hydraulic question

i was wondering if you could run hydros off of a power steering pump or somthing like that.  maybe like a bobcat or loader.  i dont care about the speed, just want up/down.  would it have to be manually actuated?  thanks.

Lenny Gruver had his S10 suspension run off a pump for a snowplow at one point so its deffinitly possible. I'm not sure of the speed but I would guess it wasn't too quick being a single pump. I'm going to speculate that there were more negatives than positives based on the fact that I haven't seen another setup done that way since but I could be wrong on that one, I'm no hydro guru . Hopefully some others chime in 'cuz I'm wondering now. L8

thats how some of the old school hot rods used to do it. they werent being lifted very high tho i dont think. it is possible to do tho.

thanks for the quick replys.  i figured it wouldent be worth it, cause you dont see it everyday.  i guess you would have to have a large reserve oil tank to lift it high.  if i dont do that i would like to do somthing simple like one pump 5 dump.  thanks again. 

There are several different forms of pumps used for different applications. But, like you said, it wouldn't be worth the trouble to try and retro something else for use in a car. More than likely it would be a lot bigger and a lot slower. Back in the day not so nice people used to steal pumps from Tommy Lift Gates. They were very similar to what we call a normal pump. Even before that the lowriders started hydraulics on cars by using aircraft hydrauliucs. The aircraft hyros have made a huge comeback. Check out the thread on layitlow.com for some seriously insane aircraft setups.

My fab guy was talking about this when we working on  my car. He did a quick estimate that my Honda ps pump could do around 800 lbs of pressure. I think it would work for basic slow up/down.  I like the idea of using the ps pump and hiding the storage tank. In reality it seems like alot of extra plumbing and headaches.  

i have found a powersteering pump that puts out 1600 pounds of pressure and is all billet aluminum its about the size of a hydraulic gear inside a normal pump uses an external resivoir and pumps 3.2 gallons  a minute also spoke with the machinst that makes it and have a hydraulic chart from caterpillar that has cylinder diamiters and pressure amount for certain weights basically a cylinder with 1.120 inside bore and a 3/8 id hardline with a pump that puts out 800 psi can lift about 1600 pounds of dead weight per cylinder so a pump that puts out 1600 psi and two 1.120 id cylinders can dead lift a weight of about 6000 pounds with .50 id hardline and it would be fast as hell at 3.2 gallons a minute cosidering a cylinder only uses about a max of 12 ounces of fluid rember this is all in testing right now but thats what i am using for my truck any help is apprecited