Need a hydro Setup For an 86 s-10...

[TopElement]

Yeah I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to setup hydros on my 86 s10 front end?

[EyePoppin]

Quote: Originally Posted by TopElement

Yeah I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to setup hydros on my 86 s10 front end?

you want it... you got it...

FRONT INSTALL



First thing you need to do is jack your truck up and put it on jack stands. Take your wheel off. Now undo the front suspension (Note- This will be a good time to do your spindles if you want to), unbolt the bottom mount for the shock, and push the shock up through the L.C.A. (Lower control arm). Take off tie rod, (Note: this is not needed but it will make your life a lot easier). Loosen up the top ball joint nut an the lower ball joint nut. Put a jack under the L.C.A. so when the tension thatis on the spring gives it doesn’t break anything, either hit the top of the lower ball joint with a hammer or use a pickle fork to loosen the lower ball joint. Once the spring tension is released, lower the jack, and take it out. The lower control arm will now pivot down. Take out the coil and keep. Undo the top nut on the shock and remove the shock. Use a 1 7/8 hole saw and put the guide bit in the old shock mount hole. After that is drilled out, take your 8” cylinder and put a 90 degree fitting on it (Make sure you Teflon tape the threads on the fitting), slide a donut over the top of the cylinder. Then take a cup and the 9/16 bolt and bolt it to the bottom of the cylinder (The Ram). Then take your stock spring and cut it so there is 2 fill coils. Take the cylinder with the cup on the bottom and slide it through the hole in the frame, then put the spring on the bottom of the cup and align it into the L.C.A. spring pocket. Lift up the LCA and start threading the nut on the ball joint. Re-attach your tie rod if you un-bolted it. Everything should be set back in place. Tighten down all the nuts that you took off and replace the cotter pins that are in them.



Do the same for the other side and the front of your truck is 95% done.



REAR INSTALL



I am going to explain how to do a notch, bridge, and cylinder over the axle setup. Keep in mind there is many different types of setups you can do. There is Cantilevers, levers, torsion bar setups, and even Hydro – Air setups. This is the most basic setup for beginners.



Take off your bed. If you need me to specify, installing hydros is not for you. If you bought a notch kit this is where your life just became easy, if not you will have to make your own notch. Take the 2x3 steel that you bought and cut 4, 8 inch pieces out of it, grind all the ends smooth, and make sure you go up the side of the steel a little because it that is where you will be welding. At the frame, about 2 inches to the back and 2 inches to the front, cut a piece 3” wide out of there (only cut the top of the frame, back to the frame side, then cut the whole piece out so you have a slot to put the 2x3 steel). Grind all the undercoating off the frame in that area. Slide one of the 8”pieces of 2x3 steel down into the slots and weld in place. Do the same on both sides, so now you will have 4 8” pieces of steel sticking out of your frame. Measure from 1 side to the other side. Cut another piece of 2x3 to that size and weld it on the top. Now you can round the edges or whatever you want to do and cap them off with flat stock. Now is a good time to get rid of the stock cross member in the back, Also now you will be able to cap off the frame where the notch is so you will not be able to see it in there. Now you have a notch. Measure from one side to the other for the bridge. Cut a piece of 2x3 that long and weld it in-between the 2 notches. Make sure it is directly over the axle. Use 2 Levels to make sure it is right. Take your 1 7/8 steel tubing and cut a 2 pieces about 2 inches out of it. Weld those to 2 donuts so you have two pieces. Grind the under coat off of your axle. If you are going to run power balls, take a piece of C channel and place your power balls on it. Cut a piece that is just a little bigger then the power ball, weld the piece of C channel to the axle. Then weld the power ball to the C channel (note, make sure the grease zerts are facing the rear of the truck) (Also, you can do this part before you put your bridge on if you want to, it does not matter what order you do the steps in). Take your cylinder and screw it on to the power ball. Pull the cylinder up so it hits the bottom of the bridge (do this on both sides), trace around the cylinder with a marker, then drill with the same 1 7/8 drill bit through both sides of the bridge. Take the 2 modified donuts you already made above and slide them down the top of the cylinder. Now we are on to springs. You can get mini coils from any place that you get your kit from, what I have found works great and is a lot cheaper then getting mini coils is go to a junkyard and get the rear coils out of an Honda Accord, Honda Civic CRX, or VW Fox and use them. You may have to make a couple of cuts to get them the right size but I believe u need to have 5 full turns of the coil and that is just fine. Put the coil on top of the donut then put the cylinder through the hole you cut (you may have to jack up the rear end of the truck). Take a 90 degree fitting, Teflon tape the threads and screw that into each cylinder. The rear is done, but before you go and start hopping your truck, you have to cut your bed. Cut out the section that is in-between the wheel wells, the whole section. Now you can re-install your bed.



