Full hydro won't put any more stress on the steering knuckle than regular steering provided you have the proper ram travel. If the ram travel is excessive then you'll have problems. I never have liked the raised crossover arms as it seems to me that when you go up high like that the steering force now wants to bend your arm over sideways rather than just turn the knuckle. BUT I know a fair amount of people run them with no problems. I personally don't know of anyone who runs them that actually takes their truck offroad.

I could always bust out the welder and make you up a fine piece of art work like this one:

 

Nice pic that may be to much lol . I'd rather not go over 2'' if i go with the cheap high steer arm where can i get a block havent found any yet . Most places are really outragesly priced to me 200$ is a lot for a little steel . I checked out a bunch of places and they are all of the one piece design and not much of a rise on them THANKS

 

I disagree, full hydro exerts much more force than any steering box. I have seen an excursion with 46s and full hydro push the truck sideways when parked right next to the curb, no steering box would do that. Also when bouncing off stuff full hydro has no give, with a regular steering box the wheel will turn if you ram something hard enough. IF the truck is off road only go ahead and use full hydro, but if it sees street use at all I still say cross over steering is the best way to go.

 

The big concern with knuckle stress and full hydro is when people don't use a ram with the correct stroke length it will try to keep extending after the stops hit. This can break knuckles fairly easy. However if you set it up properly so the stroke of the ram stops properly it's not a concern. While I will agree with you that the full hydro provides a lot more force than a stock steering box I do not agree that it has no give, provided you're running a proper load reactive valve and not a rednecked backyard engineered mess. The wheel will turn if you nail something (not as harshly as regular steering but it will turn), just the same as it will straighten itself out after a turn provided your castor is correct. You can apply far more force to your turn but we're not really talking much more than a hydro assist, which is being run by TONS of people with no knuckle problems. As with anything you just need to set it up right the first time.

The only reason I'm not running full hydro is the expense. If anyone ever comes out with a 5:13 or 5:38 gear option for Rockwells I'll swap a set in and do 4 wheel full hydro steering . . . AND drive it on the street daily.

 

I suggested the hydro steering because if it is mounted on the original tie rod then that will more evenly distribute the steering forces on the entire steering knuckle instead of just the top (weak) part.