This particular system is named after the type of gears that are used. A small pinion gear, connected to the tyre, meshes with an extended rack gear, connected at both ends to the tie rods and steering knuckles. When the driver turns the tyre, it pushes the rack still left or correct, thereby turning the wheels left or right.
A New Rack and Pinion In a Vehicle Restoration ProjectFor decades, the standard power-steering program has been hydraulically assisted. A hydraulic pump, the power-steering pump, uses engine capacity to generate hydraulic pressure, which can be fed through the power steering hoses to the rack. When steering is in use, hydraulic pressure improves the driver’s input force, making for easier steering.
Rack-and-pinion steering is somewhat different from the steering boxes we looked at in last month’s issue. Perhaps the best way to spell it out it really is that it combines the steering box and tie rod, or centerlink, into one unit. In addition, it mounts up front, across the car, either behind the axle centerline or before it. This is why you’ll hear steering racks known as frontsteer and rear-steer racks. Mount a rear-steer unit before the axle centerline and the wheels will go left when you steer right, in exactly the same way some steering boxes need to have their internals reversed to function in certain situations.
The tyre, through the steering column, is directly linked to the rack, though it may also employ universal joints, a rag joint, or a sliding joint. In the rack is certainly a pinion assembly that in turn moves a toothed piston, and this operates the steering equipment. The tie rods are linked to each end of the piston.
The benefit of rack-and-pinion steering is that it’s more precise than a steering box. There are fewer shifting parts, making the steering more responsive. Of course, much like boxes, there are the choices of manual or power steering. It’s also very easy to screw up your frontend geometry when adding a steering rack to an existing frontend, leading to bumpsteer, though of Rack Pinion Steering training course this will be removed if you opt for one of the many rack-and-pinion retrofit kits we’ll go into shortly.
The steering gear transfers Rack and Pinionthe rotary motion of the steering wheel to a linear motion used to steer the front wheels. Two types of steering gear are used today, the typical gear container and the rack and pinion. The standard gear box uses a worm gear that is rotated by the steering wheel to go the pitman shaft. The worm gear includes spiral cut grooves that mesh with a sector equipment at the top of the pitman shaft. The spiral action of the worm equipment causes the pitman shaft to move the steering linkage in a linear motion. Power steering is attained by using hydraulic 
pressure to aid in the rotation of the worm gear.