Hydro Steering

[mike.s]

I am looking at a 72 Deuce with hydro steering. The guy that has it now only uses it as a farm truck so he has no mechanical conection for the steering. I always thought you needed to have a mechanicle conection with hydro assist to drive on the road but he said the old owner put the system in and drove it on the road. Does this sound right?

 

[Recovry4x4]

Sounds right but just because the previous owner did it doesn't make it legal.

 

[wehring]

Hydro steering

I have done a lot of research on this and the info is gray. In short, if you run a full hydro kit it must have a flow through orbital valve to be on the road. i.e if you cut power you must still be able to avoid a wreck. The older non flow through valves were dangerous in that if you cut power you had no input to the front tires.

THIS IS NOT BASED ON WRITTEN DATA!!!!!! I have exhausted conversations with Texas DPS troopers and in-the-know people. I have found no data written to support this.

I have heard (but not confirmed) that some cement trucks are running full hydro streering from the factory. It is worth checking on...

Hope this helps.

Justin

 

[59apache]

just my two cents......
i've owned an agri tractor with full hydro(yes with an orbitrol)......the hydropump failed (no pressure at low rpm) an i missed a fuel pump at the gas station only a few inches.......these system are legal in europe for vehicle up to 25mph top speed.
but after my experience i would NEVER!!!!! drive a vehicle with an do it yourself-who knows-what ever-hydro sytem.
i even wan't drive a vehicle with a bone stoch full hydro.

 

[mike.s]

What you guys have said was my feeling to but i thought I could be wrong. I have a hummer that i am running hydro assist but i never heard of any one running full hydro on road. Is there any one that makes an easy hydro assist kit for the Deuce or would it be something that i would have to piece together?

 

[JasonS]

Is SD, there used to be a law requiring a mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the wheels. As far as I can tell, this has been repealed. However, not knowing the code number of the law, I can't verify that it has been repealed.

I first saw the steer by wire (really not different than full hydraulic) mentioned at a symposium in the late 90s. I brought it to the speakers attention that the plan he was advocating would be against SD law.

I do not know all of the instances but there are cars on the road with NO mechanical connection. The first one that comes to mind is the four wheel steer chevy pickup.

 

[Jakob]

There was a big discussion on "is it legal or not" on an offroad site I go to. No one could actually produce a law that said a full hydro system was illegal. I don't run one, but I would until someone can actually prove to me, in writing, that it's illegal.

 

[m-35tom]

legal or not, if something fails and you kill or worse yet maime someone with a 14000 lb truck, they will own you for the rest of your life. is it worth is?? there are plenty of full hydraulic power steering systems that will go right on a m-35 and you can steer with one finger. now we know these are legal...........

tom

 

[JasonS]

If I remember correctly, the SD law was not that specific in that it did not refer to a certain type of steering; only that a direct mechanical connection was required.

I'm going to try to find my old codified law book...

 

[Jakob]

legal or not, if something fails and you kill or worse yet maime someone with a 14000 lb truck, they will own you for the rest of your life. is it worth is?? there are plenty of full hydraulic power steering systems that will go right on a m-35 and you can steer with one finger. now we know these are legal...........

tom

I'd definitely go that route first and it'd probably be easier to install. I left my last statement a little open though. I wouldn't run full hydro on something I drove all the time and on top of that, I'll probably never own anything that would NEED full hydro steering anyway.

 

[tiger422]

Legal or not, this would not be safe what happens when a hose blows. I think you would be in deep sh .

 

[actionpaintball]

Go with hydro-assist with mechanical linkage. Lots of info at Pirate4x4.Com - The largest off roading website in the world.