The big ticket item will be the orbital valve. Personally I had one of Trailmarts fail out of the box and a buddy had one fail on a run. I did like the trailmart 4 clamp ram mount however I never felt comfortable about the metal the clamp hoops are made from. Trailmart pumps are not rebuildable per them and at a local hydraulics shop. I switched to a PSC pump. The PSC reservoir with big fittings and an integral filter is nice piece. I still have the huge Trailmart filter thingus sitting on the shelf new never used. A remote cooler with a built in fan is a must.
Always wanted to try a Howe pump and might if the Sami PSC pump shits the bed.

 

I was literally about to post this, glad I waited lol. Every thread I have found is 10 years old. But from what I have gathered using a stock gm pump, psc orbital, and surplus center ram is the best bang for your buck option.
Im curious to see what others have said. Surprised west texas or someone hasn't made a full kit yet.

 

PSC makes good parts but there are a number of comparable products from other companies if you don't need the name to brag at your local show n shine

West texas offroad (steering pump mods, hydro assist)
KRC steering pumps
Surplus center (rams, orbitals etc)
Kickass offroad (steering rams)
M&S orbitals

 

what are your goals?

if you aren't super budget constrained, do what you can to get a pump setup that will match your steering valve, get a steering valve that matches your cylinder size, get a cylinder that matches your steering knuckle requirements.

a pump that flows 2-3 gpm is going to suck (i.e. work slowly) with a steering valve that 'wants' 4-6gpm.

or buy a kit and call it a day :rasta:

scotts custom offroad is a good resource if you are looking to adapt an 'industrial style' gear pump to your engine

radial-dynamics is a good resource if you want a nice cooler/reservoir and somebody to help build out your whole system

howe or psc are good if you want to spend cash and just bolt it on

 

I have a gm60 that I want to put under something, possibly a suzuki sidekick, but I might get something else. I'd like to have about 3.5-4 turns lock to lock and have it be somewhat quick. Not racing obviously.

 

I had an older psc kit that worked great, the only thing I worry about is the issue some have had with the 2 separate rods unthreading from each other.

I've seen numerous DE PSC rams unthreading. Actually rebuilt one awhile back for a guy who had no clue his was messed up. I will say PSC has always been on point.


My new rig has a PSC TC pump, resi and SE ram, TG orbital. Hoping it works out well for me as it hasn't actually been started yet:laughing:

 

Pump pulley diameter needs to match engine rpm, PSC has a couple of selections, you want to get this correct when you order a pump.

 

I bought a PSC kit years ago and then finally got to it years later...It worked well and was all I knew, a little doggy sometimes but always worked.

this last year I updated the ram after I had destroyed the PSC hold downs a few times.

My steering is awesome now, very very responsive very fast and powerful.

The kit was the full hydro kit for the Rockwells with a 3" DE ram.

The new ram is a Surplus Center 2 1/2" DE ram.

So much better.

 

I called up PSC and ordered their trail series kit for my YJ build. Just two days later I had two big well packed boxes on my doorstep with everything I need.

 

PSC kit here too on my stretched YJ. I only have about 40 street miles on it, but so far been great up to 55mph. Cage and belts aren't in yet so didn't really want to go faster.

 

I had to install a second pump.
I have a TC pump with a 2.5x10" ram. Way to slow at idle or low RPM to race.
I added a second pump, night and day difference so don't underestimate volume/min.
Pulleys sizing might have worked but I bounce off the rev limiter the whole race so I didn't want to over speed my pumps.

So make sure you have enough volume at idle when you start to roll you want to be able to steer out of it.


Do you have a front spool?

 

I'd go with the PSC kit, it may seem high but when you add all the costs up going the cheap route it'll be fairly close. I went with a TG DE Ram, used Eaton non-load reacting orbital, cheap resi, and a stock TJ pump. Did it all for ~$600 or so originally but since then I've thrown on a PSC TC pump with plans to go to a load reacting orbital and about to replace the cheap resi with one that has a baffle to try and cut out my pump whine.

 

I run PSC pump, resi/filter combo and cooler, surplus DE ram and Trail Gear orbital. No issues with anything so far.

 

I have been runnng PSC everything, but a HOWE reservoir for years, I just liked the HOWE reservoir more than the PSC.
If i was going to do it all again today, I'd probally be shopping at Radial dynamics,
https://radial-dynamics.com/

 

I like the finned reservoir, it's probably $1k though :laughing:

I do like the screw on filter on the HOWE also.

 

I've watched two brand new PSC cylinders leak after a few runs recently.

My brother and I both run surplus center rams (front and rear) with years of abuse with no issues. Rebuild kits are available and cheap.

You could run the newer camaro pump, its a CBR pump. They're a lot cheaper than PSC.

Orbital would be whatever you can find.

I'm a cheap fuck though, so keep that in mind. :flipoff2::laughing::laughing:

 

You could run the newer camaro pump, its a CBR pump. They're a lot cheaper than PSC.

