Sand scorcher steering upgrade?

[shenlonco]

Hi Is there any way to make the steering work better on the scorcher?

Or do you need to hack the plastic box stick tape down a servo with like a kimbro servo saver or something?

Any info would be great.

THANKS

Shen

[bromvw]

Shen what i did was to mount the servo between the front shock towers . I used a metal mount that needed milling down slightly and bolted it to the towers using the existing tower mounting holes . In effect it sits over the tower flanges . I then used a tamiya high torque servo saver and 3mm rods to make up a direct steering arangement . This works far better than the standard SRB setup .

[Percymon]

You can reverse the servo and mount it horizontally with double sided servo tape between the front uprights, which allows you to steer direct from the normal servo mounted servo arm/saver with new tie rods...

this is an early mock up photo i had on file..

The downside is that the steering rods aren;t equal length, unless you mount the servo vertically (end on rather than side on). Superchamp steering is a little better because the steering rods are thicker linkages than the Scorcher 'wire' items - you could make up more rigid rods from M3 threaded bar and some new ball connector ends, but you still have the long linkage to the servo within the electronics box.

Its a case of searching through the showroom for examples I'm afraid - the good news is there are plenty there amongst the 1000 or so SRB entries !!

[Percymon]

double post deleted !

[shenlonco]

That looks to be a simple thing to do... It should not matter if the steering links are different size ..this looks like a good simple fix.

THANK YOU

Shen

You can reverse the servo and mount it horizontally with double sided servo tape between the front uprights, which allows you to steer direct from the normal servo mounted servo arm/saver with new tie rods...

this is an early mock up photo i had on file..

The downside is that the steering rods aren;t equal length, unless you mount the servo vertically (end on rather than side on). Superchamp steering is a little better because the steering rods are thicker linkages than the Scorcher 'wire' items - you could make up more rigid rods from M3 threaded bar and some new ball connector ends, but you still have the long linkage to the servo within the electronics box.

Its a case of searching through the showroom for examples I'm afraid - the good news is there are plenty there amongst the 1000 or so SRB entries !!

[TA-Mark]

It should not matter if the steering links are different size

Odd length steering arms can cause bumpsteer and different steering throw left to right.

Isn't the front body post also the hinge pin of the bent piece of wire servo saver?

[shenlonco]

After just taking a look at the scorcher I think the best thing to do would be to cut the front of the plastic tub off { The small front section} the shape of the servo face and just stick tape it down inside there in the center add a servo saver and tie rods and it will be simple and a great spot for the servo.

[Antmax]

I did something kind of similar. First thing I did to improve steering was to reinforce the existing chassis with an extra aluminium layer on top. This is to get rid of the super springly flex of the original chassis plate, the wheels also splay less when you push the suspension down. So the front is more planted and the suspension does most of the work.

Then like percymon I removed the front of the radio box and mounted my servo to the chassis plate. Team Associated do servo mount kits that come in pairs for $3 at the local LHS.

I bit the bullet when my flimsy stock servo saver fell apart and I saw how expensive they were to replace. So I decided to do this mod. I bought a heavy duty kimborough servo saver along with some 3M mounting tape underneath to cushion the servo somewhat and raise it for clearance.

I also found some extra tie rods from a Jammin SCRT 10 that I had lying around after putting a sway bar kit from ebay on my Axial Exo. this makes the arms more beefy. Combined it makes quite a difference.

One of the biggest pluses is that you have a lot less restriction on the steering angle. I set my endpoints to 60 on my radio and the Scorcher turns in a far tighter circle than it used to. You have to be careful setting this because it can go much tighter but then you have to watch for the steering sort of jack knifing and also putting too much stress on the steering knuckles. With my setup 60% gives you a steering circle between 30 and 50% tighter which makes it much more fun for maneuvering though you really notice the limitation no differential at the back. It hops a lot more in high traction and tight turn scenarios.

