- Joined
- Mar 20, 2005
- Location
- Hendersonville, NC
At the request of Lady NC4X4 (Cyd), I am going to create a few occasional tech articles centered around economical projects and everyday issues we all run into.
The first installment has to do with my Toyota 4Runner that I recently added hydro assist steering to. I finished my hydro assist install and tested it out at Harlan for the Fall Crawl.
I was very satisfied with the performance and much better response hydro assist gave me. The only issue I had was fluid puking out of the stock reservoir when it got hot. I had installed a power steering cooler when I added hydro assist, so I knew it wasn't purely a temperature issue. I needed more volume so I could allow for expansion, better cooling and more capacity.
I researched larger capacity reservoirs and was surprised at their cost. Anywhere from $75-$150 for high quality, brand name reservoirs. There had to be another way. So one evening after cleaning up my shop I found a scrap piece of large diameter exhaust pipe. It looked pretty darn close in size to my stock Yota reservoir. Yep, they were both approx 3.5" diameter. The wheels started to turn in my brain a little.
I began by measuring to see how much clearance I have under my somewhat beaten to death hood. As it sets, I have about 4" of clearance between my existing reservoir and hood. I took the stock reservoir and cut the top off of it with the aid of a hose clamp to keep the cut line straight(ish). Next, I cut approx 3.5" of exhaust pipe. I then de-burred the reservoir and pipe and was able to gently tap the pipe into the the halves of the reservoir. I set my Hobart to 1 on heat and 30 on wire feed and welded the top and bottom of the reservoir to the exhaust pipe. Some time was then spent with a flap wheel before spray painting the new, higher capacity reservoir.
I installed the reservoir about 1" lower than stock in an OEM AFM mounting hole. I paid close attention to keep the reservoir outlet higher than the power steering pump inlet. Otherwise I could have issue with keeping the pump full of fluid under certain circumstances.
The results? No more puking power steering fluid past the cap when wheeling now. The fluid is a bit cooler due to the added capacity. All of this for about and hour of my time and just a couple of bucks in scrap material.
On to the pics:
The first installment has to do with my Toyota 4Runner that I recently added hydro assist steering to. I finished my hydro assist install and tested it out at Harlan for the Fall Crawl.
I was very satisfied with the performance and much better response hydro assist gave me. The only issue I had was fluid puking out of the stock reservoir when it got hot. I had installed a power steering cooler when I added hydro assist, so I knew it wasn't purely a temperature issue. I needed more volume so I could allow for expansion, better cooling and more capacity.
I researched larger capacity reservoirs and was surprised at their cost. Anywhere from $75-$150 for high quality, brand name reservoirs. There had to be another way. So one evening after cleaning up my shop I found a scrap piece of large diameter exhaust pipe. It looked pretty darn close in size to my stock Yota reservoir. Yep, they were both approx 3.5" diameter. The wheels started to turn in my brain a little.
I began by measuring to see how much clearance I have under my somewhat beaten to death hood. As it sets, I have about 4" of clearance between my existing reservoir and hood. I took the stock reservoir and cut the top off of it with the aid of a hose clamp to keep the cut line straight(ish). Next, I cut approx 3.5" of exhaust pipe. I then de-burred the reservoir and pipe and was able to gently tap the pipe into the the halves of the reservoir. I set my Hobart to 1 on heat and 30 on wire feed and welded the top and bottom of the reservoir to the exhaust pipe. Some time was then spent with a flap wheel before spray painting the new, higher capacity reservoir.
I installed the reservoir about 1" lower than stock in an OEM AFM mounting hole. I paid close attention to keep the reservoir outlet higher than the power steering pump inlet. Otherwise I could have issue with keeping the pump full of fluid under certain circumstances.
The results? No more puking power steering fluid past the cap when wheeling now. The fluid is a bit cooler due to the added capacity. All of this for about and hour of my time and just a couple of bucks in scrap material.
On to the pics:
