Hydro assist on the cheap

[freds40]

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[freds40]

UMMMMM, cheap A$$ Hydro assist

[freds40]

Not bad for right @ $100 with all new parts. We'll see how it works on Swamp this weekend. 

[WHITE_TRASH]

You do realize that I think you suck now dont you?

[freds40]

Ehh, but I can still turn @ will.  Oh, and it does great on the road too, minor mod to the pump and you can't even tell it's there. 

[WHITE_TRASH]

Glad to here it works well.  What are the specs on the ram?

[freds40]

1.5" cylinder. Stroke is just over 6", with the sucky turning radius of our Toy axles, an 8" stroke is pointless. This still stuffs the steering stops and still wants to keep turning.

[Prismo]

Looks nice & clean.
What, no 10 page build up thread on the hydro assist?
Is there a write up on this modification that you followed or are you going to post up one for us?

[WHITE_TRASH]

Yup thats sorta what I was wondering too.  Ive got a sneeky feeling ShawnB's truck will end up with it and so will mine.  What is the shaft size on the ram? 1/2?

[freds40]

Well first off I have to say this took about a third of the time I was figuring. I thought tapping the box would be the hard part. From pulling the box until it ws back on the frame was about 1 hour. I wheeled with a guy who has setup/sold hundreds of H A setups and he filled me in on how to do it for more than half of all the kits (what a rip if you ask me). After talking with him, I started hunting for parts and found them all @ one place. I'd say this whole setup with box mods, modding the pump, brackets and all might have been 3 hours, and that's high side. Any questions just post up, I'm an experienced veteran now!  Not sure on shaft diameter, I wnat to say 5/8 or 3/4.

[WHITE_TRASH]

Ok Im dumb, I just actually LOOKED at the rod on your ram.  Yes Id say 3/4" Id say you got a hell of a deal on that setup!

[freds40]

That's the thing, I actually paid more than I needed to but convenience won out over searching. These are all off the shelf parts taht anyone can order up. Just a matter of having the ... .... to go get them on your own and to know what you are buying. I'm just stoked I met Dean when I did, because he probably saved me $200 on my setup.

[WHITE_TRASH]

Hmm that would be awesome in the snow........

[freds40]

Yeah I locked in the ARB and drovearound for a while. Evenwith 2.5 BS hummer wheels, 36" SXs and 1" wheel spacers, still couldn't tell I was locked. 

[Roktoys84]

WE NEED MORE DETAILS!!!

[KYOTA]

Yes more info please, how to mod the box and pump and part #s for the cylinder, hoses and fittings.

[freds40]

  Well the first write up I was reffered to was http://www.wildyoats.com/hydraulic_assist_tech.htm . I searched a lot on Pirate for the labor, not really the parts. Found some better pics of where to tap the box. The lower port is easy, it is into the large open portion of the box. The top port is a bit harder but still pretty easy. You have to make sure you catch the vain on top of the steering box without going through into the large opening otherwise you trash the box.
  After pulling the box off the frame you need to dissassemble the box. It took me about 15 mins. You aren't completely taking the box apart, just removing the sub assemblies from the box itself. Cool trick on removing the pitman (I've broken one rented puller on a different occasion from just trying to wrench down on it) Tighten the puller down on the arm, then smack it with a BFH a few times and the arm will pop loose.  After removing the pitman, you remove a total of 8 bolts and pull out the sub assemblies and you're ready for drilling.
  Everyone says to use a drill press but I was able to drill and tap it with the box laying on the tailgate of my chevy with My Dewalt. You use a 7/16th drill bit and a 1/4 NPT tap. Make sure the box is CLEAN. I wiped, tweezed, and blew air into the box for probably 20 mins before I got it all out. The top port gets metal shavings lodged into that vain so you need to take speacial care to clean that thoroughly. After you're all cleaned up, bolt it back together in reverse order.
  The pump mod is super easy. I'd heard people who went Hydro assist and said the Toy pump worked but couldn't keep up so the steering was really sluggish, almost scary on the road. The Mod I found that most people say is the safest is drilling out the restrictor plate. All you do is remove the high pressure hose from the pump, and then back out the large nut looking thing that the hose threaded into on the pump. That's the restrictor plate. Drill out the hole in the bottom to I believe 13/32 (I need to check on that number) and put everything back together. You don't even need to pull the pump off the truck. Another mod I've heard of is shimming the spring below the restrictor plate but I've heard of a few people that have said that caused the pumps to fry with the additional wear on them.
  I also added a spare tranny cooler that I had lying around so the system would stay cool and for the added fluid to the system. The cooler just ties in line between the gear box and the reservoir. Now the system is prepped for Hydro Assist.
  I did all my shopping @ surpluscenter.com. They had everything on the shelfand I got it in a matter of days. The ram I got is a Columbus 1.5x6x.75 Dual action cylinder(Dual action reffers to being aple to preassurize in either direction rather than just bleeding off) and was $78.50.PN 9-4410-06. I used 2 premade 1/4 x 36" single wire hydraulic lines that were $7.35 each. PN 916-1436.  2- 3/8 NPT to 1/4 NPT bushings because the ram has 3/8 ports and that is too much volume and would make this system too sluggish so you choke it down to 1/4 ASAP. These were $.45 each. PN 9-1938. And I used 4- 1/4" male/female 90 degree fitings. PN 9-1922. These were $1.95 each. You have to make sure to ask for hydraulic fittings otherwise you might get hose regular hose fittings and they won't seat and seal properly.

