Possible Solution To Steering Inequality!!!

r34 racer · #1 09-23-2003, 08:59 PM

(Please note, that right and left are defined with the rear of the car close to you, and the front of the car farther away)

Ok, i am 80 percent sure i know how to fix the fact that the zzse's turn better to one side than the other. I had my ZZ dissasembled to see if repositioning the rack under the pinion would center the steering so that it would be equal on both sides. AND THIS is what i noticed!

When the bar moves to the right, it's path is uninhibited and it is free to move all the way over so that when the wheels turn right, they move to the fullest. HOWEVER, when the wheels turn to the left, the bar's throw is cut short by contact with the reinforcements around the hole where the left wheel slides into the chassis, and the servo motor stalls and makes a humming noise. My hypothesis is that grinding down the reinforcement on the left wheel insert hole or clipping some of the rack where it hits the left wheel insert hole.

I want to try it but i dont have a hobby knife and my dremel tool is far too inaccurate to do cutting on such a small scale. If anyone can try this out, it would be to the betterment of the ZZ SE community.

Bad Company · #2 09-23-2003, 09:51 PM

Good observation. I have yet to look at this, but I will take a closer look into this and possibly try this out on my project SE tomorrow, too late tonight.

r34 racer · #3 09-23-2003, 09:52 PM

Awesome! Keep us filled in!

Bad Company · #4 09-23-2003, 09:58 PM

To be honest, I only have trouble with one of my SE's. The others have been solved by adjusting the alignment and trim, but this may be a more permanent fix that will still leave me with the option to adjust and tune my steering beyond just centering it.

Fusion · #5 09-24-2003, 01:16 AM

The first se I got made left turns well but turned way wide when trying to turn right. I could not figure this out then noticed that my front left wheel was not spinning smoothly. I broke out the magnifying glass and took a look but could not find anything that would keep it from not spinning properly. I knew that this was the reason for the wide right turns and sharpe left turns any adjustments made to the steering trim on both controler and chassis did not help so I returned the zz SE and the new one RS gave me works great. My second SE works great, but makes that shuttering sound that some peeps talked about in another thread.

Some of you may want to check out to see if you wheels turn the right way also I have read about some peeps having trouble with the left wheels turned while the right one was straight like this.

/===|

Good luck with fixing your zz's for those of you who have problems with them.

I would also like to say that Bad Company your rule dude. Im new here and did a bunch of reading and looking at some of the mods you did to your zz bodys. Nice work!

ripper7777777 · #6 09-24-2003, 10:27 AM

Well for those with steering issues you might want to check out the other forum, I don't want to start trouble here so I'm not gonna name them, but most of you know who I'm talking about.
I had a yellow brick with horrible steering I did the fix that Outcast posted over there and it works great I have 6 to 7 steps in both directions. If you don't like this post tiny, feel free to delete it, I don't ever refer to other forums, but this fix really works and there is a great tutorial with pics pinned, so I'm just trying to help.

atomikplayboy · #7 09-27-2003, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ripper7777777
Well for those with steering issues you might want to check out the other forum, I don't want to start trouble here so I'm not gonna name them, but most of you know who I'm talking about.
I had a yellow brick with horrible steering I did the fix that Outcast posted over there and it works great I have 6 to 7 steps in both directions. If you don't like this post tiny, feel free to delete it, I don't ever refer to other forums, but this fix really works and there is a great tutorial with pics pinned, so I'm just trying to help.

Ripper, for those of us not in the know... WHAT other forums? A link would be great

Thanks,
AP

ripper7777777 · #8 09-27-2003, 03:32 PM

I can't link to it, it's not allowed. The steering fix is in my post Looking for lab rats, the fix is only for people willing to take there car apart. With the fix I get 6 to 7 steps left and right instead of two or three. If you want to know what your car does flip it over and slowly turn the wheel and count each step of movement.

http://www.tinyrc.com/forums/showthr...threadid=13487

and as far as notching the steering, it works on both sides just becareful notching it to far will cause the wheel to hit the chassis. My wheels cut so sharp I can power slide a U-turn.

mcojoc · #9 09-29-2003, 02:05 PM

R34Racer is right!

This is true! With the car facing away from you, if you check the flat gear it has 1 square edge on either side that makes contact with the chassis to stop the flat gear's movement at the end of the steering radius. The one on the left controls the stop during left hand steering, the one on the right controls the stop during right hand steering. I found out why there steering is unequal. The flat gears' steering throw is inhibited due to the steering GEAR BOX sticking out just a bit on the right hand side of the car. If you take the car and turn it over, you'll see a small "bump" of chassis along the right side of the front wheel well (with the car upside down, this is the left side)...

I modified my flat gear by shaving a bit off of the right hand side, and got equal steering in both directions, BUT now the right side tire rubs against the chassis during right turns!

I then took an exacto knife and started to slowly whittle away at the right side wheel well "bump" to allow the tires to spin during a right turn. Turns out this was all by plan! After whittling away a bit of the chassis, you can see the steering gears exposed from the gear box! They needed the extra room to cover the steering gears and took some of the throw out of the steering radius to do it!

The unequal steering is an intentional design flaw!!!

I'll try to post some pictures if you need a visual...

P.S. This has nothing to do with the stutter problem or the lack of equity in the number of steps the car will turn either way, it just has to do with the inequity of servo THROW and steering radius in either direction.

ripper7777777 · #10 09-30-2003, 12:31 AM

If you notch the rack gear you can get your steering back and then some, also the stuttering and step problems are fixed by cutting the bridge on the steering pot.

mcojoc · #11 09-30-2003, 08:29 AM

... I've heard people have centering problems when doing the steering pot wire cut... Anyone here have any comments on that fix and it's effectiveness?

Currently my steering radius is good due to the notch fix and my left hand steering is good, but my right hand steering is just 2 steps. If I could change anything about the car, it would be less sensitive right hand steering.

Will the pot fix give me more steps of steering, or more consistent steering both ways? How reliable and consistent is the fix? How about the center drifting? Anyone?

wild03 · #12 10-07-2003, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ripper7777777
Well for those with steering issues you might want to check out the other forum, I don't want to start trouble here so I'm not gonna name them, but most of you know who I'm talking about.
I had a yellow brick with horrible steering I did the fix that Outcast posted over there and it works great I have 6 to 7 steps in both directions. If you don't like this post tiny, feel free to delete it, I don't ever refer to other forums, but this fix really works and there is a great tutorial with pics pinned, so I'm just trying to help.

I'm curious about this other forum! can you send me a private message? if not I'll send you my e-mail!

thanks