Ram mounting locations for Steering?

[66crawler]

I'm going to be installing my Hydro assist ram soon and was looking for ideas on where others have mounted the RAM. It's pretty busy under a Bronco front end. I saw one article where a guy mounted his to the Diff cover on one side and then the pass. end of the Tierod on the other. Not really some place where I would want to attach mine. I have room on the crossmember now that I don't need a steering stablizer, any success in mounting it there?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[NeverSatisfied]

I'm definitely interested in the responses as well as I'm at the same point in my build. I'm running the BC F150 TRO setup. It would seems to me to be a very convenient place to mount the ram in place of the stabilizer there are existing bolt holes in the frame and drag link. The only downside I see is you are stessing the draglink and the tie rod with the ram.

 

[tonto]

Steering stabilizer location is not a good spot, only logical place to mount the other end is the pitman arm defeating the benefit of relieving stresses on the steering box and contributing more stress to the steering box.
Tom Lee at Lee mfg. who made mine explained to me the best location is on the axle and as horizontal or parallel to the tie rod as you can get it mounted.
Anther idea would be to mount it on the back side of the axle and add a high steer arm to mount one end off the top of one of the knuckles.

 

[NeverSatisfied]

with the BC F150 TRO you have two holes machined into the drag link for the steering stablizer--you wouldn't have to bolt to the pitman arm. You could bolt one end of the ram to the frame stablizer mount and the other end directly to the drag link via the machined holes in the bar. You would therefore elimitate the pitman arm from "seeing" much force from the ram.

The downsides I see are extra stress in the drag link and track bar

But when you're running TRO, an OX Locker diff cover, and a Wah, there isn't much room down there for anything else. Another added benefit of having it up high is it's out of the way, and it doesn't move much with articulation so plumbing is not as big of an issue.

Hopefully more with experience will chime in since I'm just thinking out loud. I like the idea of a reverse high steer arm, but I do not have have flat-top knuckles

 

[tonto]

People have mounted them the way you’re describing, is it ideal- IMO no.
The ram will be coming down off the cross member at a slight angle and the drag link is at an angle so the ram will be pushing & pulling into the drag link a little, instead of pushing & pulling with the tie rod when its mount parallel to the tie rod.
I don’t know if you have or not, but get under there with the front end jacked off the ground with your ram in hand and start turning the wheels back & forth and see if you can find a location, I know space is very limited and when I mounted mine on my full width axle I can remember thinking this must be next to impossible with a standard width E.B. axle.
One issue I thought I was going to have on the end mounted to the tie rod was it would hit the cap on the radius arm and found as it passed in front of the cap it traveled on a small arc with the tie rod just clearing the cap.
You may want to consider mounting one end approx. where the trac bar mounts to the axle and the other end to the tie rod more on the drivers side.

 

[NeverSatisfied]

Yeah I was thinking that might be the route to take. After I posted, I crawled under my bronco. If I can fab a ram mount to the track bar mount, the tie rod is high enough that the ram should clear my WAH and provide enough travel for full lock to lock.

Where did you get that clamp for the ram? I am not real excited about welding to my tie rod.

It's going to be a mess under there with an axle breather, brake line, Ox cable, and 2 hydro lines.

 

[tonto]

Yeah I was thinking that might be the route to take. After I posted, I crawled under my bronco. If I can fab a ram mount to the track bar mount, the tie rod is high enough that the ram should clear my WAH and provide enough travel for full lock to lock.

Where did you get that clamp for the ram? I am not real excited about welding to my tie rod.

It's going to be a mess under there with an axle breather, brake line, Ox cable, and 2 hydro lines.

That picture is of a guys full size F-250 who used to work at Lee Mfg., I don't know how many they've made, but its a product they would like to Mfg. but don't have time to, Lee Mfg. builds alot of the NASCAR team steering box's so they have priorities on what they have time to MFG.
Here's there phone # 818-768-0371, you can call and give them a shot.
I really haven't had a problem or seen any with folks who have welded tabs to there tie rod.

 

[icebreaker88]

I mounted mine to my original track bar mount. I raised my track bar instead of lowering it off the frame. I used the 1.75" x 8" ram from PSC Offroad Steering .com. Then mounted the other end to my homemade tie rod. It is very tight down there but nothing hits turn to turn or droop & compresion. I had to tack mine on a few times before i found the right place for it. It comes close to my diff gaurd but does not hit it. I was also told it is NOT a good ideal to go to the diff gaurd.
Oh yeah dont forget to paint your brackects and ram before you take it out OPPS.
Heres a few pics.

 

[66crawler]

Thanks for the pics. That looks like it is in a good spot. Is that a Poison Spider D44 diff cover?

 

[icebreaker88]

Thanks for the pics. That looks like it is in a good spot. Is that a Poison Spider D44 diff cover?

No it was someone kinda local who advertised on michigan jeepers.com. But i would not do business with him if i got it for free. The qualitly is nice but it took me 6 months, number of phone call and many e-mails to get it. I was ready to buy another one and make a small road trip to get my money back when he finailly sent it.

As for the ram it was about the only good spot i could come up with for mounting and it has worked out very well. I have had it out on 3 trips so far.

I'll tell you what it sure is nice to be able to take this thing out and wheel it after working on it and not having a wheelin rig for almost a year.
I plan on wheeling the shit out of it this year.

 

[kb6677]

Ram mount

Something else to consider.... I will give credit where credit is due here: Back in '01 at an old ARCA event we were checking out the rigs and noticed the Currie set up on the "original" fireant heep. A bracket was fabbed up on the pas. side frame rail and the other end went to the pitman arm. Obvoiusly you will have the check out your turn to turn lock and mount the ram in relation to that-ie set it closer to the frame or out more depending on the turn of your pitman arm. Mine has been mounted that way since '02 when we finished the rig and has not failed or had any damage from obsitcles. Email me off line if you want and I will send you a pic. They are not posted on my pics on classic broncos.
HTH,
KB
NC
ebsss.5
tripleb@bellsouth.net

 

[danfelt]

It's been said several times already but keeping your ram as parallel to the tie-rod as possible is important. Last month a buddy of mine landed his rig in the ditch and tried to use his new hydro-assist to help push him out by turning into the ditch. His mounting position wasn't parallel and he came out of the ordeal with a bent TRE...

NICE SETUP Icebreaker!