I drive Demolition Derby trucks and I have a question about Hydraulic steering and it's applications.
My question is what kind of loads will these set ups withstand and what will break or blow when those "max" loads are met? An example, lets say I get hit in the front tire and tire gets forced against the ram and it's pressure, what will break? When this happens with a manual or power steering gear box everything moves and the steering wheel spins at an amazing pace. When that happens a lot of thumbs, hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulders get torn apart. So this could help be a safer alternative. However, with the hydraulic lines present, there is also a greater fire risks, but those fires are minimal.
I run a 1961 Dodge D300 or 1 ton, I am not sure what it weighs but I'd guess close to the 6,500lbs range. I am running 80's 3/4 ton chevy axles with a dodge gear box. These manual gear boxes are getting to be worth their weight in gold and no one will sell them. I'm running a 5.3 LS engine also.
I know they use these set ups in agriculture and commercial vehicles but can anyone send me in a direction to find this stuff out or does anyone have experience fab'ing something like this up? This may seem like a lot of work to put into something that someone is going to wreck, but these trucks don't bend and people get 5 to 40 runs with these dodges. No one in the derby community offers or has looked into hydraulic steering or it is an idea on the back burner for someone else. Precision engineering isn't really an issue as long as it works, i'm lucky to run one straight rim on my truck and it's probably going to be straight for 5 minutes.
My question is what kind of loads will these set ups withstand and what will break or blow when those "max" loads are met? An example, lets say I get hit in the front tire and tire gets forced against the ram and it's pressure, what will break? When this happens with a manual or power steering gear box everything moves and the steering wheel spins at an amazing pace. When that happens a lot of thumbs, hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulders get torn apart. So this could help be a safer alternative. However, with the hydraulic lines present, there is also a greater fire risks, but those fires are minimal.
I run a 1961 Dodge D300 or 1 ton, I am not sure what it weighs but I'd guess close to the 6,500lbs range. I am running 80's 3/4 ton chevy axles with a dodge gear box. These manual gear boxes are getting to be worth their weight in gold and no one will sell them. I'm running a 5.3 LS engine also.
I know they use these set ups in agriculture and commercial vehicles but can anyone send me in a direction to find this stuff out or does anyone have experience fab'ing something like this up? This may seem like a lot of work to put into something that someone is going to wreck, but these trucks don't bend and people get 5 to 40 runs with these dodges. No one in the derby community offers or has looked into hydraulic steering or it is an idea on the back burner for someone else. Precision engineering isn't really an issue as long as it works, i'm lucky to run one straight rim on my truck and it's probably going to be straight for 5 minutes.