The servo mod makes a huge difference followed by the stiffer chassis that stops the front springing up so much makes the scorcher less likely to lose steering when it takes off from small bumps and then shoot off at an unexpected angle once the front gets traction again.

[Antmax]

I forgot, another bonus to this mod is wIth the repositioned servo you can fit a 5000mah 2s lipo length ways down the middle of the radio box which is another plus.

My scorcher pulls wheelies without too much effort using the stock Johnson 540. Much more punch and of course longer run times.

[shenlonco]

I did something kind of similar. First thing I did to improve steering was to reinforce the existing chassis with an extra aluminium layer on top. This is to get rid of the super springly flex of the original chassis plate, the wheels also splay less when you push the suspension down. So the front is more planted and the suspension does most of the work.

Then like percymon I removed the front of the radio box and mounted my servo to the chassis plate. Team Associated do servo mount kits that come in pairs for $3 at the local LHS.

I bit the bullet when my flimsy stock servo saver fell apart and I saw how expensive they were to replace. So I decided to do this mod. I bought a heavy duty kimborough servo saver along with some 3M mounting tape underneath to cushion the servo somewhat and raise it for clearance.

I also found some extra tie rods from a Jammin SCRT 10 that I had lying around after putting a sway bar kit from ebay on my Axial Exo. this makes the arms more beefy. Combined it makes quite a difference.

One of the biggest pluses is that you have a lot less restriction on the steering angle. I set my endpoints to 60 on my radio and the Scorcher turns in a far tighter circle than it used to. You have to be careful setting this because it can go much tighter but then you have to watch for the steering sort of jack knifing and also putting too much stress on the steering knuckles. With my setup 60% gives you a steering circle between 30 and 50% tighter which makes it much more fun for maneuvering though you really notice the limitation no differential at the back. It hops a lot more in high traction and tight turn scenarios.

The servo mod makes a huge difference followed by the stiffer chassis that stops the front springing up so much makes the scorcher less likely to lose steering when it takes off from small bumps and then shoot off at an unexpected angle once the front gets traction again.

Yep looks good that's exactly what i was talking about and what i will be doing in the future to mine!

[Antmax]

The downside is that the steering rods aren;t equal length.

If you look at my top down pic with the battery, you can see that my servo is centered on the chassis. To do this I had to change the shape of my aluminium chassis plate. Instead of tapering from one end to the other, it tapers suddenly at the front making it wider where the servo mounts.

The stock scorcher deck is about 5mm too thin to mount a servo with the spine centered on the chassis. It doesn't take a lot of skill to fabricate a chassis plate that will fit. hack saw, drilll and some sand paper is what I used. Difficult bit was finding thick enough aluminium, I ended up sandwiching the new and original together to get it done.

I also sealed the radio box at the front with some scrap lexan glued in place with clear silicon sealer.Also seals the old steering rod hole where I have my servo wire and antenna exiting the radio box whilst holding the antenna tube in place so it doesn't get in the way.

[shenlonco]

If you look at my top down pic with the battery, you can see that my servo is centered on the chassis. To do this I had to change the shape of my aluminium chassis plate. Instead of tapering from one end to the other, it tapers suddenly at the front making it wider where the servo mounts.

The stock scorcher deck is about 5mm too thin to mount a servo with the spine centered on the chassis. It doesn't take a lot of skill to fabricate a chassis plate that will fit. hack saw, drilll and some sand paper is what I used. Difficult bit was finding thick enough aluminium, I ended up sandwiching the new and original together to get it done.

I also sealed the radio box at the front with some scrap lexan glued in place with clear silicon sealer.Also seals the old steering rod hole where I have my servo wire and antenna exiting the radio box whilst holding the antenna tube in place so it doesn't get in the way.

I probably will just make a little block the size almost as the servo and goop glue it to the chassis then goop glue the servo down to that ... this way you can probably use the stock chassis.