hydraulic rock crawler?????

[98XJSport]

At some point I saw one of the 4x4 shows with a rig that used plow hydrolics instead of shocks. He was able to raise and lower each corner independantly, keeping the vehicle level and all corners on the ground while he wheeled. But he hit the wrong lever and instead of lowering the front, he raised it and flipped the rig over backwards...

 

[XJFETISH]

You know just buy a M1 abrams, they are hydraulic drive and then not only will you be able to get up it you could shoot anybody that gets in your way. Anyway back to being serious. Just run individual hydraulic motors and about 300 feet of line a huge pump powered by a diesel and two stick controls. You can get all of the stuff quite cheap and then build from the motors up.

 

[alky350]

i know of someone in phoenix who used the hydrualics from a parking lot sweeper. he also used the motor. all this into a cherokee.

 

[JEONLYEP]

I've thought about it, four motors two pumps. Pump one drives front left and right rear wheel, pump two front right, rear left. The power will go to the wheel of least resistance. One pump would be almost useless, lift one tire, and then no go. Two pumps running one to the front one to the rear, would be like having open diffs. Two pumps running the left and right would be slightly better than one pump for all 4, but not by much. Get really flexed, and there is little to no weight on tires on opposite corners. Meaning that the tires that have the weight won't have the power. With two pumps going to opposite corners one pump will always be powering the wheels that have the weight on them. Unless you're on two wheels, each on the same side of the vehicle.

4 wheel independent suspension, I found wheel adapters for 5 on 5.5 or 5 on 4.5. Fit some disks on there, easy. The steering would be full hydro, and a bit more tricky. Weight, I don't think would be as much of a concern. You wouldn't have a transmission, t-case, or axles. A stock 4.0 would be plenty to power a set up like this.

But I could be making this all up....

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[lostNdallas]

If you have a flow divider, then all four wheels get the same flow no matter what. That means all four wheels turn the same rpm all the time, unless you get servo controlled variable flow motors but that complicates things needlessly IMO. Brakes aren't much of a concern since flow control will speed up, slow down, or reverse the rotation as much as desired and valving could be configured to hydraulically lock the wheels.

The idea of using an existing skid steer drive is workable but adds a lot to a system that doesn't really need it. The street sweeper system sounds good though.

In the end, the components for a full custom spec'd hydro drive system wouldn't be prohibitively expensive compared to the structural fab needed to make one work effectively. A custom tube frame would be the easiest to work with, and maybe an XJ body over the top just to give it some flair