Steering - Tune-Up & Basic Mods

Before you start this "Tune-Up", make sure all your parts are good. Fix loose ball-ends, replace or repair weak servo savers, then go ahead with these steps to tune-up and adjust your steering system:

1. Disconnect the servo arm or servo saver (make sure servo saver is strong)
2. Move wheels by hand, make sure there is no binding
3. Start by equalizing turnbuckle length (as shown above)
4. Adjust pillow balls so that threaded area only is in a-arms (not too deep)
5. Adjust pillow ball caps so no excess play, but NOT binding
6. Set your camber (-1°) by adjusting pillow balls in or out slightly. Also see How to set camber.
7. Now adjust turnbuckles equally to get zero degrees toe
8. With bellcranks at dead straight (see "alignment" pics below), verify that wheels are also straight
9. Adjust turnbuckles as necessary to get wheels and bellcrank BOTH straight
10. Now turn your RX and TX on and set steering to zero trim
11. Now connect the servo to the steering, but be sure to keep the front wheels pointing straight and do not turn the servo either. If the servo saver does not line up, then drill a new hole in the servo saver to mount the arm in the exact position to keep everything straight. This is real easy if you use a big servo saver like the Duratrax servo saver at Tower Hobbies. If you are using the FT kit (or can't drill a hole in the servo saver) then you may want to make an adjustable arm with a short turnbuckle (or piece of threaded rod) and two ball-ends.

Bellcrank Alignment

This is the part you really gotta pay attention to. If you are mis-aligned by even a little bit, then your steering will be limited (on one side) by the ball-end hitting the diff.

		This is the part you really gotta pay attention to. If you are mis-aligned by even a little bit, then your steering will be limited (on one side) by the ball-end hitting the diff.
		This pic shows incorrect alignment. If your wheels are pointing straight and the bellcranks look like this, then you will have unequal steering.

Turnbuckle Equalization

OK, let's address one of the basic issues that a lot of guys notice. That is, your MGT turns better one way than the other. The cause is usually that your turnbuckles are not equal in length. Thus, one of the ball-ends is hitting the diff and limiting the rotation for that side.  So, the first step is to take them off and adjust them so they are equal length, as shown below:

NOTE: The MGT ball-ends are notorious for wearing out fast. Keep a bunch of spares around and replace loose ones!

After you have them set the same, always remember to adjust both equally, to keep them equal length. You need to carefully adjust the alignment and centering of the parts. I had been racing my MGT all summer and thought I was pretty close on the steering adjustment. The I put it on my setup board and got readings that amazed me. My initial readings were as follows:

Left wheel - 20°/20° (total of 40°)
Right wheel - 30°/14° (total of 44°)

Right of the bat I saw a huge problem here, as one side was not turning as much as the other. My left turn ability was way less than the right turn. Funny thing is, I was winning races even being this far off, LOL! I looked underneath and quickly discovered the reason. The ball end was hitting the diff. More particularly, the small washer (which I had put on the ball-end to keep it from popping off) was hitting the diff. Here's a pic:

I started by removing the turnbuckles and equalizing them. Then, when I re-installed them I left off the small washers to let the ball ends get as close as possible to the diff (and it's close, lemme tell ya!). Now, my new measurements were as follows:

Left wheel - 33°/19° (total of 52°)
Right wheel - 33°/17° (total of 50°)

So, you can see I picked up a ton of steering already, just by equalizing the turnbuckles and by fixing a problem that I had created myself (using the small washers).

Bellcrank Bearings

Here's another trick to help with steering. This will smooth out the stock steering bellcranks, use bearings and replace the plastic bushings. The bearings are standard clutch bell bearings (5 x 10  x 4 thick). Here's a link to washers that you can use on top of each bearing: small washers. Here's a pic showing how things go together:

Don't forget to upgrade your servo saver to a really good one. I like the heavy-duty from Duratrax. It's really cheap but does a great job. Duratrax servo saver at Tower Hobbies.  Alternatively, you can use the Factory Team kit.

Factory Team Steering Kit

Modding for More Turning

This section describes the mods necessary to reduce turning radius. There are really three things you need to do:

1. Make a new drag link, moving outer holes outward by about 1/8"
2. Grind relief in knuckles
3. Grind relief in a-arms

You can make a modded drag link out of aluminum stock (about 3/16" thick) and then drill/tap holes, or you can simply use a flat piece of steel about .060" thick. If you use a flat piece of steel, then you need to use nuts on the end of the mounting screws.Next, you need to grind some relief into the front knuckles. You only need to do it on one side of each knuckle, as shown in the pic below. After you grind the knuckles, if you do the "steering tune-up" located below, you will have vastly improved steering. Of course, now you will need a good steering servo!! Don't forget about the a-arms, they will need a little Dremeling also (see pic).

Please forgive all the typos in the pics...............

Your key indicator of how successful you are with this mod, is that the turnbuckles should now be solidly hitting the a-arms on both sides. It's quite possible that you may need a new longer servo saver or servo arm, to increase the throw as you will now have more rotation. This is why a good servo is so important.

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