G16 Rack and Pinion mod

[MrNeon]

Getting ready to convert my Yamaha G16 with a Jakes LT kit and stock steering to a rack and pinion set-up. I cannot stand how terrible the steering is with the LT kit. I've greased, adjusted, set, etc.. all that I can and still its like turning with a power steering car with no power. I read a couple posts here and there and seen a few pictures of those that have done it. I know it can be done, just hope I figure it out that its performs great. So far I bought a Yamaha Drive rack and pinion unit that I got a deal on and a used G22 steering column and knuckle. I cross referenced steering parts on a couple models with rack and pinion and the steering column and knuckle are all the same. Just the rack and pinion and tie rod ends are different for certain models. I can reuse Jakes LT kit parts as well to make this work.

Today I just did a mock up of brackets to align where I need to drill and or cut. I am going to do this mod with the idea of a complete bolt on using what is already on the cart. If I don;t need to weld, I don't want to. I am able to use the original G16 steering mount with overlaying a new plate that is taller to provide a new mount for the G22 steering column. For the rack and pinion, I am going to have a piece of flat metal, 90 degree bend that will mount to the lower 2 A-Arm bolts of the Jakes LT kit and sit up against the mount plate of the front end kit. I could weld the top portion but I am going to wait and see how strong and secure it is first. The rack and pinion will mount on a the plate 90 degrees out from where it mounts to the LT kit. My hope is that there is no flexing or stress that will warp or bend the plate. I will of course use a thicker metal plate for this.

Next thing I noticed was the rack and pinion sits much higher than what seems comfortable with the tire rod angles. Plus they are short a few inches. I know I can get tie rod extensions real easy but I am going to reuse my stock tie rods bars but cut them on one end down to the size needed and then re-tap one end to accept the tie rods. The threads are a perfect fit.

The next issue is the angle of how the tire rods sit when its all together. It's a pretty sharp angle of mount and I feel there isn't much "play" given the LT kit travel has a go range of motion. So after thinking a bit I put in an email to Jakes to see if I could purchase a set of aluminum steering extensions that they use on Jakes 6" A-Arm lift kit. I sold mine so hopefully they can hook me up with a set. This would bring the tire rod steering bracket up to an acceptable angle and the best part is that it will work with Jakes hubs. I have the disc brake front end too. Now I also read about another person that did this mod but use EZ Go hubs instead. He was able to get the Jake's disc brakes to work as well and it was a direct fit to a Yamaha G16. I checked out the hubs and it appears that the steering bracket is at a much higher angle than Jakes or a stock Yamaha which would make up the angle difference.

So hopefully this mode will work out..I hope to get pictures of my progress up shortly.

[dacheedah]

I was considering changing the g9 to a crossover or better yet a double crossover


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[sho305]

Great post! There are posts about using racks from other carts as well as aftermarket units. They are hard to find but they are here. Yes remounting the steering column can be a hassle also depending on what is used.

The racks just work better with LT lifts, its a pain to use the yamaha boxes. I was going to make long rods for my G9 and a bracket to cross them, but then your rods go in way past the arm bolts so I would get full turn but have worse bumpsteer potentially. Not sure it is worth doing.