How about I throw a little "tech" in the mix and share a little bit about my product.
Lets start with the clamp, The stock clamp and all aftermarket setups I have seen rely on the two bolts in the stock location to both locate the rack AND provide the clamping force that causes the clamp to grip the rack. I saw an opportunity to improve upon that design and incorporated two additional bolts that only provide clamping force, these are in addition to the two stock location bolts that locate the clamp and provide clamping force. The advantages are increased and better distributed clamping force and retention of clamping force if the stock location bolts were ever to loosen up.
The other half of the package is the replacement drivers side bushings. I spent a lot of time researching the different materials that could be used. Early on I eliminated using a metal bushing for a couple of reasons including the difficulty of designing a bushing that was a press fit yet easy for the customer to instal. If the bushing is not a press fit you will have movement that will quickly wear the bushing and the rack. What I was looking for was a material with a balance between stiffness and and the ability to retain its shape and tolerance when subject to impact. These properties are generally at odds with each other, for example rubber can deform an enormous amount and return to it's exact shape but it is very soft and allows lots of movement. On the other hand a very hard plastic like delrin will allow virtually no movement but it is so hard that it tends to permanently deform when subject to an impact. I eventually settled on UHMW (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene), this material leans more towards the stiffness side of that compromise but was chosen for it's balance between the previously discussed properties along with good chemical resistance and temperature stability. Time will tell if this was a good choice. I was able to design a two piece bushing that is press fit into the rack body and around the stock inner bushing sleeve, I opted for a two piece bushing with flanges on both sides to better locate the steering rack and to ease installation. I will even include a simple tool that makes removing the old bushing and installing the new ones a breeze and requires nothing else other than a 5" C clamp.
