses out there that will benefit from it.

I'll be over to take some random abuse at the weekend.

Jon

 

[Graham L]

Cheers Jon

I'll look forward to some abuse :lol: :lol: , can I mention Fabia clutches as a retort :lol: :lol:

 

[Austin]

I think the problem is that parts to rebuild the boxes are no longer available and no one is re manufacturing steering box components that I'm aware of.

^^^^ this is oh so true, how can people offer recon boxes, when you cant buy the parts to rebuild it?, i've searched the globe looking for parts to do this but come up with nowt. I'm not saying it can be done some how, but i cant see how, and all the recon boxes i have seen have been packed with grease not the hypoid oil they should be.

 

[cotswoldiver]

Good to see it in situ, look forward to testing this in action in the months ahead. Every bit of discount helps, lets hope it creates enough interest for a few units for you

 

[alex4057]

Awesome looking bit of kit, Glad to see someone solving this dilema,

It seems to hang quite low, how much lower than a stock steering box does it hang?

Cheers

Alex

 

[faux]

Cheers Jon

I'll look forward to some abuse :lol: :lol: , can I mention Fabia clutches as a retort :lol: :lol:

that hurts......so much

 

[Graham L]

Jon
I'm sure you'll get me back :lol: :lol: :lol:

Alex
I'll check the difference, its all about trying to get clearance for the rack and if you move it too high you need to start cutting big holes in the bodywork. There may be a way of making the actual box it sits in higher as its the box that sits lower. This is the second one made and the first thats been used on the road so there is still time to make adjustments to it and we are open to suggestions.

 

[Araon]

Pity you had to notch the front....

 

[Graham L]

Araon
I agree but in order to make the linkage as simple as possible without adding extra joints etc the rack need to be positioned where it is and we were also trying to utilise existing mounts wherever possible, the small mousehole is hidden behind the bumper and not visible and included in the kit is a properly fabricated cover piece for it.

 

[VeeDubMan]

Looks pretty similar to what I did on mine http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7570&start=40. I had to notch the front too but as you said, hidden behind the bumper anyway.

 

[ib-bus]

I will definately take a look at this , looks very good Graham.

 

[user 4039]

Hi, I know this is an old thread but where are we today with this kit?

 

[Graham L]

Hi

Got your email and your post on Facebook, struggling a little with parts supply at the moment and too be honest we can't produce the kit cheap enough for most peoples price range, (custom designed bracket made in small batches, hot rod rack brought in from the US etc etc)

Demo rack is fitted to our new bus 'Billy' now so if you fancy trying it out feel free to pop up and have a look/drive