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Hydro?

iwaxmyjimmy

College web wheeler
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Joined
Nov 3, 2006
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Greenville NC
anyone running full hydro with leafs up front? I'm not sure if its been covered or if its possible without messing alot of stuff up. My dilemma is going with cross over, since I'm going with 52s up front, with hydro assist, or just go full on hydro. If I go full hydro all I have to do is mount the ram, mount the orbital valve, and plump the lines from the reservoir and pump?
 
Only thing I can think of it doing is shifting the axle under the truck because springs flex. Like its not a solid mount with a link style suspension. This is also my daily driver and I've been searching frantically and everything leading towards x-over and hyrdo assist. One post mentioned using a coilover style steering stabilizer to have any return to center feel to it.
 
If it's your daily, just run hydro-assist. RUnning full hydro requires you to run a big ram that is real slow at low rpm's. I'm running a 1.5x8 ram and it's been perfect for my blazer.
 
koldsimer said:
If it's your daily, just run hydro-assist. RUnning full hydro requires you to run a big ram that is real slow at low rpm's. I'm running a 1.5x8 ram and it's been perfect for my blazer.

That and it is illegal to drive a full hydro rig on the road in almost all 50 states. The steering has to be physically connected. If you lose a hose or a pump or your engine you have no steering and you will kill someone or yourself.

Not good mate.

Ira
 
koldsimer said:
RUnning full hydro requires you to run a big ram that is real slow at low rpm's.

sorry for the hi-jack but I was just thinking about starting a post that was similar.

I have a question. if it's slow at low rpm's, how is this an advantage when wheeling? I know the obvious answer is that it's more powerful then hydro assist. The reason I ask is that my truck has not seen a road in over 6 years with no plans to ever go back. I should be running full hydro. shouldn't I? 44's and I like to play in the rocks.
 
sandawgk5 said:
That and it is illegal to drive a full hydro rig on the road in almost all 50 states. The steering has to be physically connected. If you lose a hose or a pump or your engine you have no steering and you will kill someone or yourself.

Not good mate.

Ira

x2 I get so sick of people arguing that it's just as safe. It seems every thread about hydro assist turns into a safe or unsafe debate. Seems pretty obvious to me.
 
I understand the safety concerns, I was trying to get it done on the cheap side. So I guess its time to go cross over and hydro assist. Welp guess Ill keep saving to get everything done at one time.
 
my blazer is full hydro. Still working out the bugs when I work on it. My cylinder seems a bit small. I'm 2 turns lock to lock which makes it very quirky at speed. Larger cylinder will slow things down and give me the power I'm lacking at the same time. It is leaf sprung.
 
I have full Hydro on my K5. I think it has pros and cons.

First off yes all you need is ram.orbital,lines,filter,cooler.:haha: Then comes custom mounts for your orbital then modification to your factory steering shaft ect.....

Remember your ram does not care if your wheels are in a bind the ram will move no mater what most times it will break your knuckles. If you want to go to High steer I would recomend going with Crane or Dedenbar (SP) knuckles
just do to the fact they have been designed for that kind of stress.

I do not feel my steering is to slow at low speeds I thinks its just fine for me.
Now at high speeds 45 mph this is where I dont care much for it. I cant say its to slow or to fast if the truck wonders to the right I pull left on the wheel it take a second to react then I'm kinda gone to far to the left. So It looks like I'm drunk. But this is a trail only rig. I have driven it to work about 5 miles. I have had to drive it on the road back to the trailer. I can live with the street manor.

Ok so now lets say your pump and orbital valve do go out YES you can still turn your wheels and YES it will be harder than normal but no different than manual steering. Lets say you have a line that decides to leak trust me on this you will know by the way your steering feels. So if its a trail only rig and your on the trail all you have to do is stop and replace the line that has a leak because you know you will always have a spare line right?:laugh: As for being on the road and have a line leak. I bet you would go boy this feels wrong and pull over ASAP to inspect your steering system correct???

I belive that Full hydro kicks ass on the trail if my rig was a driver/wheeler I would go to hydro assist.

then this is just my .02

carn%20and%20wheeler%20lake%20060024.jpg
 
iwaxmyjimmy said:
I understand the safety concerns, I was trying to get it done on the cheap side. So I guess its time to go cross over and hydro assist. Welp guess Ill keep saving to get everything done at one time.

steering is pretty important, id get it done the right way. save and do it right.
 
Yep looks like Im going with hyrdo assist and crossover. Gonna go ahead and factor that into my budget.
 
iwaxmyjimmy said:
Yep looks like Im going with hyrdo assist and crossover. Gonna go ahead and factor that into my budget.

good. you'll be happy you did! i love mine!:bow:
 
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