Electric power steering columns

[thinfourth2]

I am considering fitting power steering to the mog which is a bit on the heavy side.

There is the going down the hydraulic route which is a pain.

So I am considering getting the electric column off a supermini

So what do i need to know?

[trickywoo]

Work of the devil.

[natureboy8891]

It will make you lose all of the 'feel' just stick to hydrolic it will be much beter.

[thinfourth2]

natureboy8891 said:

It will make you lose all of the 'feel' just stick to hydrolic it will be much beter.

Its a unimog

Unimogs don't do steering feel

[thinfourth2]

doogz said:

What engine?

m180

[thinfourth2]

doogz said:

Would the electric power steering on a supermini have the capacity to deal with the forces involved in steering a Unimog?

I wouldn't have thought so tbh.

Any of the car's that engine was used in have a hydraulic power steering set up? Or do they all pre-date power steering?

It goes into a massive steering box which is about 300 turns lock to lock so the steering load is high but not huge.

If i can get a power column i can just use that to feed into the steering box.

You can get a powersteering box for the 404 but it is like rocking horse poo

[kambites]

I don't see why you shouldn't use an electric column. I believe our Punto's power steering system is simply a motor on the column.

[VxDuncan]

Won't work. Sorry.

You'll need to provide the EPAS unit a shed load of CAN signals before it's happy enough to power up and provide assistance, and then it won't be tuned for you application. Basically you'd need to fool it into thinking it's still fitted to the vehicle, though it may run in a limp home type mode without.

You'd probably be better with one of the after market type systems that don't have these requirements.

Bare in mind that it's a safety critical system unlike a pas pump as it's inlike and can inject it's own column torques (unlike hydralic system where it only amplifies what you put into it). Provide it the wrong signals and may all go horibly wrong, with a normal hydralic system if you loose the PAS pump you still have the basic rack as a backup (ie no assist). This has the potential to really ruin your day.

Don't just cobble something off a donor car, won't work or be safe.


Duncan (chassis applications engineer)

[The Wookie]

I know there are plenty of column conversions for classic cars, including heavy things like yank tanks and such, so it has been done

All you need is something heavy duty enough

[thinfourth2]

VxDuncan said:

Won't work. Sorry.

computer jiggery pokery type stuff

Duncan (chassis applications engineer)

Plan filed in bin

Plan B

Fit bigger steering wheel

[kambites]

thinfourth2 said:

Plan filed in bin

If you hunt on Google, there seem to be a few companies doing aftermarket kits explicitly aimed at this kind of conversion.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

thinfourth2 said:

Plan filed in bin

Plan B

Fit bigger steering wheel

Plan C
Get down the gym and start pumping some iron.

Plan D
Man up.

[Mars]

It's not uncommon for TVR Cerbera owners to consider the replacement of the standard hydraulic system for an electric one from a Citroen (I think) which proves that:

1. You can implement them without the complexity of CAN bus constraints
2. Steering feel isn't terribly ruined (although the Cerb has limited feel anyway)
3. It's not a horribly expensive thing to do.

I didn't have to do it on mine though, so it's not clear to me whether one of those would be suitable for a Unimog but I can't really understand why not. It's just a motor and shouldn't really need to apply more assistance that it does in its normal application given that the Unimog's steering is already geared. It may wear out more quickly given it has to deal with a number of turns but we're talking shades of grey here rather than an outright NOOOOO IT WILL NEVER WORK.

[The Black Flash]

VxDuncan said:

Won't work. Sorry.

Lots of people seem to be putting Corsa ones in Locosts though...

[thinfourth2]

Been looking into it and while some power steering columns need loads of brains the corsa one appears to come with its own brain which makes sense as whatever holds the steering wheel is unlikely to own one. All it needs is an RPM input and a speed input but you can buy a box on fleabay to fool it with fake inputs which gives the extra benefit of you can control the amount of assistance.

So i might buy one and see how it performs, just need to get a 12 V from one battery as everything else on the mog is 24V

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

Plan D
Man up.

What like putting on a leather romper suit and hanging with other men wearing leather romper suits

[Scuffers]

there are a few kit's out there for this, quite a few run the old rover/metro mechanics with either the Rover OEM controller or their custom adjustable one.

know a few people who run them on race cars with good results...they are not over-powerful, but really do make a decent difference to workload for your arms.

[thinfourth2]

Its mostly for the wife should she decide to take it to work

[NHK244V]

Corsa ones seem to be well used on older fords, no idea if it's man enough for your aplication, my experiance is with them on escorts .

[GnuBee]

You can get a complete turn-key electric power steering column solution for a mere £1.5k ->

http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/Motorsport/Brands/DC...

[Scuffers]

that's the one I have seen before, although it was nothing like that much.