Hey guys I was looking for a full hydraulic steering kit that would replace my current steering. I have found a couple of hydraulic steering assist kits that add to the current steering system but I want full hydraulic, no steering arm to get in the way of the suspension. Thanks guys

 

full hydro is illegal on a street vehicle. off road only is a diff story.

 

You aren't going to find a full-hydraulic system specifically for your truck. Most of the people I know that have put full-hydro systems on their rockcrawlers have gotten the parts/generic kits from Performance Off-Road (http://www.performanceoff-road.com/) .

As far as legal and safe goes, you'd have to check with your state about legal. I've heard many people say that it's illegal on a street vehicle, but I haven't personally seen a state or federal law that addresses it. As far as safe goes, well, that will depend entirely on the knowledge, experience, and quality of parts that the person building the system has and uses. Obviously, if built by the right people, it can be very safe. Or at least a full-hydraulic (no mechanical linkage from input to control surface) system is believed to be safe enough to use in the airplane that I flew in last month. So, if you can find, or build a system that has been designed and tested to the same level of quality and reliability as an airplanes fly-by-wire system, I'd say it's pretty safe. But, like an airplane using fly-by-wire, if you loose hydraulic pressure on the street or freeway, the resulting crash is probably going to be a spectacular one that kills people.

 

The shows I watch say strickly off road use. There is not a DOT approved system out there! As far as inspections go in Texas you propably could get by with one but if you were in an accident, well lets say lawsuit!

 

I will look into the legal part, I just wanted to find a steering system that had no moving linkage to interfear with the springs. I might just try to find a place that sells customs leafs springs..havent found one yet.

 

I meant to ask, what exactly do you mean by "steering arm"? The Pitman arm, drag link, or tie-rod? And how exactly is this part getting in the way of any suspension component? Generally, full-hydraulic steering is used for 2 reasons. It's sheer power to turn large wheels even when they're pinned against rocks without breaking. And severe drag link angles are no longer an issue. Given the way a normal suspension and steering are set-up I'm having a hard time figuring out what steering component that a full-hydro would replace that could be getting in the way.

As far as the Federal laws are concerned, the DOT (NHTSA) doesn't regulate that part of the steering, they only regulate the steering column for collapsibility and intrusion.

As soon as I get around to it, I'm planning on putting a full-hydro system on my trail/rockcrawling rig.

 

In the November 2006 issue of Four Wheeler there is an article entitled "Hydraulic Steering 101." Towards the end of the article, there is a small box with the following written in it:
With the matter of legality in your state, county & city aside, I would really like to here the responses to some of EnviroCon's questions.

 

If it fits your needs, you might check out farm tractor and implement parts. I'm not sure on this, but it seems there are some pieces of equipment which utilize full hydraulic steering.

Forgive me, but it's been ten years since I have worked on any of this stuff, and then I was just getting into it when I left the farm.

 

That's actually a good idea. I've heard several people mention that they got the parts at a farm equipment repair place. And lots of heavy equipment use Hydrostatic steering. The problem's with full-hydro steering that people who've tried it on their street rigs have complained of are; severe front-end shimmy at freeway speed, a problem with the steering not wanting to recenter itself after a turn, and a lack steering and road feedback. I'd be hesitant to use it on my street rig because there are no systems out there that have been tested (that I know of) for street and daily driving conditions. I think many of the problems are caused by the fact that these systems are being built by people who have no formal experience or training in hydraulics and automotive engineering, so it becomes a lot of trial and error.

 

I wouldn't want a steering system on a highway vehicle that doesn't have the mechanical link as a catastrophic failure back-up system.

Off-road at 15 m.p.h.or less, no problem. So you hit a tree or roll over, you shouldda hadda helmet or belt on anyway.