Before this thread about racks gets derailed, let me reiterate that my question is regarding Power Steering!

Can somebody please explain the difference and pros/cons between a wide-spread rack and a standard rack?  It would appear that the wide-spread rack simply has a bracket on the front of it allowing you to locate your steering tie rods anywhere along that bracket.  Couldn't you fabricate a bracket specific to your steering geometry and attach it to a standard rack in the same manner?  It seems as if this is what most people would need to do anyway.  What am I missing?

I apologize if this has been answered before but I am having troubles with the forum search engine returning fatal errors due to timeout.
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The center mount racks were generally for VW beam style stuff still in use.

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Thanks Carl.

So is my original statement correct that the only difference is that a wide piece of metal is attached to the ram? I do not know what, if any, price difference exists between the two types. I am wondering if I am missing something because I do not see the big benefit of a wide-spread since you probably have to modify/customize their piece of metal anyway.
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The benefit would be to spread the load of the tie-rod stress into the chassis. And to place the tierods in the plane between the upper and lower pivots of the control arms. That location is what decides the bumpsteer qualities. It CAN be manipulated fore and aft and vertically to maximize the system. But it's generally accepted that it should be in that plane of the pivots.

But you're correct that there should be little or no difference in the function or the ram. The ram usually mount to the ends of the rack on most brands I've seen.

Carl
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