What are the Pros and Cons of Center Takeoff vs. End Takeoff Rack and Pinion?

Question

As the title suggests I'm trying to establish the pros and cons of Center takeoff R&P vs End takeoff?

Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

The experience I've had with center take-off racks is in the Chrysler Corp's LH cars (Intrepid, Concorde, 300M, New Yorker, etc.)

The center take-off design has long tie rods that must reach to the center of the engine compartment. They are usually pretty significant chunks of steel. On the Chrysler implementation, they attach to the rack via bushings. Those bushings tend to wear, and are inconvenient to change being that they're down and behind the engine.

Traditional end takeoff R&Ps are of course the more common case. There aren't any bushings to go bad and therefore maintenance is simpler. A bad inner tie rod end will give you headaches but not as frequently as bad inner bushings will.

As far as these things go, usually you don't have much choice; you're stuck with whatever the manufacturer designed unless you're up for major modifications. If I was in the position to make the choice on a vehicle I was custom building, based just on my experience with one make and body style, I would go with the end take off rack. YMMV.

--Geoff