I know the hydro assist ram issue has been mostly all covered but I have a few questions / thoughts and would like some feed back and ideas from the guys who have done this mod. I did not find the answers I want in the other threads on this board.
I have a 1st generation S-10 Blazer and use a Toy front axle and steering parts. Gear box, drag links, tie rod, high steer arms and use M.C. front springs. Its ALL Toyota in the front, 110% of it! Nothing has been "custom built, its all over the counter after market stuff!
This weekend I went to weld on the brackets and mount the ram on the front axle (gear box is allready tapped) and was very surprised. The ram I got has a working range of 6 inches. With my steering stops adjusted correctly, my tie rod only has a 4.5 working range. Is this normal for all Toy axles??? My buddy has a full width Dana 44 under his YJ and says his working range is 6 inches. He has high steer arms as well. 4.5 doesn't seem like much to me... would it be more if I used some other type of after market high steer arm? (I currently use Sky Manufacturing arms) I would need to shim my ram a 1.5 inches to make it compatible as I do not want my steering stops trying to stop my ram, I want the ram to simply run out of range. Thats a lot to shim it isn't it? Anybody agree or disagree? Enough to where I think I should probably look at a different ram. Thoughts? Also what is everyone using to keep there tie rod from turning when the ram is pushing / pulling on it? Obviously the tie rod ends limit its turning somewhat due to its working range and I do not like the idea of just turning one side the opposite way then your using the tie rod in a way it was not designed for and I can see where this again would make it fail / wear out faster. Thoughts?, what is everyone else running / using with this mod and have any of you ran into these problems?
Thanks for your feed back.