2010-2015 stock pump output
2.7 - 3.1 GPM and 1200-1300 PSI , from a tech manual
1.7 - 2.1 GPM and 1633 - 1754 PSI , from dealer
Neither source says at what rpm the flow is measured, I assume idle 1000rpm.
The ports are not AN so you would have to find adapters or tap the case.
PSC switched from the stock style cast case to the billet case a while ago. Possibly for larger flow path at higher rpm without a bypass. Stock pumps will have the bypass and lower output at higher rpm.

 

Saw these oil cooler/fan combos on ebay, if anyone is looking for a good cooler. I have the same cooler and am planning to use a 10" brushless fan.
Somewhere on Pirate I posted all the specs on the cooling calcs for this core size.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Thermal-Tr...hermal-Transfer-Heat-Exchanger-Fluid-Cooler-Fan-Qty-10-priced-each/372691680777

 

(Found the old post)
I decided to build a traditional 4 seat solid axle trail rig so I did my home work on mainstream hydraulic steering components here is what I ended up with.

XR CBR race pump is 11.3cc = .689ci with -12 suction and -8 pressure with no relief or flow control valve, this means the pump has full flow and output so it requires an adjustable external relief valve which sends any overloaded oil through the cooler and back to the filter reservoir, this means there is no hot oil looping inside the pump which can cause wear, PSC recently switched to the billet CNC housing over the forged or cast housings so they are much more robust. Flow should be 3gpm at 1000rpm and 15gpm at 5000rpm.

External relief valve - The external relief valve is inline after the pump that will dump oil to the filter/reservoir if the pressure is backed up and reaches the set point. These are adjustable and since the race pumps do not have a warranty because they have no built in safety bypass, some thought needs to be put into how high you really want to set the relief setting. If you set the pressure high at idle but then rev it up to red line while in use you will be over pressure because pressure relief valves have some resistance. This also goes for cold oil vs hot oil settings, were viscosity will change pressure due to resistance. Ideally you want to set the pressure to be below what PSC says is the MAX (1800 PSI) when your at red line and full flow with cold oil. That would be worst case conditions.

XR race ram in 8” stroke 2.5” bore for a couple reasons over the standard ram.
1st. it has a welded one piece rod so the rod and piston can not come unscrewed and it gives it more strength
2nd it comes with four clamps instead of two and the body has notches so the cylinder can not slide in the clamps
3rd it has a super shiny nickel?coating and machined emblem with easy to service anodized caps so it will resist corrosion and look good longer and be easier to work on
4th when you factor in the cost of the welded rods and two extra clamps included it is not much more to get the better body

CBR race pump needs a two piece pulley to set the right spacing for use on the LS 6.0 truck motor, I’m running the @Goatbuilt CBR pump bracket so it’s easy to install the pump either way but the two piece pulley allows for installing a the pump first and bolting on the pulley second

Eaton orbital was a hard decision on output choices, I dug around for as much info and opinions as possible to balance steering wheel size, wheel rotations lock to lock, and input force. I chose the 156cc over the 185cc unit as it should have lighter input and less response for non seasoned racers learning to drive including myself and boys who will learn to drive the buggy before they learn to drive a street legal car. Right now I have a 14” wheel and might go down in size if needed. I intend to run an extended rod from the wheel to the orbital with a support rod end or bushing to make the mounting more universal

XR race reservoir is really advanced and well engineered when it comes to fluid dynamics in hydraulic systems.
The suction is -12 and the dual returns are -8. The suction can pull from the filter or oil supply equally. The filter is being feed from the return flow so the filter is flowing right back into the suction, this term can be called supercharging where the oil does not need to go back to a reservoir to stir up air and get pulled into the suction during agitated reservoir conditions like off camber sideways or zero gravity whoops. The oil in the reservoir does not see use once the system is full and all the air is purged to the high point, if you have a single ended rod then you will need some reservoir oil for volume changes.
The return ports enter into a tangential area so any entrapped air is forced out under centrifugal force into larger bubbles and can work its way up into the top of the reservoir where it can say out of the working oil.
The filter is a common Napa spin on filter with high capacity and precise filtration media. With the bottom down design during filter changes the contaminated oil can can only drip down and not into the reservoir.
The reservoir top has a recessed o-ring for a liquid tight seal and a anodized cap with top port to run excess air out of a breather during thermal expansion
This reservoir has to have a cooler as well as any high power steering system otherwise it will burn up quickly.

Cooler - The cooler is a Thermal Transfer MA-4 with 10" Spal fan. The core is 8" x 8" x 2.5" and the overall is 10" x 10.5".
It can remove 18,000 BTU/H @ 100 degrees or 7HP worth of heat if the hot oil is 180 and the outside air is 80.
It can remove 9,000 BTU/H @ 50 degrees or 3.5HP worth of heat if the hot oil is 130 and the outside air is 80.

 

Found the main piece your missing for your build.

 

Didn't know they made a tin top lj20 :grinpimp:

Of course it's 30 mins away too. :flipoff2:

 

that thing is pretty cool :laughing: