Broken tie rod slider and question for Q'on
 

Yesterday, I tried umpteen times to repair a broken tie-rod slider, finally succeeding after about 45 minutes. What a pain in %&#!. You have to be able to turn the car on with power to the servo and kind'a reassemble it at the same time, in order to check that the potentionmeter pin engages/lines up and that the steering works correctly; otherwise you risk the pot pin not being engaged after reassembly and having to start all over.

Q'on, on your rental cars, how often have you had to do this? ...this is my first time having to repair this on any of my 7 cars ....I hope it is not all that common to have to go into that front servo area. Or I need to 20 years younger.

LOL (<-- really laughing out loud) ...its only happened once on a rental car because its normally just from overuse and we don't do that many rentals. it can also happen from driving without the body on and running into something very hard or from taking a really hard hit during a race. it doesn't happen often and it isn't that difficult once you've done it a few times.

once you remove the 'lid' and you remove all the broken pieces (be sure to check for missing teeth on the gears in your servo gear assembly while you're in there), then its just a matter of positioning. if you're aware of where the potentionmeter 'fits' into the tie rod slider, then you know already if you have it right before you close it up. if you'd like to test, just leave the switch 'on' while you're taking it apart, and once you have it installed, place the 'lid' on (without inserting screws), lay the battery on the contacts and let it catch your transmitter signal and test as much as you like before removing the battery and rebuilding your MFA (main frame assembly).

NOTE: i know its a pain in the ass, i've done it MANY times on my own cars & customers' cars - BUT - its better than the alternative of buying a brand new MFA because of a broken steering servo. the tie rod slider and servo gear assembly work together as 'servo savers' and are MUCH cheaper than replacing an MFA. that's the reason i put together the 'Repair Kit' cuz you should always have that and a few other things handy since these are the only items that will occasionally go bad or need to be replaced

...so the answer is that I need to be 20 years younger ...that's what I thought. Xpower should have a part for that? :)

i think you're younger than you claim to be... at least 'at heart' ;) i'm trying to convince them to develop another part i know you'll like. no worries, i'll keep u posted :D

The part (or re-design) that is most needed is the front wheel hubs that are too open and prone to picking up dust and fibers. I know it can be done, because both the old Epoch 1/43 scales and smaller 1/64th that I tested long ago were never this bad in that respect.

Yes, the d'nano is much quicker and thus the wheels rotate faster ...so they pick up dust easier than the Epoch, but with all the clever engineering I've seen from the likes of PN Racing, Atomic, etc. ... someone could figure out a better front hub. And if they did, we could have this type of $200 carpet track ...

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/4...aleprototy.jpg

And then the 1/2 million strong slot car market would finally say ...hmmm, I gon'a try this.

So, if anyone has connections to these aftermarket engineers (and I know some of you do) I really think that this one upgrade/redesign would make a huge difference.