Steering Hydraulic Cylinder Manufacturer

All cylinders are tested at 1.5 times the rated pressure before delivery.
MOQ starts from 1 piece and the lead time is 7-10 days.
We provide technical review and quotation based on your drawings and working conditions.

Brands We Serve in Hydraulic Industry

Steering Hydraulic Cylinder

Steering hydraulic cylinders are usually installed on tractors, forklifts, mining dump trucks and other equipment. When working, hydraulic oil pushes the piston rod to extend and retract. It pulls the tie rod to turn the wheels left or right, so the vehicle can steer.

Hydrofroce chooses cylinder parts based on the actual working conditions. For low to medium pressure, we use 20# steel. For high pressure and heavy load, we use 27SiMn low-alloy structural steel. After quenching and tempering, its tensile strength can reach 800–1000 MPa and hardness 250–300 HB. The cylinder tube won’t deform under high-pressure impact, so the cylinder keeps working steadily in heavy-duty jobs. We can also choose materials based on your needs.

We use boring and honing to control the inner bore roughness to Ra 0.2–0.4 μm. This makes the inner wall smooth and reduces friction between the piston and the cylinder tube. We can customize hydraulic cylinders to integrate your equipment.

Your Reliable Supplier of Steering Hydraulic Cylinder

Hydroforce have rich experience in custom steering hydraulic cylinders. We’ve served customers in agricultural machinery, forklifts, mining trucks, and other equipment. We once made replacement steering cylinders for an open-pit mining client. Before production, we analyzed the actual working environment of their equipment. Their machines should ran on gravel haul roads for long hours. Flying stones easily scratched the piston rod, causing oil leaks and affects the equipment.

We carefully select piston rod materials with thick hard chrome plating. Its surface hardness reaches HV900~1050 for good wear and scratch resistance. After installation and testing, no new dents formed on the piston rod.

Steering Hydraulic Cylinder Types

Double Rod Steering Cylinder

A double-ended steering cylinder is a type of hydraulic steering cylinder. It has piston rods on both sides of the piston. The piston has equal effective pressure areas on both sides. With the same oil pressure, push and pull forces are nearly equal for balanced two-way motion. This makes it suitable for special vehicles that need the same steering force on both sides.

Front Wheel Steering Cylinder

A front-wheel steering cylinder is also a type of steering hydraulic cylinder. It is mounted on the front axle or frame, usually use a clevis or ball joint mounting methods. This mounting lets the cylinder swing with the steering knuckle arm during steering. It lowers side load and helps prevent cylinder damage.

Articulated Steering Cylinder

Articulated steering cylinder is a type of hydraulic steering cylinder. It is fitted between the front and rear frames. When the piston rod extends or retracts, it pushes the frames to pivot around the hinge pin, so the machine changes direction. This kind of steering doesn’t turn the front wheels. Instead, the machine bends in the middle to turn. That makes turning more flexible, and it works great on large construction machines like loaders and graders.

Steering Hydraulic Cylinder Features

Strong Lateral Force Resistance

When a vehicle is moving, the side force on the tires is passed to the steering cylinder, it bears lateral force. That's why steering cylinders usually use a larger piston rod and a thicker cylinder tube than normal hydraulic cylinders. This improves their ability to handle side loads. Even if there is some side load during steering, the cylinder can still run steadily.

Double-Acting Design

Most steering cylinders are double-acting. Oil can flow into both sides of the piston. By switching the oil inlet with a directional valve, the piston rod extends or retracts, power force in both directions. This perfectly meets the vehicle’s need to turn left and right.

Various Installation Ways

Steering cylinders need to be mounted on the steering axle, frame, and steering knuckle arm. But different manufacturers and different equipment use different mounting interfaces. That’s why steering cylinders have many mounting styles. Common types include double clevis, ball joint, trunnion, flange and threaded end. They can fit different equipment.

Steering Hydraulic Cylinder

Applications of Steering Hydraulic Cylinder

Articulated Steering for Wheel Loader

Steering hydraulic cylinders are used in the articulated steering system of wheel loaders. When hydraulic oil enters the working chamber to pushes the piston rod out, it pushes the piston rod out and pulls the frame to swing around the hinge point. When the piston rod retracts, it pulls the frame to swing the other way, so the loader can turn left and right. The cylinder has a thick-walled barrel and a large bore. It can deliver enough steering force, allowing car turn easily even when the loader is fully loaded.

Forklift Rear Axle Steering

Steering hydraulic cylinders are used in the rear axle steering system of forklifts. The cylinder is mounted inside the forklift’s rear axle frame, the both ends connected to the steering arm and the frame. High-pressure oil pushes the piston rod to extend and retract, swinging the steering arm left and right to turn the rear wheels.

Mining Dump Truck Steering

Steering cylinders are used in the steering system of mining dump trucks. High-pressure oil pushes the piston rod to extend and retract. This pulls the steering tie rod to drives the wheel knuckle, making the front wheels swing left and right to turn the vehicle. The cylinder barrel is made of 27SiMn steel with tensile strength ≥980MPa. It can resist deformation under high-pressure impact, keeping the steering system working reliably.

Marine Rudder System

The steering cylinder is used in the ship's steering gear system, and it's installed in the steering gear room at the stern. High-pressure oil enters the oil chamber and pushes the piston rod out. It pushes and pulls the tiller to rotate the rudder blade, changing the water flow ‘s force direction to control the ship’s direction. The cylinder has a hydraulic lock, so once the direction is set, it locks the rudder blade firmly in place and keeps the ship on course.

Road Roller Steering

Steering hydraulic cylinders are used in the steering system of road rollers. Pressurized oil drives the piston rod to extend and retract. It pulls the front and rear frames to rotate around the hinge point, so the road roller can turn left and right. There's a cushioning device inside the cylinder, it can start and stop without any impact. This stops steering shake that will damage the road surface, making sure the paved surface stays flat and even.

Warehouse Logistics Vehicle

Steering hydraulic cylinders are used in the steering system of warehouse logistics vehicles. The cylinder is mounted on the steering mechanism of the chassis. Through hydraulic oil flows into the cylinder chamber and drives the piston rod in and out, to turn the rear wheels and lets the vehicle make turns, straighten out, and so on. The hydraulic drive is fast, so the operator just needs to press a button that the vehicle steers easily to go pick up goods.

Impact occurs when steering cylinder hits dead end

Ordinary steering cylinders will hit the end cap when the piston moves to the end. For long time, this will damage cylinder parts and shortens service life. The reason is that there is no cushioning at the end of the cylinder, so the piston still has speed when it reaches the end and hits the head hard.

We will fit buffer springs at the cylinder bottom or guide sleeve. When the piston nears the stroke end, it touches the spring first. The spring takes the impact and slows the piston down, so it stops smoothly instead of hitting the cylinder head directly. This reduces the impact force and protects the seals, the cylinder head, and the steering mechanism.

Insufficient steering power of equipment

Seals will wear out after long time of repeated movement, which causes internal leakage in the cylinder. When internal leakage happens, high-pressure oil flows from the high-pressure chamber to the low-pressure chamber. The pressure keeps leaking away, so there is not enough force to push the piston. The cylinder’s output force drops, and the equipment appear weak steering.

Our cylinders use a precision honing process that keeps the inner wall roughness at Ra≤0.4μm. This means that when the piston rod moves back and forth, the smooth wall will not scratch the seals, so seal wear is greatly reduced. Every cylinder goes through a high-pressure holding test before delivery. The test will check whether seals leak under continuous high pressure to find internal leakage problem early. This ensure stable, reliable steering force.