43's and hydro assist?

[AW10]

Looking for opinions from people who have owned rides with hydro assist. Wondering if it is powerful enough for a locked dana 60 and 43's or 40's on a slow crawling trail? Will it push you off a tree if you turn into it like full hydro will? All ive ever ran was full hydro but I would like to street ride some time and like having a hard mount in case a line blows off or something. If its not strong enough Ill just go full hydro and hope I never have a line problem.

 

[TBItoy]

Looking for opinions from people who have owned rides with hydro assist. Wondering if it is powerful enough for a locked dana 60 and 43's or 40's on a slow crawling trail? Will it push you off a tree if you turn into it like full hydro will? All ive ever ran was full hydro but I would like to street ride some time and like having a hard mount in case a line blows off or something. If its not strong enough Ill just go full hydro and hope I never have a line problem.

If you got a big enough ram, it's just as/more powerful than full hydro.

the problem is most steering box valves don't flow enough to handle quick steering inputs and run a large ram. So it makes your steering sluggish.

Run a good high flow pump (very important)

There are lots of things you can do to make it work better, even going as far as running a manual box and a separate steering servo.

What kind of box are you planning to use?

 

[d_daffron]

I have a cut up jeep ZJ buggy running an Astro van steering box that I drilled and tapped for hydro assist myself. I'm using a stock jeep pump with the orfice drilled out and a standard old red tractor supply ram. It has every bit as much power as full hydro, but it is noticeably slower than full hydro. During normal trail riding, street driving, and access road trails it drives perfectly fine. The only time I notice it is when making 3 point turns on the trail. Whenever I'm ready to go lock to lock with no load on the tires I find myself having to slow down because I end up trying to turn the wheel faster than the fluid can flow. It will only turn so fast no matter how hard you try to turn the wheel. I have zero complaints about my steering though, I knew it'd be a little slow when I put it together for basically free. If you arent rockbouncing and you have reasonable expectations, hydro assist is the way to go.

 

[AW10]

No plans yet. Everything is stock other than the axles. 97 taco with a dana 44 up front at the moment. Will run whatever I need to make it correct. If it's a little sluggish that will be ok, it's just going to be a trail ride with heat and ac but if I can make it faster by buying better parts I will. Want to keep it as simple as possible though.

 

[TBItoy]

does it have the standard ifs toyota steering box? (it obviously doesn't have stock tacoma steering if it's already got a d44 up front...)

 

[AW10]

That's what it has. Also new to the tacoma world.

 

[TBItoy]

yeah that's a regular ifs steering box (like 86-95 model).

Looks like some questionable **** going on there with the rebar spring clamp and u bolt plate...

 

[AW10]

Yeah... it's a work in progress. Also new to leaf springs but I could tell some things weren't correct for sure. My blue buggy was my 1st 4x4 (you sold me my 1st set of reds to go on it) so I'm having growing pains learning about leafsprrings and non toyota axles. The shoulder straps on the harnesses were bolted to the rear stock seatbelt holes, one close to the roof and the other was bolted next the the seat... I stripped it to the bare metal inside yesterday. In the process of cleaning up all the janky wires and replacing the carpet, seats, and belts.