ram assist

[Intender]

I know everyone is going to think I am stupid/crazy for asking this, but is it possible to put a small ram assist on an ifs rig. I have seen it on full sized pickups running big tires, and I am pretty sure you could set it up similar to a steering stabilizer but obviously more reinforced.

This past weekend I was wheeling with my lokka installed and ran into a couple of situations where I physically could not turn the wheel. One example, going down a hill with the brakes to the floor trying to turn left into a rock. The combination of the lokka and heavy braking makes it almost impossible to turn the wheel. I was looking over at pirate and found what people were calling a redneck ram that you could pull off for pretty cheap and I have no fear of drilling and tapping the gear box. Just not sure if it has or could realistically be done.

 

[Bklyn.X]

I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible. I doubt the rest of our IFS, even when it’s built up with aftermarket parts, could hold up very well to the stress such a modification would put on it….

 

[TJTJ]

As Tom mentioned, if the force exerted by the power steering pump was inadequate, you have to consider what is RESISTING the turning of the wheel.

For example, even with an OPEN DIFF, if the tire is against a rock (As you describe), what exactly would the ram do for you, other than force the tire even HARDER against the rock? NO steering works if the tire is against a rock, unless SOMETHING can give.

If you think the ROCK would have moved, OK, that's where it might have worked. If you think bending all the steering linkages would have worked, sure, the ram is the answer. If you just needed the tire to deform enough to scrunch past the rock, OK, that's a workable scenario, and so forth.

Rams are normally not the answer to a tire against a rock. Backing up and adjusting your line is the more effective solution typically.

If your tires are so large and have so much TRACTION that your power steering pump has a hard time turning them...that's when most consider a ram....as a supplement to the power steering pump.

 

[Intender]

The biggest issue is simply the amount of effort required to turn the wheel when the brakes are applied. In 2wd its fine. And when driving in a situation when I can do the whole on and off the throttle thing to let the lokka in the front end ratchet when pulling up a hill its manageable, I just have to put some serious effort into it. But any downhill situation with the brakes on....not so easy. I wheeled about 6 hours the other day and my arms hurt that night. Im not looking for anything to help break stuff, just trying to not hit a tree or run off a cliff because im not man enough to steer my truck.

 

[Intender]

I guess there is another question I should ask. I know my steering gear box is getting worn because I have some play in it. I adjusted it last week and it made it tremendously better, but what are the odds that the pump is going out. it does make some slight noise when I have to put a lot of effort into turning, but much less noise than I have heard other trucks making on the trails. Any easy way to determine if the power steering box or the pump needs replacing. Obviously if either of them were bad a ram assist isnt going to fix the problem.

I currently have no leaks from either the steering box or the pump. I had the usual leak from the return line on the pump, but fixed it with a clamp a while back.

 

[granitex]

A ram assist on an IFS rig is just not going to hold up, no matter what you do. Even with an ARB engaged it can get hard to turn and that can be turned off. You are just experiencing the draw back to an auto locker, just think if you had a welded diff up front.