Full hydro question
 

To vent or not to vent. Why should you vent the system, and what happens if you don't?

I plan to vent mine to account for heat expansion. Maybe use a "tip over valve" like used on a fuel cell.

single ended ram- must vent to atmosphere.

double ended- just need a bellows for expansion as mentioned

What happens if you don't?

mine aint vented, no troubles so far

You risk blowing a seal. My PCS Reservoir came vented.

when a single ended ram is fully extended(piston out)your fluid level in your resoivoir drops becausethe fluid volume is now in thecylinder. when cylinder is fully collapsed(piston in) the fluid fills back in the resoivoir which will always be when the resoirvoir is "fullest". if u dident have any vent the resoivoir would go into a vacume when cylinder is extended and wouldgo into a positive when cylinder is collapsed (talking about the air space in the resovoir).


on a double ended ram as the piston collapses on one side it extends on the other so theram actually holds close to the same amount of volume at all points of stroke except at full lock both ways and even then it dosent change drastically. so the fluid in the resoivoir dosent move up and down as drastically, so the air gap between fluid level and cap dosent change as much. you still have some movement and as mentioned expansion as fluid gets warmer.

single ended could get by with a bellows but it would have to be huge..never seen one big enuff. im sure if u had one and did lock to lock it would look quite vulgar :)

a lot of rigs that dont think they are vented with a single ended ram actually have some leakage in the cap or resorvoir(thereby are indeed"vented")

So say a single ram system is closed with maybe a minor leak letting some pressure off, would that make it hard to steer? I was discussing this with someone and wanted to know how a single ram closed system would act.

Sorry for the noob question, but are you guys purely talking venting just like an axle has, or adding a cooler for the ram?

Just venting to the atmosphere. I have a 2qt reservoir that runs to a catch can that is vented. I also use a 24,000 GVW trans cooler and 14" electric fan to cool the steering system. The system usually never gets above 100 degrees.

Yellowjacket good tech and is explaining why I had some I the problems I had in the past... What is the "vent " to use so that in case of a roll the fluid doesn't all leak out... Is there a designed vent specifically for this?

You could run it to a catch can or simply route the vent hose like you would on a fuel cell vent.

Fuel cell has rollover valve so I don't really do much with it just a tube down over the side

If I end up on the roof, I should only lose what's in the catch bottle. The tube in the catch can runs to the bottom, which if upside down, would be the higher point. If I flop on the side, well, i dunno... I'll have to let you know when that happens. :eek: An inline hose rollover valve would be cool.

We can test the side flop out in Harlan next week :evilgrin:

:thinking: ...Naa...

:shrug:

smileypoke