HOSES



Now that the big parts of the system are done you are onto the easy stuff. When you order your kit ask them for the 3 ft and the 4 ft for the rear and in stead of the 2 15 footers for the front if you can get 2 12 footers 1 2 footer and 1 4 footer. You may have to pay more but it will save you in the long run in trying to find a local place that will cut your hoses and it cleans up your bed. If you do end up getting the 2 15 footers, you can just run them through the hole that is in the bed that is just fine.



If they are not already there, take 4 other 90 degree fittings and attach them to the sides of the pump make sure to Teflon tape the threads. Attach the 3 footer hose and the 4 footer hose to one of the pumps, that pump is now your back pump. Then do the same for the front pump, take the hoses, attach to the 90’s on the pump, then if you have 15 foot hoses, just feed them through the hole and down the frame to the front of the truck, and attach to the front cylinders. If you order 2 12 footers, a 2 footer and a 4 footer, also order 2 #6 bulk head fittings. Drill a hole on each side of the bed by the edge with a drill bit that is slightly larger then the threads on the fitting. Slide the fitting down and tighten the nut on the bottom of it. Then attach your 12 foot hose to the bottom of the fitting and run it up the frame to the front cylinder. Attach your 2 + 4 foot hoses to the sides they will fit best on, i.e. if you are using a pump on the left hand side of the truck, run the 4 footer hose from the right side of the truck to the pump. Make sure you secure the hoses under the truck, you can use hose fasteners or even nylon “zip” ties to secure them to the frame.



PUMP RACK



Here are instructions on how to make the easiest pump rack. Get 2’ of C channel steel and 6’ of 1x1x1/8 angle iron. Place your pumps on the C channel and mark off where the holes on the bottom of the pump are. Drill the holes and bolt the pumps down. Take your 1x1 angle and cut it and fit it around the bottom of the batteries. Flip the front side around so the bottom lip doesn’t tuck under the battery, this will be how you bolt the pump rack down to the bed. Tack weld it in place, then pick up the battery and fully weld the sides of the angle. Then weld the battery trays to the C channel. Drill a hole in the front of the pump rack (you can do 1 hole or 2) and then bolt the rack to the bed.

[EyePoppin]

ELECTRICAL WIRING



I am going to explain a 24 volt 1 bay system. This is the easiest to set up. You will need your 2 batteries, cable (4AWG or Bigger), and the ends for the wire. After placing your batteries in the battery trays, take your emergency disconnect (you will need to put ends on 2 pieces of wire, it is not hard to see how to do it), and bolt it down to the front of the bed with one of the bolts that hold the pump rack down. Then take the other end and attach it to the Negative post of the first battery (Leave the disconnect – Disconnected). Make another piece of wire that will go from the positive post on the same battery as the Emergency Disconnect, to the negative terminal on the other battery leave enough room for the ends to be put on. Put the ends on and attach it. Place 4 solenoids in pairs of 2 wherever you would like. You can buy a connector for the 2 solenoids at any store (Home Depot, Menards, Lowes ETC), Connect he 2 solenoids together, then screw them down to the bed. Make a piece of wire that will go from the positive on the 2nd battery to each pair of solenoids (Side posts), so you will have 2 wires coming from the 2nd battery positive terminal. Put the ends on the wire and attach them to the side post of the solenoid. Then on the other side post on the solenoid, make a wire that goes from there to the post on the pump, put the ends on the wires and attach the wire. Now all that needs to be done is hooking up the switch box.



