Automotive Steering System

Any specific manufacturer?

Have you tried the back of the catalog for
J.C. Whitney?

My mother-in-law dated the guy who invented the ball-screw steering gear either in MA or CT in the late 30's or early 40's. She's dead now, so I can't ask her what his name is, or was.

It would help the CR4 community if we had a better idea of what you are interested in learning about. To put the comment into perspective, look at some of the remote control hobby cars, trucks, boats, those sort of things. Now, consider the steering system used on the mars explorers that are off of our world yet have replied to digital commands from our world. In this repsect, now you are putting another item into the mix, very reliable technology in the ability of a system to receive a narrow band frequency to activate servos to cause the miniture vehicle to turn as needed. I am not replying in a wise guy manner, but now you can see why some replies are kind of "thin" in content. I am a mechanic for a fire service, and see a lot of heavy duty systems, from the nice power assisted to the "armstrong" vintage. I have seen some really flimsy designs on automobiles as well. Some of the cars that were attempted to be used in the police aspect really were flimsy. Maintenance issues came up more often on some of those vehicles than those on trucks. Heck, think about the soapbox derby car. Now there is simplicity at its best. My son-in law is into the remote control cars, and as a gift I received a remote control fire truck in the ladder truck design. That steering system is also able to be controlled on the wireless switch box. Steering systems, for the most part, are rather simple in gearing, utilizing a worm gear to turn another gear that is connected to the rest of the tie rod assembly. If you really want some fun, look into the GM product that adapted the crab-walk concept, first utilized by some of the custom monster truck builders. There are hydraulic and electric combinations in addition to plain old mechanical systems. Take these comments with a grain of salt, and perhaps reformulate your request for information. Just a last thought, have you had the chance to visit some of the municipal libraries that still have some of the older automotive manuals? Here is another place to look, check into some of the car swap meets. Don't give up! Keep swinging!

I am also very much interested in steering gear. But what exactly is your query? The standard Ackerman steering is just a four bar linkage in essence. It should'nt be too dificult to design it to suit a vehicles track width and wheel base dimensions. However we all know its limitations and as a researcher you must have some alternative mechanism in mind to give perfect roll for the front wheels at all angles of steering. I myself have toyed with the idea of non-circular gears to generate the proper wheel deflections.