Well Im getting ready to mount up all my hydro assist stuff this weekend im just not sure on where I want to mount the Ram. Give me some ideas where you guys have mounted yours. (pics please) thanks in advance!

:vader:

On top of the diff.

Anybody have pics! Please post-em:skull:

Do a search, I posted a pic of mine a while back.....lots of people here posted a pic of theirs....
Boss

I had mine mounted on the spring plates, but everyone advised against it. So last night Dean fabbed up an axle mounted bracket. It looks tough nad the geometry seems like it will work well, but I havent tested it hard yet.
Anyway here are a few pics.
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-591554-MVC-006S.JPG
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-591558-MVC-007S.JPG

jeff looks like you are saving yourself a headache and changing that now. good work.

here is mine

ooops

H8: What's a good source for that welded cylinder you used? Looks good.

What's wrong with mouting to the spring plate?

Rick

Here is what im working with right now.. any ideas on where to mount the ram? I dont really want it behind the draglink cuz its still in a bashable area.. I wanted to try and get it higher.. Any ideas.. Thanks!

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/P1010027.JPG

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/P1010029.JPG

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/P1010026.JPG

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/PB080148.JPG


ALSO NOTE: The tie rod and draglink are getting sleaved to 1.5" Currently 1.25" for some reason they kind of look wimpy in these pictures...

Tony,
You know, you gotta give me your other ram :) Don't save it for the little Yo's rig! You know you want to! Lets mount this thing.. I should be there sunday, after I go to church....
Scott :grinpimp:<><

You know id let you have it but im saving it for the rear steer :D ... well one of these days rear steer but for now it'll make a great paper wieght at the office :smokin: See you later Scott.

top of your dif to the drag link

Hey Camo, You say top of the diff. Do you mean on the cast iron housing or diff cover? The cover isnt strong enough is it???? My cover is about 3/16 to 1/4..

What about the angle the ram is going to be pushing. Does the ram have to be critically parallel with the draglink its connecting to?? Or can it be a little "un-parallel"?

Thanks

hey Rockbuggy, Use the longer tab that I sent you and mount it on the axle housing. And the shorter link to the drag link. If need be you can remove the bolts and turn the end housing so that the hoses still point up. You always want those ports to be mounted at the top so that it will self bleed all the air out. If you have any more question please call and I'll be glad to help.

camo what ram is that and where did you get it?

Well I got everything hooked up yesterday. This is how I ended up mounting it... Very happy with the results. :D

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/P1010008.JPG

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/P1010016.JPG

Well I got everything hooked up yesterday. This is how I ended up mounting it... Very happy with the results. :D

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/P1010008.JPG

http://home.off-road.com/~rockbuggy/P1010016.JPG

without bagging on you, I see a few issues. (Hopefully it's just
the camera angles)

it would appear that the tab you welded onto the tie-rod is going
to interfere with the sector-shaft on your p/s box at some point.

It also appears to be a large angle on the hydro cyl between the
mounting on the axle and the tie rod. This would cause the
tie rod to bend outward, rather thatn assist in steering.

there would also appear to be zero-misalignment capacity due
to how the rod-end attaches to the same tab on the tie-rod.
(I realize if the hole is slightly oversize, that would work) but it will
also make itself larger, and larger as time goes.

I can't see the tab welded on the axle tube/or spring plate? on
the other end of the ram.

I hope you get to fully test-it/beat on it close to home before
to go out and make a long trip to go wheel...

I mean absolutely no disrespect to you, and I hope all of my observations and critique are false and unneeded..


good luck..............

--Sherpa

Originally posted by SHERPA RIG
without bagging on you, I see a few issues. (Hopefully it's just
the camera angles)

it would appear that the tab you welded onto the tie-rod is going
to interfere with the sector-shaft on your p/s box at some point.

It also appears to be a large angle on the hydro cyl between the
mounting on the axle and the tie rod. This would cause the
tie rod to bend outward, rather thatn assist in steering.

there would also appear to be zero-misalignment capacity due
to how the rod-end attaches to the same tab on the tie-rod.
(I realize if the hole is slightly oversize, that would work) but it will
also make itself larger, and larger as time goes.

