help

[Northy]

How about trying to repair the chassis with Araldite or something similar? I wouldn't remove material from the chassis and weaken it if it was me.

G

[chris burgess]

If you have removed material from that area of the chassis, maybe you can get another steering link and glue the new one to the original one?

You may have to remove more material from the chassis, but if you are careful this solution should work, and I don't think it will significantly reduce strength in the chassis in this area, but one very big head on crash might prove me wrong!

[bigboss]

Rcdave stop!!!!
That idea with the bolt from the top and a nut to secure it from the bottom just ... well ....sucks. Stop what you're doing and think about it a minute. What Northy said is spot on, removing material from the chassis is the last thing to do, it would only weaken the chassis in the one place it is the weakest already(I've seen one break & thats exactly where they break).
To fix your chassis just zoom in on the area you mucked up, I.E. the slotted area that the stainless link slides through(on both sides of the chassis), either by using epoxy of some kind
( Araldite, as per Northy's suggestion ) or, and this just came to me, by gluing a piece of alloy on the inside of the chassis & use it to narrow the width of the slot, that way the stainless link can rest on top of the glued alloy piece(it might work, you never know. also the wear will be to the alloy not the link).
peace man.

[rcdave]

I am so confused now. I figured I already messed up the chassis and instead of spending the money on a new one, I would just dremel a bit more to try and fix it. If it breaks, I still have to buy a new one, no big deal as I should have just spent the money in the first place to fix my mistake.
I have never had a steering system like this before, so just wanted to make sure there would be no binding and made the hole a wee bit bigger.

Not sure I want to try the epoxy idea, as I would have to make sure everything was lined up perfect to make sure it didn't bind.

Besides my stupid mistake makes it easier for me to justify the new graphite chassis when it comes out.

thanks

[rcdave]

Thanks again for all the help guys. Had the car out for it's first real run and it worked great. Had a little problem with some of the bumps but the car worked good.
Rebuilt the diffs using associated diff grease and thread lock and its seems much better. Will have to check them again after I clean it up. Will put a drop of glue on the diff nut just to make sure they stay tight if it is still tight.
Bought a longer 2.5 mm bolt and sum nuts to fix my steering problem. Just ran the bolt through and put a couple of nuts on top. Had to cut the chassis a little, but cheaper than buying a new one right now.
I got a pack and a half through the car before I broke it.
Took one of the jumps going the wrong way and got tons of air. Looked great so I tried it a few more times, until it came down hard on the rear wing (and because I have a post between the 2 wing mounts) broke both wing mounts off.
Also broke a ball joint that hold the front arm to the hub at the bottom.
Bought some spare parts but not these, so will have to wait until later in the week to rebuild and try it again.

David

[chris burgess]

Hi Dave - glad you have got your car sorted now. as you have found out, it can be a very frustrating car to own, but it is also very very rewarding to own, in both terms of outright performance and race winning ability.

As you have found out, the car performs and jumps exceptionally well and becomes very addictive when you have learned how to jump it. The down side being eventually it will break! (Don't they all )

I would recommend that you make sure you have the following spares in your pit box

front gearbox top
front hubs
rear lower wishbone
crash pins
delrin steering shoulders
those little metal spacers that go between the front hub and the top wishbone

It may seem like a big list, but it's not a lot financially, and it will ensure you can race all day, and you probably have more spares for your other cars anyway.

[rcdave]

admin said:

I would recommend that you make sure you have the following spares in your pit box

front gearbox top
front hubs
rear lower wishbone
crash pins
delrin steering shoulders
those little metal spacers that go between the front hub and the top wishbone

What are the crash pins (body clips?) and delrin steering shoulders.

Thanks

[chris burgess]

the crash pins are the little plastic steel [ahem] lugs that you push into the front gearbox top, and then mount your top wishbone to.

the delrin steering shoulders are the little bushes that go between the stainless steering link and the metal steering arms. (the bushes that you have most likely screwed into to repair your steering.)

[Northy]

The crash pins are steel Chris....

G

[chris burgess]

a minor detail graham!

[darren]

I bumped into Dave today at a local track, (ETOC) and looked over his pred. As many of us may have suspected, I found where the problem lied, lack of instructions! Anyhow, I have fixed his car and drove it a bit (a bit more dialed than mine on the grass too!). So, all is said and done!

[chris burgess]

well that's good news from a messy start!

lets hope the pred keeps on good form for him, and he starts to whip your ass! ;D

[darren]

He still needs some help learing to drive the pred. more aggressively before he can really unleash it though.

[rcdave]

I have to make sure that I don't ever beat Darren or he will never help me set it up again. LOL

After Darren went over my car and fixed up the small problems I had when building it, the car handled so differently (being 10 times smoother) that I had problems driving it.

All I can still say about this car is WOW. Can't wait to put more track time in with it.

P.S. Thanks again for all your help Darren, but if you never let me drive yours in the first place, I would never have gone out and bought one. Try it once, and you are hooked for life.

Thanks everybody for all of your help. Like Darren said the majority of my problems arose from not following the directions (or lack of) correctly. All is fixed now, and car is awesome.