steering box

Summit Racing lists two companies, Flaming River, and AGR for quick ratio boxes. Expensive.
I bought my quick ratio 12;1 box from Advance Auto Parts, for the Malibu.

now the smaller the ratio the smaller the turning radius. is that right hows the whole number thing work

That's right. The 12:1 means 12 turns of the steering wheel from lock to lock. So the smaller the first number the less movement need in the steering wheel to turn the tires the same angle.

The ratio, ie 12 to 1, would be 12 turns of the wheel to one turn of the pitman shaft, which of course only turns a fraction of a turn. The ratio only affects how many turns from lock to lock, or extreme right to extreme left. Although I'm not sure of stops within some gear boxes selves (?) Old cars had like 16 to 1 and even higher ratios, making it take more turns of the wheel for a corner etc. Quick steering is like 12 to 1 compared to 16 to 1, for example. The gear box for my Malibu was listed as 2 1/2 to 3 turns, lock to lock, so I would think the stops on the front spindles were considered in that spec.

pila wrote:The ratio, ie 12 to 1, would be 12 turns of the wheel to one turn of the pitman shaft, which of course only turns a fraction of a turn. The ratio only affects how many turns from lock to lock, or extreme right to extreme left. Although I'm not sure of stops within some gear boxes selves (?) Old cars had like 16 to 1 and even higher ratios, making it take more turns of the wheel for a corner etc. Quick steering is like 12 to 1 compared to 16 to 1, for example. The gear box for my Malibu was listed as 2 1/2 to 3 turns, lock to lock, so I would think the stops on the front spindles were considered in that spec.

My bad, I thought that 12 turns of the wheel seems a bit much! That's what I get for speaking without thinking.

Okay, I have read this whole post and I have a stupid question. How can you turn your steering wheel 12 times? I can't turn it 6 times left or right from dead center.

Its a ratio, how many turns of the input shaft would equal one turn of the output if the output could make a complete 360* turn.
Your pitman arm will only go a certain degrees of travel through a circle, the steering boxes have predetermined "stops" in side the boc to accomodate different vehicles. Therfore the output shaft will only turn 60* or 80* or what ever is neeeded for the vehicle. Thats why youll only get 3 turns or 3-1/2 turns (or whatever ratio and stops your box has in it) on your steering wheel before it stops

Thanks. You guys had me confused for a minute, cuz I know I never had any car that I could turn the wheel on that many times, and I have owned a LOT of cars over the years!