at this years OFFROAD EXPO the company HOWE PERFORMANCE power steering had a booth, they do trophy trucks, compitition rock crawlers, you name it. the owner was who i talked to. they have a hydro-assist kit for Chevy trucks. they are very pricy but i think their kit is a great setup. i asked him alot of q's about hydro setups, he said, as some of you have said that yes it is the pump that causes slow turning, they dont recomend the stock pump at all, a modified pump that will push the volume is what they recomend. that is why they sell a brand new NOT rebuilt hi po pump with there kit, and they have upgrades to what the trophy trucks run if you wanted. the kit comes with a 2.0 ram, a huge remote resevore with a screwon type filter like on an engine, ALL the parts in there kits are new, even the steering boxes that comes with the kit.
one thing i found most interesting is that he said a power steering unit is basically like a hydro tube bender, it will keep stroking until it reaches its stroke limit. he said the reason why chevy trucks are notorious for ripping the box from the frame is because the internal stroke of the box is more then what the steering componants will stroke, so when they reach there limit the box wants to keep going and the week point is the frame. he sets the internal limit in his new boxes alot less then the factory does so it stops at the proper limit. he said if a box is correct you dont even need a frame brace like everyone uses. he said some boxes might be only 1/4 in from there stroke limit but if all else has reached their limit the force on the frame is alot, for street driving with stock tires it probably in most cases on most trucks wont ever be an issue, but when you throw huge tires on and start rock crawling or mudding where you crank on the steering at the end of the stroke things are gonna break. there hydro kit is my next big purchase.
).
