Ram Assist Options?

sbolejack · Feb 15, 2019

I have never messed with Ram Assist steering and looking for a little input. I purchased a '73 with F-150 Axles and want to add Ram Assist to help in those certain off-road situations. I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so are there kits out there that anyones has had good luck with?

Thanks everyone for your input.

Boss Hugg · Feb 15, 2019

Wild horses kit does well. I bought the ram and built my own hoses. By the time I was done, I I could’ve bought their hoses and been cheaper.

Apogee · Feb 15, 2019

My brother runs a PSC kit on his Toyota, and it's nice...I really like their remote reservoir with built-in filter. A friend runs a Redneck Ram on his '78 Bronco with a D60, and it does the same job, but for less money. He taxes his a bit harder with 43" TSL SX's, my brother is only run 35x13.5 Toyo M/T's.

I'm doing what you have, F150 HP D44 with ram-assist, but haven't decided which cylinder I'm going to run yet. I still need to regear it and then get it under there first for fitment purposes.

bchesley · Feb 15, 2019

I pieced mine together using a factory box and a PSC Ram. I sent my box several years ago to PSC to have it rebuilt and ported for the assist. A couple of months ago I ordered the ram and hose kit from them. I also ordered a clamp on mount for the tie-rod connection. You can see the photos below. I really wish I would have done this sooner. It is incredible how much more stable it is on and off road.

74 Bronco Billy · Feb 15, 2019

Sent my PS Box to blue top steering for rebuild and porting. Very fair peice and high quality work

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Broncobowsher · Feb 15, 2019

The box gets ported. Different boxes have different places where the fluid can be tapped. Some as far back as the spool valve all the way up to the internal piston (like shown above). One port assists when turning right, the other left. There is a piston in the steering box that you just don't see, you are taking some of the fluid applying pressure and putting to an external ram.

The external ram is typically installed so it pushes and pulls the driver's side wheel. This takes strain off the linkage. You have two pistons now (one inside the box, one outside), balance the forces by putting them at the opposite ends of the linkage.

Scoop · Feb 15, 2019

My Red Neck Ram from West Texas Offload works very well. Big improvement when your front diff is locked.

Skiddy · Feb 15, 2019

Boss Hugg said:
Wild horses kit does well. I bought the ram and built my own hoses. By the time I was done, I I could’ve bought their hoses and been cheaper.

that's who I got mine from as well. but I learned from your mistake and ordered the hoses too;D

sprdv1 · Feb 16, 2019

PSC would be my opinion sir...

68ford · Feb 17, 2019

Need to take into consideration the type of driving you will be doing and how much "more assist" you want from a ram. Then determine the diameter. If you go with a 2in or larger diameter ram, you really need a high volume pump. A Saginaw pump does not have the gpm to safely let you turn fast in a emergency situation or if you do any high speed driving with fast counter-steering like I do. If you have hydroboost, you really won't have enough flow if you need to turn the wheels somewhat fast while braking. I decided I only really wanted a little more assist so i went with PSC system with their smallest diameter ram. Another benefit is the smaller rams are easier to fit and are cheaper.

Broncobowsher · Feb 17, 2019

The smaller ram will also give a bit more road feel while a larger ram will let you effortlessly break stuff.

Scoop · Feb 17, 2019

Broncobowsher said:
The smaller ram will also give a bit more road feel while a larger ram will let you effortlessly break stuff.

Agree. But you will lose some road feel even with the smaller ram. I have the 1.5 inch ram and it is sufficient for my 37's but it does change how the Bronco drives/feels on the road. In general the steering wheel is slower to turn and the return to center is slower as well. I have no complaints on this as the improvement when rock crawling is awesome and it just takes a little driving to get use to it. Before the ram I always unlocked my ARB immediately after an obstacle because it was hard to steer with the ARB engaged. Now I forget to turn off the ARB when I don't need it because the steering is so easy!

Ram Assist Options?

sbolejack

Sr. Member

Boss Hugg

Bronco Guru

Apogee

Bronco Guru

bchesley

Full Member

Attachments

74 Bronco Billy

Sr. Member

Broncobowsher

Total hack

Scoop

Have Bronco, Will Travel

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Skiddy

Bronco Guru

sprdv1

REBEL

68ford

Bronco Guru

Broncobowsher

Total hack

Scoop

Have Bronco, Will Travel

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