I can't see the tab welded on the axle tube/or spring plate? on
the other end of the ram.

I hope you get to fully test-it/beat on it close to home before
to go out and make a long trip to go wheel...

I mean absolutely no disrespect to you, and I hope all of my observations and critique are false and unneeded..


good luck..............

--Sherpa


Ahhhh? :rolleyes: Ok it must be the camera angles.

The ram is perfectly parrellel with the dragklink, the draglink does not bend outward what so ever, The steering box is far and clear from any movement that the ram is going to make... Trust me all this is fine! I didnt just slap the fawkin ram on there weld it up and say aaahh! thats good enough.. We actually spent most of the day figuring anf re-figuring the rams position and its motions. Then after everything was mounted and ready to try I of course went through the steering motions and tested everything out.

:skull: :skull: :skull:

Any reason you cannot just mount the ram to the pitman arm?

Did you check up travel? Does look like the connection to the draglink can get close to the pitman arm (as Sherpa said) and the draglink looks like it could interfere with the cylinder.

Also, what happens as the tie rod gets closer to the pumpkin when turning. I can see that the cylinder will pivot on the axle tube connection, but isn't it going to torque/bind on the tie rod connection as it tries to turn there to? Or is there enough float in the bolt connection?

Nice fab work. Hope it is all OK under every situation.


Is that a 2" bore cylinder?

Taking notes for a setup on my CJ soon.

Rick
77 CJ7

We didnt check the up travel to much yet. Its kind of hard to see but it from the angle pictures I took but the ram really isnt anywhere near the path of the pitman arm or tie-rod. Sorry about the pics there not that great since it was raining when I took them. Hopefully this friday I'll take the Jeep out and beat it, then I'll get some good pictures.
As far as binding goes, when turning it seems to work great. Before I connected all the hydraulic lines I lifted the front tires off the ground and push the steering back and forth to check resistance. It seemed fine the tires turned both ways with very little resistance at all. And yes the 1" grade-8 bolts that hold the ram are just barely snugged up. I didnt want to pinch the ram from moving so I left a little play, I used nylon locking nuts too.

The Hydraulic cylinder is a 2x8, The kit is from West Texas Offroad. Awesome kit! very complete and they were great to do business with. My brother who helped me fab up the brackets is planning on doing the same to his Jeep. So he'll be sending his box into LakeRat soon...

I noticed the tabs look like just flat pieces. On the axle mount how did you you secure it to the axle. I suppose you have something welded to the axle that then welds to that tab that came in the kit. What did you make it out of? Nice work:beer:

Originally posted by robellis77
I noticed the tabs look like just flat pieces. On the axle mount how did you you secure it to the axle. I suppose you have something welded to the axle that then welds to that tab that came in the kit. What did you make it out of? Nice work:beer:

We Fab'ed up a custom bracket that is welded to the axle tube. It brings the hydro mount out and up making it perfectly parellel with the draglink. I also wanted the ram up and out of harms way. The bracket we made is very strong and is probably way overkill but overkill is a good thing. :D

Originally posted by Rockbuggy


We Fab'ed up a custom bracket that is welded to the axle tube. It brings the hydro mount out and up making it perfectly parellel with the draglink. I also wanted the ram up and out of harms way. The bracket we made is very strong and is probably way overkill but overkill is a good thing. :D

you keep saying "draglink" in all your references..... what you
mean is actually "tierod"...... the drag link goes between
the pitman arm, and the steering arm on the knuckle. the
tie-rod goes between both knuckles.....

I'm still not sure on the tie rod-welded tab though.....

I foresee binding/bending in the future. again, I hope I'm wrong,
are you're right... it just the geometry of the application.
If that "tierod" tab was in a horizontal plane, then it would be
a non-issue....... but it's not flat, it's vertical.......

Originally posted by Rockbuggy


We Fab'ed up a custom bracket that is welded to the axle tube. It brings the hydro mount out and up making it perfectly parellel with the draglink. I also wanted the ram up and out of harms way. The bracket we made is very strong and is probably way overkill but overkill is a good thing. :D

What materials did you use? 1" stock? I'm trying to get an idea. I know it's gotta be pretty strong for that cylinder

I'm with you sherpa. I had visions of something more like this to make up for the swing in and out of the tie rod:

http://www.avalancheengr.com/parts/steering/imgl0020.jpg

Looks good with BOTH tabs in the horizontal plane. Not sure how hard it is to fit up like that though...