  That was the quick off the top of my head version so I probably glazed over some stuff. Any other questions just post them or if ya need a pic of something in particular, just let me know.

[kyle_22r]

we had 2 forklift fork assemblies with a side to side hydraulic ram at school...my buddy cut the forks up and got to keep all the hydraulic junk for himself!  talk about a score

[toyman2]

what happens if you just drill out the restricter plate and keep the standerd high crossover steering will it wear out the pump,to much pressure??

[84runner]

Sweet mod  lets see some more pics

[mudguts]

How did it do on Swamp?

[Island4Runner]

 How deep do you drill the ports in the box??

Itis said that if you go to far you will ruin the box ..

[freds40]

Kicked a$$ on Swamp. I drove a couple of miles on Rock Creek from the trailer to the trail head and it was sweet. Even with the tires @ 8 PSI all around, it turned like I had the front on jack stands with the tires off  (actually kinda scary  ) On the trail it was sweet. No jerkyness(?) of the wheel. I was able to turn into, away from, whatever suited my needs. 

[freds40]

On porting the box, the lower port is cake. Run the bit through and don't worry about it and just trial and error as to how deep to run the tap to get a good hold when the hose was threaded in. On the upper, I ran the drill bit in until the bit bottomed in the vein in the box. If you go to where you just cut into the vein, there won't be enough threads to hold the hose properly. I drilled to the bottom of the vein AND NO FURTHER!!! This is the one that can ruin your box. If you go through the vein and all the way into the main cavity of the box, your box is ruined. After drilling, I bottomed the tap into the hole and it was perfect. Make sure on this one that you back the tap out a few times during tapping as chips will back up into the flutes of the tap and sometimes try to catch the tap and break it while you back out if not careful. I'll try to post a couple more pics.

[KYOTA]

I drilled to the bottom of the vein AND NO FURTHER!!! This is the one that can ruin your box. If you go through the vein and all the way into the main cavity of the box, your box is ruined.

I've never drilled a box but it sounds worse than it actually would be to do because once you've drilled into the port you'd still have to drill thru a bunch to get into the main cavity of the box and ruin it. So sounds like drill a little, check, drill, keep checking, just take your time and it wouldnt be a big deal. This is something I want to do eventually.
Fred thanks for the info, how about a closer pic of how your cylinder is mounted to the diff.

[freds40]

Yeahthat's basically how it is. I was nervous as he!! because any write up you see, everyone is like "Take extreme caution" "Make sure you don't go too far." Like I said, I used a hand drill, took my time, and it was a breeze.

[freds40]

You can see the vein that is raised above the rest of the box that the fitting goes into. It runs front to back on the box.

[freds40]

The screw driver is pointing to the restrictor plate on the pump. This is what you open up to increase flow.

[freds40]

I'm still going to add a gusset to the lower part of the mount but this is after Swamp and it obviously held up to being stuffed and turned numerous times. 

[freds40]

Little fuzzy but you can kind of see the mount to the tie rod. Pretty simple, just 2 pieces of 1/4.