Interesting Hydro Assist

[mrblaine]

That makes it a fair bit clearer. You can't push the axle side to side by pushing off the axle itself. Everything is integrated together so the forces net out in a sense.

No, the forces do not net out. You still have the full force of the steering gear and you have the full force of the cylinder. The cylinder takes a fair bit of the load off of the steering gear if needed. The fluid circuits in the steering gear that direct fluid to either side of the piston to provide power steering are tapped into and directed to either side of the piston in the cylinder. If you have a pump with enough flow and pressure, the cylinder gets enough flow and pressure to take a lot of load off of the frame without diminishing power at the steering gear.

 

[mrblaine]

What is the advantage to doing a hydro assist versus full hydro? Seems like you could ditch the linkage fairly easily? I know full hydro can be hard to drive on the road due to steering wheel feel (or at least I've heard that before).

Full hydro is for ignorant pussies that can't build steering.