Oh well, he says it doesn't bind.

Rick

Originally posted by rickb
I'm with you sherpa. I had visions of something more like this to make up for the swing in and out of the tie rod:

http://www.avalancheengr.com/parts/steering/imgl0020.jpg

Looks good with BOTH tabs in the horizontal plane. Not sure how hard it is to fit up like that though...

Oh well, he says it doesn't bind.

Rick

Hey Rick, your pic looks good to me! both mounts in the same
plane! no binding!

How about you send me complimentary D-60rr housing for my
time???? lol.......

--Sherpa

Ok so both of the tabs are suppost to be pointing in the same direction??? Mine looks similiar to what H8MONDAY did. Just kind of the opposite and his isnt quite verticle or horizontal on the tie rod. Im confused here. I should know if its binding right? It seems to turn fine except for being a little harder to turn when stopped then before the hydro. But I just figured that was becuase of the hydraulic ram...?

Grabbed the pic from Avalanche Engineering! :D

RR 60? Sure. Just send me a check for $1k for "freight". yeah, that's it. Freight. Got 2 to choose from. :D

Rick

Hey Rockbuggy,

If you want to get both of your mounting tabs in the same plane, maybe you could remove the bolt from the tab on the tie rod. Install a heim joint where the bolt was with the head pointing back towards the ram. Then you could rotate the end of the rod for the ram 90* and use the bolt to mount the heim joint. This should put the ram in the same plane and allow for fore and aft movement of the ram as the tie rod travels from side to side.

Mine works great. Ive had it twisted up, in dozen of positions, durring testing, with no noticeable binding.
Dean just kinda wallowed out the axle mount to allow for a bit of movement. When I swap the front axle this winter, ill probably do something really trick, to allow the axle mount to rotate.
I agree that it makes sense that both joints should be on the same plane. Ill run it this way though, for a while, and give everyone an honest assessment how well the set up holds up.
Steering systems take a shit load of abuse, and should be scrutinized thoroughly, I took most everyone suggestions when I 1st installed it and removed the original mount from the spring perches. Keep the ideas comming.
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-591558-MVC-007S.JPG

Hey Rockbuggy do you live at the Lake Arrowhead near Big Bear? :)

Hey rockbuggy, you think you can get a pic from the rear of the axle mount? Thanks

Hey Fatkid,

Yup I live in Lake Arrowhead not to far from big bear. Do you ever go wheelin up here? :D

If my "stroke" on my steering is 6" then I can't use a cylinder with 8" stroke...right? What do i do?

yes you can! With a hydraulic assist the ram will just stop when it hits the stops on your knuckles. The amount of power that your power steering pump produces isnt enough to break anything on your knuckles atleast thats what ive been told. Also mine has a 8" strong and i've never had any problems with it. :D

If for some reason you only need 6" of sroke then get a ram with a 6" stroke because once the box runs out of throw all the pressure will go to the ram and that is alot of force. A 1.5" dia. ram is plenty of force. Here is my setup
http://www.respite.org/images/cj66dean/ram1.jpg http://www.respite.org/images/cj66dean/ram2.jpg http://www.respite.org/images/cj66dean/ram4.jpg

Dean, you posted me offline a couple months ago...

Is that a 1.5" ram you run? Looks like a Chief. Source? 1.5 seems to be really hard to find. 2" are all over the place.

Any info appreciated.

Rick

Since Ive moved my steering arm behind the diff, I have had to reconfigure my Ram mounts, but I still retained the cool mounting bracket that Dean made for my 1st set up.
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-674226-MVC-012S.JPG
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-674229-MVC-013S.JPG
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-674236-MVC-016S.JPG

Ive angled the bracket to pivot on the same plane as the attachment at the tie rod this time around. It seems to work very well.

H8, that is a much better setup. I am curious though. How long did it take you to get all of the air out of the system? I had to have a custom ram built to have a 1.5x4" welded ram with the pins in the same plane as the fittings. It should be here next week. When it is on I will post pictures :D

I was told that I needed to keep the fittings straight up by many people, but when I told the guys at the hydraulic fitting shop, they said as long as the fittings werent facing downward, I would have no problems.
They were right, it took about 5 minutes of turning and stopping and starting the engine and all of the air was gone.

