Full Hydraulic Steering Completed!

The full hydraulic steering system utilizing an 8 inch PSC hydraulic ram, a PSC orbital steering valve, custom fit hoses and a heavy duty truck power steering pump is finally finished.

When I first tested it I realized the stock reservior was much to small but I did not want to spend upwards of $200 on a new high capacity tank so I decided to make one. I found an old dented up stainless steel 1 Liter bottle, brushed all the stickers and paint off of it, cut a hole in the bottom and JB Welded a hose fitting on the bottom of it. I also drilled a small hole in the top to act as vent and as of now it seems to be working just as good as a $200 one.



This setup allows you to turn the tires from lock to lock with one finger evenwhen the vehicle is stationary. Here's a video of it in action... It's not the best video of it as I was trying to both video and run the wheel at the same time but I'll try and get a better one up soon.

 

The next projects I've got to finish up are custom making a driveline as well as hooking up the brakes. Here's a picture of the whole buggy just to give you an update of what it is looking like all together. (To enlarge the image, or any image, just click on it)

Dashboard Complete

Today I completed cutting out the dashboard panel and installing the gauges, switches and lights. I cut the dash panel out of a sheet of aluminum, cutting a slot for the steering column and drilling holes for the tachometer, oil pressure and water temperature gauges along with the 4 switches and indicator lights and the start button. Then I bent the flat panel along the line were the mounting bars changed angles.

After completing the panel I installed the 3 gauges, four switches and indicator lights, and the start button. Then I took it to the buggy and fit in place making sure it all lined up with the mounting bars. I still need to drill and screw it in place but it fits up nicely.

Build Update: Steering, Interior Frame Supports and new parts

It's been a while quite some time since my last post as I haven't had a ton of time on my hands recently to work on this project. I've been on a time crunch to get my senior project done, a portable wood-fired pizza oven, along with working to get everything in line to graduate next month. I have made some progress on this off-road machine though.

For starters, I've got the full hydraulic steering pretty much all worked out. I modified an old truck's power steering pump to fit on the Chevy 350 I put in the rock crawler. Then I scavenged up some high-pressure power steering hoses a mechanic friend had lying around and cut them to length and crimped some new hose ends on them. After hooking up all the hoses I primed the system and tested it out. It seemed to work pretty well but I could not fully test it as the stock reservoir I currently have on the system is not large enough and would overflow if the the wheels were turned from lock to lock. Once I make a new larger reservoir I should be able to give the finished system a full test.

(Test Video Coming Soon)

I also finished up making the interior frame supports where I will mount the shifter and the dashboard panel. These frame supports are placed between the two seats and will also serve as a solid mounting point to make driveline guards off of.

Along with finishing up the interior frame supports and getting the steering the majority of the way done, I also ordered some new parts. A Wilwood brake pedal with dual master cylinders, a G-Force pro-series 5-point racing harness with quick release and high-density foam roll cage padding were all ordered from Poly Performance and are to be installed soon.