Hydro Assist

[OregonMudder]

well i searched and didnt come up with many hydro assist ps box taps so i thought id post mine up i just compleated for my 84 bronco 2

I used steel 1/4" npt to jic fitings, pre drilled the holes with a 1/4" bit then steped up to a 7/16" bit and taped it with a 1/4"-18NPT tap.

I used a 90 degree fiting for my left turn port for better motor clearance

 

[COPPERHEAD85]

Stock BII box?

 

[OregonMudder]

yep. stock box
ranger, bronco 2, f-150, 250, and 350 boxes are all the interchangable from 80'-96' the best i can tell.

what is everyone running for rams? i've seen people use 6" stroke and 8" stroke. which is better?

 

[Stranger ranger]

8 inch ram should do the trick.

What about pumps? stock ps pump gonna push this because i'm ready to do the same exact thing with a surplus 1.5" x8 x1 ram.

 

[legoms013]

I hear the stock pump sucks and won't be able to run a ram with any benefit. I wanna do this someday and I'll upgrade the pump when I do.

 

[ThatGuy]

Upgrade to saginaw pump and roll on.

Been kicking around the idea myself. Flip flopping between assist or full hydro.

 

[snoranger]

well i searched and didnt come up with many hydro assist ps box taps so i thought id post mine up i just compleated for my 84 bronco 2

Did you look here?

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/hydro_assist_steering.htm

 

[Stranger ranger]

turns out it works OK with the stock pump. Its not the greatest yet much better than with normal steering. Sometimes I find myself having to creep forward an inch or two or just reving the engine to get the flow up to run the ram smoothly, otherwise its fine. I will upgrade when the stock pump takes a dive.

 

[Surrey]

How big are your tires to necessitate hydro assist?
I havn't done much researching or anything, anyone wanna give me some details on to the benefits/when you need/would want such a setup?

Thanks.

 

[legoms013]

How big are your tires to necessitate hydro assist?
I havn't done much researching or anything, anyone wanna give me some details on to the benefits/when you need/would want such a setup?

Thanks.

The stock system runs out of leverage real quick. Even with my 31's I had, there were times where I was in a rut or hole and not really even up against anything yet the powersteering felt like it "ran out".

With large tires, lockers and sometimes a heavy V8/bumper/winch on the front, the stock system is wholly incapaple. Somewhere at sizes 35"+ hydro assist greatly helps with this.

Another benefit is that hydro assist pushes against the axle itself to accomplish leverage, whereas the steering box/pitman arm push and pull on the frame rails. Basically the hydro assist ram becomes part of the unsprung mass, and is thus much more effective without the draw backs of alot of lift, oversize tires and lockers have on a sprung-system where the steering box is mounted to the frame rails (like stock).

 

[Todd]

1.5" bore, 8" stroke PSC cylinder running a Saginaw pump.

I ran it with the stock pump to see if it would work and it sucked, even still after I bumped the flow up. Swapped to a Saginaw pump and now it preforms like it should.

It turns 38x20 Ag tires on a welded 60 with little effort.