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How stupid is it really:

broncoman6524

broncoman6524

1/2 ton status
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To run Full Hydraulic steering on a street truck?

A guy a work with who used to build trucks, has a complete set-up. Orbital valve/lines/ram all for $250. Much cheaper than Crossover, and Besides the fact that its "illegal" any other reasons?

He also said that the box is not a self-centering box, meaning that I have to keep my hand on the wheel. (Who drives a lifted truck without their hands???) LOL
 
:doah::mad::smokin2:


for leagle reasons why even chance it. you get in acident it opens the door big time. and if i was to ever i would want centering box option.
 
sweetk30 said:
:doah::mad::smokin2:


for leagle reasons why even chance it. you get in acident it opens the door big time. and if i was to ever i would want centering box option.
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"legal"

Lol, I get that point. Not jumping on getting it. I need a truck that actually runs first.:doah:
 
I have a real nice Howe system sitting in the cabinet. Not too much fun on the road. OK at low speeds, but at 65 it is a hand full. Go mechanical unless 90% dirt.
 
ktmoutfront said:
I have a real nice Howe system sitting in the cabinet. Not too much fun on the road. OK at low speeds, but at 65 it is a hand full. Go mechanical unless 90% dirt.
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That was one thing I didn't like about your blazer. After looking at your photobucket account, it seems like you went to a crossover with an idler arm.

I wasn't really impressed with full hydro after talking with somebody about it 15 years ago. He told me that full hydro had bad road manners.
Full hydro has its place on slow rock crawlers where you need the brute strength to turn, but not on anything that has to drive on the freeway at speed.
 
I wouldn't do it for anything that sees the street...

Open center is the orbital you want for full hydraulic, the closed center is of no use to us...

Non load reactive is what makes it not return to center, load reactive would have a "feel" at the steering wheel... I've heard horror stories about the return to center valves losing all steering and the rig going off the road... There's a few guys up here that have been on the boards trying to figure out what was making it happen and everything so far has pointed to the load reactive "return to center" valve...

Next thing is, if you start to get the fluid to hot it will foam and can cause loss of steering...

If it's a single ended ram you can use it for hydro assist and tap a 2wd box, then if you ever need to go full hydro you've got everything that you need...

Hope this helps...
 
Full hydro is not sensitive and precise enough to be really workable on the road. Besides, why you one want less than a physical connection between the steering wheel and the road? Off-road, not so important...
 
There is a huge difference in how a full hydraulic steering systems work depending on many different things. You can setup hydraulic steering that would work great on the street......trouble is that most people just randomly mismatch parts together, and may of those parts are coming off agricultural and construction equipment and were never designed with high speed road manners in mind.
 
It would only take one loose or broken bolt to lose all steering on a power assist system. Both are mechanical objects. Both can fail. If I'm not mistaken, there are a good number of aircraft that have no physical link between the pilot and the control surfaces. Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I don't pretend to know the first thing about orbital valves, but would you have any steering if the motor wasn't running? Getting towed even a short distance with a strap becomes impossible, right?
 
goofy1 said:
I don't pretend to know the first thing about orbital valves, but would you have any steering if the motor wasn't running? Getting towed even a short distance with a strap becomes impossible, right?
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Good question, and I'm actually not sure.

I could be VERY wrong here, but From what I understand the p/s pump provides the pressure to operate the system.

So yeah...:doah:I think you're right on that one.
 
goofy1 said:
I don't pretend to know the first thing about orbital valves, but would you have any steering if the motor wasn't running? Getting towed even a short distance with a strap becomes impossible, right?
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With most steering control valves (orbital valve is slang), you do have steering control even when the motor (and ps pump) are not running.

Its generally more difficult to steer than a regular power steering setup that isn't running, but you're not dead in the water.
 
Thinking outside the box, I wonder how hard it would be to make an electric assist. No pumps, lines, nothing. That would be lighter then a hydraulics system. You could rig up a motor and drive to manual steering box to supplement mechanical input. You would need a hall sensor on the shaft so it knew which way you were turning. Default (broken!) would be the drag of turning the shaft of an electric motor. VW and BMW has had electric steering assist for years, my GLI has it, no P/S pump just an electric motor on the rack. The resistance in the motor provides the steering feel "feedback" which I can change from stiff to loose with my laptop (it changes with speed, easy in a parking lot, stiff on a canyon road". Infinity's have no steering shaft, its all motors and inputs. Still kind of scarry not having a mechanical link. But airplanes are all fly by wire these days anyway.
 
Even some of the new quads have electric assist. I have a friend with a 57 jeep was wondering the same thing. 67 hp motor would be killed with a PS pump.
 
38377k5 said:
With most steering control valves (orbital valve is slang), you do have steering control even when the motor (and ps pump) are not running.

Its generally more difficult to steer than a regular power steering setup that isn't running, but you're not dead in the water.
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Yep. Take a traditional power steering system. Now take the belt off. magnify the result. That is what full hydraulic is like in a street like senario.

You can do it. But I personally like the mechanical link.

Put this **** on Pirate an you will be Chastized. But they are a bunch of homos that think they invented the off road world though.:rolleyes:
 
full hydro on my blazer. It's fantastic offroad. It simply just turns and to tell you the truth, offroad, I don't want any feedback in the wheel. I like the point and shoot aspect.

I have driven it on road at speed 1 time. It wasn't twitchy. It was fine control wise. My valve is open center non load reacting if memory serves. At any rate, when going down a straight stretch for any distance, you find yourself continually turning left to counter the crown of the road. This I did not expect but definitely there.

As to the question on road or off.... I do agree they are both mechanical systems and I don't believe any one is any more prone to fail than the other, given proper maintenance. There are lots of vehicles that don't have a physical connection to their respective steering systems. A properly set up system could work. It's the piss poor ones that cause all the bad rap. Hydraulic lines require inspection at a more frequent interval. Only other problem I have with hydraulics vs. mechanical linkages, linkages tend to wear and give you some sort of warning. A hydraulic line will usually burst giving no indication until its too late.

For the record, I have had a mechanical link system fail on me as well. No left turn at speed is an issue.
 
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