Originally posted by rickb
Dean, you posted me offline a couple months ago...

Is that a 1.5" ram you run? Looks like a Chief. Source? 1.5 seems to be really hard to find. 2" are all over the place.

Any info appreciated.

Rick

It is a 2"

I have black belt in Hack Foowie so I plan on cutting it off and going to a 1.5" by the May.

Is this gonna be too much for a dana 44 to handle?? What about performance on the streets? Where is the best location to tap into the steering box?

Gettin' ready for Cal ROCKS and I absolutely NEED to get a ram mounted. I measured the throw (sp?) and it only appears to be 5"?!?!? Does that sound right? Regardless, the axle is not full width and I can't fit the 2"x8" behind the tie rod. Anyone know where I can score a 1.5"x6" ram? I think I can make it fit.

I'll post some pics in about 10minutes. Waiting for my camera to recharge.

Here are some pics. Any suggestions?

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/steering1.JPG

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/steering2.JPG

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/steering3.JPG

mine is SUA but here's how i mounted mine.....
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-683469-ramextendedbelow.jpg
http://bbs.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/53-683470-adaptorboltedon2.jpg

there are more pictures here http://www.geocities.com/yj3qtr_ton/steering.html

Rock Toy, I have a 2.5x6" Cheif tie rod ram that I would sell if you need it.
PM me if you are interested.

And I have a 4" stroke on my tie rod. I had a set of custom steering arms made for my LC that were shorter then normal..
So I will be running a 1.5x4" custom ram :D

Originally posted by Jason M
Rock Toy, I have a 2.5x6" Cheif tie rod ram that I would sell if you need it.
PM me if you are interested.

And I have a 4" stroke on my tie rod. I had a set of custom steering arms made for my LC that were shorter then normal..
So I will be running a 1.5x4" custom ram :D

Is that a 1.5" or 2.5" ram??? I need a 1.5". I'd like to keep the steering moving pretty quick.

Whoops, it is a 2" ram.
not 1.5 and not 2.5
2x6"

Chack out baileynet.com
They have tons of Hyd Cylinders and will custom make one for you...

Well, After I inquired about finding a 1.5" ram, Matt Hodges (from West Texas Off-Road) called me the next morning and DEMANDED that he help me with my steering needs. He had originally sold me a 2"x8" ram and ported my box. After finding out that the 2" ram would not work for my new steering setup, he immediately sent out a new ram, mounting tabs and hoses:

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Hydro1%20(small).jpg

So this Saturday morning, I tried to figure out how to mount the ram up and came up with this mounting design:

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Ram%20Mount%20(small).jpg

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Ram%20Mount2%20(small).jpg

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Ram%20Mount5%20(small).jpg

The mount was made out of a 1.75" Tube. Notched at one end to weld to the axle housing and at the other to accept the ram end. Notice that I capped the end in order to further strengthen the tube and prevent it from bending. Althought the tube is round and doesn't snug agains the ram itself, it should hold up fine in this application. We also gusseted the ram mount on the backside to keep it from tearing off the housing:

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Ram%20Mount3%20(small).jpg

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Ram%20Mount5%20(small).jpg

So here's the final product. It is completely level with the tie rod and appears to be strong enough. Steering is now a charm (little finger easy) and NO BINDING. To top it all off, it is twice as fast as with the 2" ram!!! Right now, I am a very happy camper. Thanks go out to Matt at West Texas to having te BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE of any shop I have EVER dealth with (except of course B&T) and to my bro, FLATTY for al the welding. It's gettin' bettah!!!


http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Mounted%20Ram1%20(small).jpg

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Mounted%20Ram2%20(small).jpg

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Mounted%20Ram3%20(small).jpg

http://www.sierrarockcrawlers.com/community/rocktoy/Mounted%20Ram4%20(small).jpg

What, no comments?? You like, hate, or think the bracket won’t hold up??? Anything????

Has this topic been beat to death yet ;) ??

Wish some of these pics were still on here