Home Made Air-o-matic

[ThaddeusW]

Hey guys I was wondering if anyone here has ever attempted or herd of someone making their own air steering system like air-o-matic? I was thinking about how it works and figured it out. Its pretty simple and someone with a lathe and milling machine can do it.

A simple layout of the valve would look like this:

(notice yet again, my superior paint diagram)

The red rod hooks to the pitman arm while the black rod hooks to the steering arm

The squiggly blue lines are my lame version of a spring so there are 2 springs one for left and right

The green things are the air valves and the two darker blue things on the botton are stops

The red and black rods are part of the new draglink between the pitman arm and the steering arm. The red rod is able to freely move back and fourth with its ring resting in the center of two springs. The black rod is solidly attached to the whole unit.

When you turn the wheel you start to put pressure against one of the springs. when the spring compresses the red ring on the red shaft touches one of the valves pressurizing the air cylinder which assists you. When you stop putting pressure on the wheel the ring moves back to the center cutting off air to the cylinder. The cylinder can have simple relay valves on them to allow the use of small air micro switches and smaller tubing from the valve to the cylinder. You could also use a hydraulic cylinder and pump with air actuated relay valves if you wanted.

Sounds like it would function exactly like the air-o-matic system. Someone who wants bragging rights or a fun project can simply build this setup. All you really need to make is the replacement drag link/valve and then find a good air cylinder and some valves and two springs. Mighe be able to obtain the parts off ebay or a surplus shop for a few hundred or less. I just thought about it today and this idea poped in my head so let me know what you guys think

[greg]

Sounds like you got way to much time on your hands! lol ! Pretty simple design , sounds like it would work. I'll stick with hydraulic steering, know someone that has air-omatic in their truck, has nothing but problems with it.

greg

[ThaddeusW]

Sounds like you got way to much time on your hands!

I figured out this little setup in 20 minutes and I have a little machine shop at my disposal. I wish I had too much time on my hands