Vehicle steering system

A vehicle steering system comprising:

• a rack housing having a gear rack movably supported therein;
• a pinion housing attached to the rack housing and having a pinion connected to a steering shaft and engaged to the gear rack, the gear rack movable in a translational manner relative to the rack housing in response to a steering input command received by the pinion;
• a first bracket connected to a first end portion of the gear rack and a second bracket connected to a second end portion of the gear rack, the first and second brackets being movable with the translational movement of the gear rack, each of the first and second brackets extending inwardly toward the opposite end portions of the gear rack;
• a first tie rod having an end portion pivotally connected to the first bracket and a second tie rod having an end portion pivotally connected to the second bracket, each of the first and second tie rods configured to steer a motive member in response to translational movement of the gear rack, the pinion housing together with the pinion being located between the respective end portions of the first and second tie rods;
• and
• a travel limit element attached to and offset in a vehicle length direction from the rack housing, the translational movement of the gear rack being controlled by engagement of each of the first bracket and the second bracket with the travel limit element,
• wherein the travel limit element is spaced from an outer surface of the rack housing, and includes a sleeve slidably receiving an elongated shaft, a first end portion of the shaft secured to the first bracket and a second end portion of the shaft secured to the second bracket, the pivotal connection of each of the first and second tie rods to the respective first and second brackets is forward in the vehicle length direction from a longitudinal axis of the shaft of the travel limit element.