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Power steering cooler nessacary when going to hydro ass.?

Silver84k5

Silver84k5

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i did some searching and never found a straight answer, i dont know if i will have one installed before the next time i go wheeling, so what im trying to figure out, Should i just wait until i got a P/S cooler, before i go wheeling again?... or is it cool to go without one, then install one at a later date. TIA
 
I have never seen a setup with one but I know if I go to hydro I will be installing one. I would think if your not gonna be wheeling for like a weekend you will do alright but if you're going for a weekend trip I would put one on first. If you have the possibility I would install one before hand and throw it all out the window.
 
I bought a auto transmission cooler from my local parts store. It was $29.99 and had everything I needed - the hoses, the clips for mounting the cooler, hose clamps, everything. I installed it on the back of the radiatior and had to clearance my engine shroud a little so that the hoses would fit through it.
It runs cool now.

So....is it necessary? Without it I would worry about fluid puking out. With it, I never worry.
As easy and cheap as it is, I say go for it.
-- Mike
 
i thought there was more to it then just that, when i start thinking about doing Mods, that i havent done before, i get kinda hesitant, and start physcing myself out, thinking they are harder then they reall are, Guess i will just go and get one.... What kinda tranny cooler should i ask for at the parts place?
 
I installed a PS cooler just to get some extra capacity in the System. I added about another pint by using a silicone radiator hose to lengthen the top of the reservoir, and to clear my OBA pump mount.

I havent had any problems so far, Ill see during the weekend run in Hot Springs whether it works. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
Yeah I used a B&M cooler too, made quite a difference when I ran Cedar Tree - before the steering would heat up and start boiling out towards the end of the trail, after the cooler its been fine. You about ready to tear it up in the crushers?
 
right on, gimme a call and tell what time youll be around, maybe i can stop by today

Jason- im hoping ill be ready by the end of this month to go give it a shot. ;P
 
I am in the process of putting my PS cooler in. Its a pretty small one, but I dont think with hydro assist that the box runs THAT hot anyway. I *do* know that my factory 4x4 box with no hydro got hotter turning 35" MTs than my current 2wd box does turning 39.5s. Maybe my old box had issues... i dunno. I think hydro assist helps the box out with respect to heat. At any rate, yeah, I have installed a radiator hose neck extension thing on my resevoir (sp?) and will have the ps cooler running this weekend... both add to the capacity of the resevoir, which, IMO, is the biggest benefit of either mod.

j
 
Does anybody know how hot power steering gets? 'Boiling point? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
There are a lot of OE vehicles that come with PS coolers stock. Yota 4x4's and Ford trucks are two of them. Sometimes all the cooler is, is a tube that runs across the front of the vehicle and back.
I put a Ford stacked plate aux trans cooler in the Sub's PS system b4 going to the Baja 1k.

No way would I do ram-assist or hyd winch without putting a BIG P.S. cooler in the system.
 
I also used synthetic fluid when I refilled it, I read an article about ps fluids and it seemed synthetic was worth it for lubrication increase and better resistance to overheating.
 
[ QUOTE ]
No way would I do ram-assist or hyd winch without putting a BIG P.S. cooler in the system.


[/ QUOTE ]

uhhh...why not? I am in the process of installing a small cooler now... and my real-world-test indicated to me that hydro helps a steering box run cooler...not hotter. I dunno why, maybe the box isnt working as hard to run the big meats. All i know is that even with bigger tires, the steering box stayed pretty much just "warm" all day when I went wheelin last... and back before my hydro install my box/fluid got HOT from the same type of wheelin with SMALLER tires. Maybe it was a fluke... maybe I'm smokin' crack... but thats what I observed.

vital-fluid coolers are always a good idea IMO, but i dont think adding a ps cooler should be a knee jerk response to a hydro install...

j
 
The box isn't working as hard with a ram assist, that's true. The fluid is. Maybe even working harder since now you've got all of the new-found power. Think about where you'd be using either, truely using either a hydro winch or the ram assist. For me that spells in the desert most of the time. Dang straight I'd put a cooler in the system. I have one now and I have neither a ram or a hydro winch.

It is not a 'knee-jerk' rxn to anything. It is a careful consideration of what the extremes of use will be and the desire for the critical components to not only survive those extremes, but for them live to another day of more extremes. And the day after that.

Some friends of mine & I had a talk with Tom Lee of Lee Mfg. One of the things he told us was that when the PS pump by-passes it does not return that fluid to the reservoir, it just keeps going around inside the pump and it builds temp at the rate of 100*/sec. That's pretty dang fast. The problem stems from when that slug of super-heated oil gets to the box or something else and what it can do to those parts.
Granted, most of us don't operate our pumps at by-pass, but this illustrates how fast heat can build in a PS system. I want some way to get rid of it.
 
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