well what's the mystery with this setup? I have been reading a lot lately with these not working and failing. I was hoping to go this route on my EB and with this post will hopefully be able to get all of it worked out. so far this is what I know. you need a pump, ram, orbital valve, revervoir, and hoses. do you run a cooler on this type of setup? how much does a typical system like this run. I am fine with having a single ram. this will mainly be driven on the trail and turning slightly faster one way doesnt bother me.
so from here where do I begin? I suppose I get the hoses made locally, but buy everything else off the net cuase it's cheaper than the local speed shop. so what is an average cheaper system that will perform? I dont necessarily need high dollar Howe components because it wont be driven that much. only occasionally. I have also heard of people using a setup off a forkilift. is this recommended or frowned upon? why?
can this be done cheaply and reliably for $500? probably not.... I forgot about the danfoss... thats at least 300 bucks right there... well damn, the budget might have been broken, but I am still in need of general hydro tech. I have looked at a lot of stuff and see a lot of high dollar stuff for competing. I wont be so cheap is my friend. thanks fellas.

I dont know if it is any help or not but dont give up so soon. There still is hope. I run a factory chevy pump and res.( $65at Auto Zone)modified, an "ebay special" orbital ($80 incl. shipping), got a ram locally for $48, run a inline filter from same hydraulic shop locally $25 with filter, remote res. from speedway 32oz. $65 I think, and at the very most $85 in hoses-ebay and fittings locally. I just took my time and and waited to find the best price I could on all of this stuff. Just take your time and have a little patience, I now have a friend that didnt have any patience and bought a rock ram that was twice as much as my less than $400 kit, and prefers my home grown kit over his. Hope this helps, would be glad to help if I can.

Tearing some parts off a forklift is not a very bad idea. It´s usually high quality stuff and made for heavy dute use. I´ve seen a few rigs with steering from old forklifts, tractors, etc. Whats wrong with that? You get all the hoses, and the components are made to work with each other.

ttt

Man this sucks, this is one of the better threads I've seen on this forum, I'm interested in this too, I'm looking into going full hydro steering now as well.
I quess the newbies just don't know what the fawk this is about, and the old crowd doesn't what to chip in and could give 2 shits less what happens in this forum.
Sorry man, it was a good topic:(

I am kind of in the same boat as JOES75BRONCO . I dont want to spend $1500 on hydro when I know it can be done cheaper. I have been searching and learning a lot about hydro setups on por by typing hydro steer, orbital valves,etc. and searching titles only. You have to read through a lot of crap but you can find out what is and is not working for others before diving into the same thing.
http://surpluscenter.com/Hydraulic.htm This site will give you formulas to help figure out what size orbital valve you need to go with the size cylinder you plan to use. Surpluscenter also has a double ended ram under the steering section that is about $110. Using this type of ram will give you the same amount of power when steering left or right unlike a double acting single ended ram. They have an orbital valve for about $340 that will give about 4 turn lock to lock on that cylinder.
Unless I run across some great deals, I dont see myself getting away under $850 by the time I get hoses and fittings etc.

if you do a search on the jeep page or the International. try searching for "rock ram". there is a lot of opinions,facts, and usefull knowledge out there. try http://westtexasoffroad.homestead.com/hydrosteering.html . they have a system thats way cheaper than AGR and works well. homebrew setups work also. i think an early bronco has a saginaw box.

just bringing this back to the top. seems a couple of us were interested in it. any of you experienced folks want to chime in?

I would go with a Hydro assist set up rather than a full hydro set up. They can be put together much cheaper, will pass inspection(some areas), and have built in redundancy for safety on a DD. No matter what you do you MUST run a cooler and hopefully a big one. Some guys report boiling there fluid out under even moderate conditions. The chevy pumps seem to do well, get one with a remote resevoir if you can. Finally westtexasoffroad.com sells kits for $450 or even less, They also have a good article on increasing pressure and volume on the saginaw's. Hope this helps some.


Charlo

Incase you havent seen this. (http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/HydroAssistTap/index.html)

Originally posted by charlo
I would go with a Hydro assist set up rather than a full hydro set up. They can be put together much cheaper, will pass inspection(some areas), and have built in redundancy for safety on a DD. No matter what you do you MUST run a cooler and hopefully a big one. Some guys report boiling there fluid out under even moderate conditions. The chevy pumps seem to do well, get one with a remote resevoir if you can. Finally westtexasoffroad.com sells kits for $450 or even less, They also have a good article on increasing pressure and volume on the saginaw's. Hope this helps some.


Charlo

Incase you havent seen this. (http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/HydroAssistTap/index.html)

I am trying to get smart about this hardware too.

What are you looking for, full hydro or hydro-assist? I don't want to gank your thread if you want full hydro. I understand that full hydro can be sketchy on the road, as quick-repsonse maneuvers are not that feasible.

The J20 box is the candidate of choice for hydro-assist as I have learned, having more oomph that the standard Saginaw box such as found with a waggy or chebby. The above post should get you most all the info you need for standard hydro-assist.

Good luck

I'm running an eaton orbital off of a 4wd forklift, 30 bucks at the junkyard, 2x10 in ram from farm store, 50 and misc. fittings probably another 100 witht the filter and hoses. Made two brackets and plumbed it into my stock pump. Works great and turns 39.5 boggers no problem.