Solid Axle Conversion Tech

[90chevstepside]

As far as I know, yes. That's how it'd work. The arm would be halfway extended to go straight, when turned left, the arm would contract to pull the steering rod, and to go right, it'd be extended out more. Correct tempted?

 

[TylerZ281500]

i just saw a picture of something similar just two lines to a hydraulic pump mount in the center of the axle with supports, then the end of the pump are like u joints almost and they connect to the knuckle.

 

[90chevstepside]

Yeah. That would be it.

 

[TylerZ281500]

did you see my post earlier about the 94+ dodge pitman arm stuff?

 

[90chevstepside]

I saw you say something about post #8 but I'm at work and was busy at the time. I'll go look now.

 

[Tempted]

Kind of right. You have an orbital valve that controls the fluid left to right. Otherwise it would always be turned, never center. The orbital I have is self centering. This isn't technically legal, but it is nice when you want to avoid clearance issues since there is no hard line to the tie rods. Just a flexible hose. The reason it isn't legal is because there is no solid link to the steering wheels so if you have a pump failure you have no way of controlling the wheels. Another HUGE benefit is that you can mount the orbital anywhere. On the frame where the box was is the most common but you can mount it to a fender, the firewall, anywhere. This means no header clearance issues, no gear box slop and a cleaner engine bay.

i just saw a picture of something similar just two lines to a hydraulic pump mount in the center of the axle with supports, then the end of the pump are like u joints almost and they connect to the knuckle.

That is the ram. The pump is just like any hydraulic pump(power steering pump). Depending on the system you are using you can actually use the power steering pump and not have to buy a new pump. The ram can be double sided like mine for the easiest/strongest mounting and it can be single sided if you don't want the double. This requires a few more components.

 

[TylerZ281500]

makes sense. i was just about to ask if hydraulic was legal or not, i wouldnt feel safe having a full hydraulic steering system on a street driven truck. id want the crossover with hydraulic assist that way if the hydraulics go your still in control of the truck

 

[90chevstepside]

Well what if your pitman arm comes loose from the steering (I've seen it happen) then you have no control over the steering. I guess my buddies truck Is illegal.

 

[TylerZ281500]

true so if you got a little of both then if one fails the other can help out and get you were you gotta go then you can fix it. i took my truck to a shop once because it was my first time dealing with cv shafts and i severely screwed stuff up. so it was drug to the shop and they put on all the parts i had bought but the guy never tightened my tie rods. lets just say the day i noticed there was one thread left before the rod was backed out all the way.

 

[90chevstepside]

Well he went to back out of a driveway and when we went to turn, the wheel turned but the wheels didn't. He didn't know what to do. So he called me and sure enough, the pitman arm had come off from the steering linkage.