steering and fail save problems (newbbie)

[www.bigun.serverbox.org]

hi all
about six months ago i bought a thunder tiger SSK 4wd truck.
now after using it about 6 or 7 times i noticed that the steering was not as
good as it used to be.
i have just taken it off the shelve to check it out and get it ready for
the summer..
I have found the problem with the steering in that the balljoints are very
stiff and do not allow the joints to move freely thus the servo will not
move the steering more than about 1/8th of the turning circle,,,,i have
tried to use 3 in 1 oil and wd40 to no avail..... ,,, Any one know if
there is anything i can do to free these up, or have i got the replace all
the stiff joints,,,i dont want to replace all the bits if i dont have to as
i have to order the bits and they normally take two or three weeks to arrive

my second problem is to do with the failsafe

after turning the power on ,,the light on the failsafe blinks on and off as
it should do,,,But the servo will not move,,, i have taken out the failsafe
and the serveo works fine,, is there any way of checking out the output from
the failsafe ?? i know that the red and black wires are the power, and these
have power comming out and going to the serveo but can i check the white
wire ??what is the white wire for and what do it do ??

Any help is welcome as i would love to get the truck ready and working again

[Chris Dugan]

The question I would ask is why are the steering joints tight? have they
rusted or are they gunked up with exhaust residue?. Just pop them off and
give them a good clean with nitro fuel to remove any exhaust residue and
polish to remove rust if needed, if they are still tight gently squeeze them
with a pair of pliers until they are loose enough to rock from side to side
with just finger pressure on the pushrods.

You may also need to align the balljoints i.e. straighten them up on the
balls so they can move freely and aren't sat tight against anything such as
the hub carriers.

For the failsafe you are correct about the wiring on the red and black wires
they are just power wires, the white wire is the signal that goes from the
RX to the servo. To check it make sure the RX battery is fully charged and
then switch on the TX first then RX to check normal operation, then turn off
the TX and the servo will move to the failsafe position, adjust the output
via the pot in the failsafe, if it makes no difference when turned then it's
probably dead.

If the balljoints are rusted and failsafe are toast after 6 months then you
probably didn't clean the car before storing it or it was stored somewhere
damp so there could be other hidden damage such as rust inside the engine
bearings or other damage to the radio gear so take it easy with the truck
when you get it running.

Chris

[www.bigun.serverbox.org]

"Chris Dugan" <chrisdotdugan@bloodyobvious.co.uk> wrote in message
news:wOZ%d.2336$Xq6.472@newsfe5-gui.ntli.net...
> The question I would ask is why are the steering joints tight? have they
> rusted or are they gunked up with exhaust residue?. Just pop them off and
> give them a good clean with nitro fuel to remove any exhaust residue and
> polish to remove rust if needed, if they are still tight gently squeeze
them
> with a pair of pliers until they are loose enough to rock from side to
side
> with just finger pressure on the pushrods.
>
> You may also need to align the balljoints i.e. straighten them up on the
> balls so they can move freely and aren't sat tight against anything such
as
> the hub carriers.
>
> For the failsafe you are correct about the wiring on the red and black
wires
> they are just power wires, the white wire is the signal that goes from the
> RX to the servo. To check it make sure the RX battery is fully charged and
> then switch on the TX first then RX to check normal operation, then turn
off
> the TX and the servo will move to the failsafe position, adjust the output
> via the pot in the failsafe, if it makes no difference when turned then
it's
> probably dead.
>
> If the balljoints are rusted and failsafe are toast after 6 months then
you
> probably didn't clean the car before storing it or it was stored somewhere
> damp so there could be other hidden damage such as rust inside the engine
> bearings or other damage to the radio gear so take it easy with the truck
> when you get it running.
>
> Chris
>
>

thanks chriss

the problem with the steering started befor i stored it for the winter
(xmas)
the joints are clean with no rust anywhere on the truck,, it has been stored
in my bedroom all the time,,
i popped all the joints out of their housings and cleaned them,, but still
no luck,, it is just on one side..
all the alinements are as strait as they can be,, is it possible that the
plastic (of whatever the joints are made of) could have altered in some whay
and contracted around the metal joints?

[Chris Dugan]

> thanks chris
>
> the problem with the steering started befor i stored it for the winter
> (xmas)
> the joints are clean with no rust anywhere on the truck,, it has been
stored
> in my bedroom all the time,,
> i popped all the joints out of their housings and cleaned them,, but still
> no luck,, it is just on one side..
> all the alinements are as strait as they can be,, is it possible that the
> plastic (of whatever the joints are made of) could have altered in some
whay
> and contracted around the metal joints?
>
>
Yep if the joints are made of nylon it can contract and expand depending on
the moisture present in the air and depending on temperature, so if they are
tight just gently squeeze them with pliers. Don't forget to disconnect the
servo from the linkage to check the steering rack as well as that can be
another prime candidate for tightness.

If the steering is stiff with the trackrods disconnected then the problem
lies in the hubs, strip and clean out anything there as you did for the
balljoints. If you're going to start doing that you might as well strip the
rest of the suspension as well to check for any bent pivot pins or cracks in
the wishbones. Don't bother with dismantling the shocks just check that they
compress evenly and don't get tight at any point that usually means a bent
shock shaft.

The easy way to check for tight suspension is to remove the wheels and
shocks, prop the chassis up and see how easily the suspension drops under
its own weight. It shouldn't need any help to reach the limits of its
movement, if it does then dismantle the suspension on that corner and work
out what is bent or broken.

Chris

P.S. I didn't notice earlier but now I've cut our crossposts to relevant
groups it's called netiquette, try to keep to one or two at most. Some
people will have a go at you as well for it as they get really pi**ed off.

[Annon User]

The white wire has a 1-2 ms pulse every 20 ms