Ram assisting Armstrong steering

Acco trucks had the ram assist power steering standard from new I'm pretty sure
May have been up to maybe 8 ton and on A and maybe B series

I just chucked a complete unit in a shipping container heading south tomorrow off a Chamberlain C 670
Looks the same as Inter one

And they we to work fine on low revs as well as high revs

Paul

I had an Old Road Boss (Many years Ago) that had a Hydraulic Ram assist Steering.Seemed to Work Well..

The smaller car type ones (PBR) have the sensing valves in the draglink, with hoses going everywhere. I recently pulled one off a Stude Hawk GT which worked fine at idle and standstill. I expect you could change / shim the springs in the sensing valves to make them less sensitive.

Jarrod.

Dave
Revs make no difference, in fact it feels no different to any normal power steering box and yes it was factory fitted in Dec 79.

My Beddy bus had it retrofitted up in Queensland last year by the previous owner. I'll get some pics in the daylight.
Works well enough for the wife to drive it.

There are any number of complete bolt on kits available to adapt to just about any vehicle. Seems a quick and easy way to get power steering.

This photo is a kit for a Jeep Wrangler as an example but there are all sizes right up to trucks which come with every bracket and bolt.

Lang




This is very simple for a series Landrover.

A lot of vehicles in the 60s, 70s and less from the 80s were retrofitted or fitted standard from new with the assist ram.

I remember trying to fix the old LAD cabbed Dodge that had one fitted new. Volvo F86 twin steer had one as well as the p/steer box (still have the ram here now)
Until the power steering box from messrs Ross and Sheppard and Frau Zahnradfabrik Freierickshafen became cheaper and fitted on more things the assist ram was a popular item.

On Brisbanes Bus fleet of 342 Leyland Panthers in 1967 - 69 were ordered without power steering or assist,. In the early 80s 1 bus was driven to Newmans in Sydney at 38 mph by the Engineer to have the assist ram kit fitted( which looks almost identical to Langs last photo) in all not many were modified. However it made a huge difference to being able to sit at the bus stop, turn out and almost able to screw the tyres off while sitting still.

Ive never had any issues with the boosted ram type..They are either Hydrosteer,TRW,or Vickers...nothing interchangeable between them.....Air assist steering is either Westinghouse? or pommy one was Clayton Dewandre.....my old Coles has the Clayton and without the air boost you cannot turn the steering wheel.......In Leylands particularly,no boost at idle means worn pump...replace pump with new......fingertip steering at idle........Other common brands were Ross,Garrison,Danfoss,ZF.....Leaders had ZF.....Whites had Ross Hydrapower.

Reason I bought this up, having a look at the pulley/vee belt set up on this little project engine.
Had a box of bits and pieces given to me along with the engine, had a power steering pump, brackets etc.
Power steering pump sat on a bracket bolted to the block, I simply made up a steel plate and had an old idler pulley with an adjuster on it, used it to just start and run the engine, doesn't align perfectly but seems to do the job temporarily.
Pump was off a Discovery, as was the engine, seems to be in good nick but until it was run, wouldn't know for sure. Just having a think about it and what you blokes have posted, simplest way would be to add a ram. Then I may have issues with the pump not producing enough volume or pressure to drive an assisting ram, has a remote reservoir which could always be increased capacity wise. Also got the original Discovery power steering box, but entirely different set up position wise. Bit hesitant to start jerrying around with steering, but with the power steering pump and bracket in place wouldn't have any problems with belt alignment, can get hold of a triple pulley setup to bolt to the vibration damper, replace existing dual pulley. Something else to think about. Trial and error system here!
Cheers, Dave

Dave,
I have 2 smaller trucks fitted with the safety steer rams one has power steering one does not. The one without the power steering has a better turning circle and holds the road better than it's brother.