[Bennyzarb]

Is hydro assist legal onroad ? Is there any way to get it engineered?

[Fatzook]

Not in QLD. So I guess it would be the same case for VIC. Hydro steer belongs on tractors as far as DOT is concerned.

[Bennyzarb]

Hmmm ok thanks it's not full hydro only assist working along side your power steering box

[Fatzook]

Bennyzarb wrote:

Hmmm ok thanks it's not full hydro only assist working along side your power steering box

Hydro assist does not work 'along side' your power steer box. It is usually plumbed into your power steer box. Because of this, a line failure will result in the complete draining of the steering system, and a fluidless ram can easily lock the steering in whatever possition its in when it looses pressure. Imagine that happening at speed

[royce]

if a line fails the ram wont jam

old fairlanes had a form of hydro assist and they were legal, but in this case its not a yes no answer, youll need to come up with a plan and find an engineer that will approve it, it will also slow your steering down some which might make it hard to get approved

[Gwagensteve]

I believe hydro assist has been engineered in Vic

[Matthew]

Isn't OP in NSW?

[rick1970]

royce wrote:

if a line fails the ram wont jam

old fairlanes had a form of hydro assist and they were legal, but in this case its not a yes no answer, youll need to come up with a plan and find an engineer that will approve it, it will also slow your steering down some which might make it hard to get approved

This is true, and some early Holden had a version of the same as well....but even harder to find nowdays than the Ford version. The 1st PS used on trucks is also another variant of the same idea, Vickers S22, Hydrosteer, ZF etc. Valving for control is usually external from the steer box and made into the ram on these tho....

Most twin steer trucks use either whats is basically hydro assist ram or a second steer box with no manual input, on the second steer axle
controlled by the main steer box.

Jump under an old Inter T line twin steer and it will have a hydraulic ram on the second axle, with the hoses tapped into the appropiate oil galleries in the steering box.

As Royce said, if you blow a line, the cylinder won't jam.......you will lose a lot of oil yes, but the cylinder will still be able to be moved. You may/will need a higher pump flow to offset the now higher volume required by the box with assist ram plumbed in...

[foolsp33d]

apparently it can be done in NSW...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Landrover-po ... 2ec74f1578

I wonder if its an old Atari 2600 Joystick!?

[Fatzook]

foolsp33d wrote:

apparently it can be done in NSW...

If the ad is to be believed... $270K spent on a defender...... I'm sure he could have had vehicle mounted cruise missiles approved for that sort of money.

[sam_516]

Awesome truck non the less but!

[31zook]

I'm sure it's an extra zero...

[got_bar_work]

That would have way more then 27 k spent on it

[SierraDan]

It is an extra 0.

[Fatzook]

got_bar_work wrote:

That would have way more then 27 k spent on it

Agreed.

Maxidrive prtals are around $16K alone!

Still, hard to see where $270K has gone

[Red89]

There can be a big difference between replacement value and what it actually cost him, also some people will include the car purchase price to make it sound more impressive.

[want33s]

royce wrote:

old fairlanes had a form of hydro assist and they were legal......

Exactly the example I was going to mention.

A point of difference though is that the Falcon/Fairlane setup used a 16:1 manual steering box (unassisted box was 20:1) and the ram had a load sensitive valve hooked directly to the pump.
Steering still worked if the assistance failed.

I still have one of those Ford rams in the shed. I was going to make it fit in place of the steering damper but found a genuine Sierra powersteer box instead.