Hydraulic Steering

[Stuntman Autoworks]

I'm building my project now and I'm wanting to put hydraulic steering on it and I got to thinking that I could save money by getting the steering box/valve off of a tractor that we have for parts is there anything that I need to know about this kinda setup it will b my first and its hard to find info on what will work. I also need to know if the p/s pump on the 4.3 V6 will pump enough pressure to work the ram and valve any help is appreciated thanks.

 

[Rich]

Your pump will be adequate. Might want to up the pressure / flow with the common mods on the west texas offroad site. (search google)

the steering box (commonly called "orbital") could be anything from something that won't work, to the perfect size. chances are it's matched to the ram on the same tractor, but it may or may not give you the number of turns lock to lock that you're looking for.

the ram on the tractor might be too small/short/big/long as well. something around a 2" bore with a 1" shaft is common for our use, tractor rams are often smaller than that though.

there's tons of info out there (especially the "hydraulic steering bible" on pirate 4x4)..

 

[braxton357]

Like he said, look on pirate...there is a ridiculous amount of info on this. The chances of that tractor orbital/steering valve working well are pretty small, but a lot of times people with rock only rigs live with sloppy steering with 8 turns lock to lock. If you're planning on driving it on the street with that stock (probably) TC pump, large tractor valve and a (probably) single ended ram, plan on being all over the place.