The Pre-wired switch box that came with the kit will have a 9 wire cord coming out of the back of it. It will also come with instructions. Colors = function. I.E. Red – Power ETC. Follow the instructions. Make sure to drill a hole through the bed and cab and put grommets on the holes to get the switch box into the cab. If you need to wire your own switches see the link here to 10 switch box wiring. Remember that switch boxes are 24Volt so it will need to be hooked up where the 2 cables come off the 2nd battery and to the solenoids. TIP – On the instruction sheet it says front pump, rear pump. That wire is what you connect to the solenoids for each side. It is the (S) post on top of the solenoids. You will need to connect to both (S) posts on the solenoids, so just make a jumper wire from one to the other.



You need to ground your dumps now. I do not recommend this but it worked fine for me on numerous occasions, just undo the 2 bolts that hold on the tank and ground your pumps there. It keeps everything clean.



FILLING AND PURGING LINES



Fill up the tank on your pump and hook up the emergency disconnect. Have your switch box in your hand and the directions (the directions will tell you what switch is what). Hit the switch for the front pump, just tap it down that let it go back to the middle, you will hear your pimp make a ZOOOP sound. Keep Hitting it like that until you see the front of the vehicle starting to move up. Keep hitting the switch until u see the front stop moving up, then push the switch the other way, you will hear bubbling in the tank, hit the switch again and the front will start moving up. Go to the front cylinder fitting and loosen it just a bit, you will see fluid coming out, good sign, tighten up the fitting and do the same for the other side. Now do the same switch movements for your rear, you will see the rear starting to lift up, lift it up all the way then dump it, then lift it just a little and purge the lines. Dump the vehicle all the way down and re-fill the tanks. Make sure to leave some room in there do not fill all the way to the top. Now you can adjust your slow down valves so your vehicle dumps slower / faster.



MISC TIPS



Now you can paint all the steel and make everything look pretty. When your vehicle starts to lift slow, it is time to re-charge the batteries. Just get 2 12 volt chargers and charge the batteries with a 2 amp charge. If you go with a Street charger, those are easy to hook up too, just follow the instructions that come with the unit.



Changing oil + seals – I had my system for 4 years and I never changed my oil / seals. I would recommend changing the cylinder seals every 5 years and changing the fluid every 3.

[TopElement]

Dude///i dont even know how to thank you. I didnt need the rear install though itsgot a 88 for ranger rear on it...before people ask./...We took a 88 ford ranger and an 86 S10 and well...put them together....Looks good. Body is mint 350 will be in there in no time...

[EyePoppin]

There ya go...

[BuiltNotBought99]

nice explanation EYEPOPPIN

[cruzinlowrider]

dont forget if you go down low in the front. LIKE MINE... Then you have to put a notch in the upper control arm so it don't hit the cylinder shaft case.

[Deez10]

I got a couple of questions but let me tell you what I wanna do.
I plan to hop my 10 and it will rolling on 15s so I don't gotta get the spedo messed with. 3 pumps with 2 to the front. I know about reinforcing the frame, but do you use the stock spindles in the front or do you use lowered ones? Also out back I want to run a 3 link but due to the cash flow I might use a mono leaf. Will it lay out nicely (the frame don't gotta lay on the ground)?
Any input would be appreciated.

[cruzinlowrider]

I dont have drop spindles in mine but they would make it lower so I guess you'd be able to use more spring.

[haktup]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deez10

I got a couple of questions but let me tell you what I wanna do.
I plan to hop my 10 and it will rolling on 15s so I don't gotta get the spedo messed with. 3 pumps with 2 to the front. I know about reinforcing the frame, but do you use the stock spindles in the front or do you use lowered ones? Also out back I want to run a 3 link but due to the cash flow I might use a mono leaf. Will it lay out nicely (the frame don't gotta lay on the ground)?
Any input would be appreciated.

Yeah should go pretty low just like that but if you are going to hop it make sure to get good springs. and I suggest wires the hold up better when hopping.

[biglove]

Quote: Originally Posted by haktup

Yeah should go pretty low just like that but if you are going to hop it make sure to get good springs. and I suggest wires the hold up better when hopping.

and wrap the frame unless you want shit to brake