As the general manager of SAP who has been in the RHD steering rack industry for 5+ years, I have spent three days compiling information about steering gear. steering rackToday, let me take you through a preliminary look at auto steering gear!

First, let’s understand what is car steering rack!  Car steering rack, as we are all known as the steering rack and steering gear box, is the most important component in the steering system of an automobile. Its function is to increase the force transmitted from the steering wheel to the steering transmission mechanism and to change the transmission direction of the force.

1 Type of steering rack

Commonly used are rack and pinion type, worm crankpin type, and recirculating ball type.

1) Rack and pinion steering: It is the most common type of steering rack, such as 53601 stx a01. Its basic structure is a pair of pinions and racks that mesh with each other. When the steering shaft drives the pinion to rotate, the rack will do linear motion. Sometimes, the rack can drive the cross-road directly to make the steering wheel steer. Therefore, this is the simplest type of steering gear. It has the advantages of simple structure, low cost, sensitive steering, small size, and can directly drive the cross tie bar. It is widely used in automobiles.

2) Worm gear crankpin type steering: It is a steering gear with worm gear as the active part and crankpin as the follower. The worm has a trapezoidal thread, and the finger-like tapered finger pin is supported on the crank with a bearing, and the crank is integrated with the steering rocker shaft. When steering, the worm is rotated by the steering wheel, and the conical finger pin embedded in the spiral groove of the worm rotates itself while making a circular motion around the steering rocker shaft, thus driving the crank and the steering arm to swing, and then deflecting the steering wheel through the steering transmission mechanism. This kind of steering gear is usually used in vehicles with a large steering force.

Worm gear crankpin type steering

3) Circulating ball steering: The main structure of the circulating ball power steering system consists of two major parts: the mechanical part and the hydraulic part. The mechanical part consists of shell, side cover, upper cover, lower cover, recirculating ball screw, rack nut, rotary valve spool, and fan tooth shaft. There are two pairs of transmission pairs: one pair is the screw and nut, and the other pair is the rack, tooth fan, or fan tooth shaft. Between the screw and the rack, the nut is equipped with a steel ball that can be cyclically rolled, so that the sliding friction becomes rolling friction, thus improving the transmission efficiency. The advantage of this kind of steering is that it is light to operate, has low wear, and long life. The disadvantage is that the structure is complicated, the cost is higher, and the steering sensitivity is not as good as the rack and pinion type, like spr-zm steering rack.