Hydro Assist Steering - Gwyn Lewis

[stuck]

Gent's,

Has anyone any experience of the Gwyn Lewis Hydro Assist kit?

I've had a look at the instructions on his web site but can't see how you plumb it in to the existing power steering?

Thinking of fitting it to my CCV truck so I'm not worried about how it feels, would just be nice to have more assistance.

Thanks,

Mick.

[Orgasmic Farmer]

Know lots of challenge trucks running it, including ours before we went full hydro. Simply Tee's into the existing lines. Complete plug and play kit. I know for a used one if you would be interested!

[stuck]

Thanks for that.

Does anybody have a picture of one fitted?

Alternatively links to any write ups on how to go full hydro would be greatly appreciated!

[iomlt]

Its good, but not as strong i think as you maybe like it to be, if you want to turn very quick both ways then you wont. It slows down the steering alittle but it is stronger. there are a few upgrades you can do, Brand new genuine pump, and modify a couple of fluid ways and that helps. I have also found that it takes some of the load off the steering box. I'm overall very happy with it but it didn't do it quite as well as i hoped, but that will be down to me and thinking ohhhh hydrolic ram that will never fail, but its only an assist not full hydro....

[zardos]

My brother fitted one and he did not notice any difference.

It was removed when a leaking steering box caused a change and not refitted.

His steering problem was solved by making sure his CV's moved freely by having them re-machined.

I pulled and checked my CV's since then and one was so stiff you could manipulate it at all by hand, it has now also been re-machined.

So the moral of the story is, check you CV's moves freely before trying to add more force with hydro assist.

[robhybrid]

The assist is a kit aimed to assist the steering but still fit to a totally standard set up.

When this kit was first made up it was intentionally made to be able to fit it in your driveway without any specialist kit or knowledge.

The kit does not modify the original power steering unit in standard form so allowing things to be returned to standard if needed.

The Gwyn lewis hydro assist ram is intentionally small (low level assistance) for several reasons:-

when it is being used without modifying other steering components the available oil flow is limited so a larger ram adversely affects steering speed.

the assist ram is not intended to totally transform the vehicle steering ability but mainly reduce the strain on the power steering box(prevent shaft twisting/oil leaks)

Not being able to turn the steering wheel was considered better than constantly breaking track rod ends.

As the kit uses factory standard fitting positions the strength of this fitting was dubious on older vehicles.

The kit was possibly going to be fitted to vehicles driven on the road.

There are loads of people who would like a hydro assist kit to suit their bespoke application, in fact several years ago you could buy a kit that consisted of a larger bore ram, a set of tabs for you to weld to your steering and weld to your chassis, and a pair of hydraulic hoses. It was then up to you to do the fabrication work and drill and tap your steering box.

It was considered that if you were up for doing that type of fabrication/fitting work you would more than likely be capable of sourcing the necessary parts yourself.

Bespoke fitting would mean that each kit would be different so holding any stock would be difficult.

I hope this answers some questions.