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THEWILD1

realy bad bump steer

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I was always wondered why the Bear Hawk got such a bad rap' it look cool? so after picking one up to rebuild and use as a summer runner I discovered something real worrying... bump steer!

I know most models have it but jinkies this thing has it bad!

Im using upgrade shocks but they are exacetly the same length so it still has the same ride height as before.

now when I got this thing it had no servo saver so I picked up a servo saver set that apparently came with the original kit' but after umpteen combinations it still has the same outcome!

Now as I said' I gonna run this thing and I understand a dynamic machine it aint but I would like some degree of control over the steering when it hits the bumps.

Being the same machine as the Blitzers' do they have the same problem? I noticed they dont ride as high and have shorter dampers, can anyone shed some light before I step on this thing, jump camp and go HPI or something! :o

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Nature of the beast, i'm afraid. Doesn't seem to affect performance too badly. You can flip the steering knuckles over so the balls are on the underside, and that helps a little, but then you lose some steering throw.

If you think that one is bad, you should see a Hotshot...

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Never really looked at my Blitzers but you are right.

On the Hot Shot the bump steer is bad but is a negative bump steer which doesn't hurt too much. How ever the Blizer is a positive bump steer which is really bad. Maybe that's why the standard front shocks are limited in throw to reduce the bump steer.

Will look into that soon but in saying that I'm quite happy with the performance of my Blitzers.

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Never really looked at my Blitzers but you are right.

On the Hot Shot the bump steer is bad but is a negative bump steer which doesn't hurt too much. How ever the Blizer is a positive bump steer which is really bad. Maybe that's why the standard front shocks are limited in throw to reduce the bump steer.

Will look into that soon but in saying that I'm quite happy with the performance of my Blitzers.

Great info, but what is negative bump steer ? Does negative bump steer cause toe in or out ? Which is better ? Google isn't helping me on this one.

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flipping the steering arms as said helps . however mounting the steering servo centrally so you have equal length steering links helps too . i have also found that having adjustable top links helps so you can dial in some camber makes a little improvement but its trial and error to get it set up to your own driving style .

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As Bromvw said... a simple swap and flip of the steering arms gets rid of 70-80% of the bump steer.. I've actually still got my Stadium Blitzer stock atm as I don't really mind it to much, it is a thrasher anyway but I do intend to flip the steering on my next chassis project of this type.

K

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I have just finished rebuild a blitzer into a bearhawk and accidentally had the steering arms upside down ,gotta say the turning circle was bad....

I think front tires also don't help the cause ,the original ones were too skinny ,this rebuild I have used a wheel and tire set off a dt02 buggy and it does ok for an old bus especially with a bz powering it too ,need to fine tune the shocks as there is too much squat in the rear and I may soften up the front a tad but as it has been said before its all trial and error ,after all it is a 24 year old chassis setup....

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So what is negative bump steer ? Is that when the effect of bump or compressing the front suspension causes toe in or toe out ? Cheers

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Thommo.. its my understanding that negative bump steer is Toe IN ... when both wheels flex into the chassis.. this is negative. Positive bump steer such as the Blitzer chassis has is toe OUT ... means that both wheels turn OUT away from the chassis. What this means for handling is that negative bump steer causes cars to 'dig in' when under full compression and cause a possible ******* over face flip ... Positive bump steer is like when you stand on ice and both feet try to go opposite each other and you slide.. you loose direction control for a second and your rear will slide out.

Id rather have my rear sliding out then do a face plant to be honest so if I have to have bump steer I'll take positive any day :)

K

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Thanks K !

That's exactly what I'm interested in and it was post #3 above that got me thinking. Mad Racer's call was that negative bump steer was OK and positive is really bad.

Still interested to know if anyone else has opinion or knowledge on this. I'm actually setting up the front end on an Egress so 4WD in particular.

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Mad Racer's call is dead on from a track point of view. Negative bump steer as a rule will keep the car going in a straight line on landing after a jump... but it will always make the car front heavy and give a huge amount of steering bite. I personally prefer my cars to be a little loose and have a wee bit of drift and as such don't mind a bit of positive bump steer :D

The blitzer chassis will always suffer from this, however its still an amazing bit of kit and very robust so im more than willing to forgive its slight design flaws. I just wish it had more option parts :)

K

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Mad Racer's call is dead on from a track point of view. Negative bump steer as a rule will keep the car going in a straight line on landing after a jump... but it will always make the car front heavy and give a huge amount of steering bite. I personally prefer my cars to be a little loose and have a wee bit of drift and as such don't mind a bit of positive bump steer :D

The blitzer chassis will always suffer from this, however its still an amazing bit of kit and very robust so im more than willing to forgive its slight design flaws. I just wish it had more option parts :)

K

As i said though by adding adjustable equal length steering links so you can dial in the toe in / toe out and adjustable top links to set up the camber you can actually make the Blitzer handle really well . Being such a wide tracked and IMO over tyred car its very stable once set up well . Having said that it took me many many runs to get it set up ' just right ' . i have it now so its fairly easy to induce a drift while still being very forgiving in terms of the steering . Dont have any real messurements as i did it all by eye and 'feel' but i run maybe 3 degrees toe in and 2-3 degrees neg camber

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