Steering gyro,or learn to drive!?

[Wooders28]

Having bit of trouble keeping my DF03 in a straight line. I have tried altering to toe in, camber angles, even swapped to a faster servo. The only thing I will need to is replace the servo saver (hi torque?) as there is plenty of play (plus slight play in all the linkages) so that's first on the list . Running a Castle 5700 and 3s lipo and know the chassis aint meant to run that level of get up and go. Has anyone got any experience of running a gyro on the steering set up? Does it alter the driving experience?

[JeepnMike]

Is it always turning towards the left? That is a lot of motor.. I am seeing something similar from my new ride with similar power and am realizing I have a bit of torque steer.

[Gruntfuggly]

I had an ezRun setup in my Dark Impact - not as much power as you've got by any stretch, but it was still pretty quick. It went straight as you like though - standard servo, servo saver, etc. The steering never had a lot of play though - if you've got a lot of play in all the linkages and servo saver, maybe you'should replace the balls and rod ends first. You could also try without a servo saver and see if that helps...

[Wooders28]

Come to think of it,it is does seem to go left!

I will pinch a servo saver off another car and see if that makes any difference,i dont know if i should uprate all the steering system to alloy? Bits of movement in everything.

I did want something bonkers quick,so i can tick that box,just need for it to be useable now! Be nice to put some tall gearing in and take her for a speed run. Even with tall gearing she still wants to spin out.

I have an old gyro out of a twister helicopter so may see if i can adapt that and see what happens.

[JeepnMike]

If it is torque steering, your fix unfortnately is less power. I would try running without a servo saver and see if it still misbehaves like gruntfuggly suggested. If it still is not driving straight, you will know what is wrong.

[Wooders28]

Wondering if foam tyres would help when running on road?

Will try ditching the plastic saver and make one out of some metal tubing and see if that helps,but would not really want that as a permanent fix as i dont want to wreak the servo.

Must be some way other than reduction in power!!

[JeepnMike]

Wondering if foam tyres would help when running on road?

Will try ditching the plastic saver and make one out of some metal tubing and see if that helps,but would not really want that as a permanent fix as i dont want to wreak the servo.

Must be some way other than reduction in power!!

Most servos when you buy them new have misc. sizes of servo horns you could just throw on there to see what happens. I hear you about not wanting to power down though... LOL.

[alfagta]

hi,

the df03 should not suffer from torque steer , it has a central motor and battery which all but eliminates such issues , my suggestion is weight bias , if the car pulls left on power it has more grip on the right side of the chassis , you need to add a little weight to the left of the car , before you add weight though have a check of the dampers , make sure they are exactly the same length left to right, if they are not you will have a tweaked chassis which will give uneven bias and traction .

[speedy_w_beans]

You can dial out weight bias a little bit if you have threaded dampers and a set of scales...

I've been playing with a pan car chassis lately which has some screws for biasing the rear T-bar a little bit. By tweaking the T-bar one way or the other it affects which way the car wants to spin out first.

So if you have threaded dampers or several preload clips, you can adjust the traction and compensate for some of the torque steer that way...

Edit: Also note a gyro won't help if the mechanical linkages in the steering have too much slop and the car is wandering because of that. Start with making sure the steering linkages and suspension have minimal slop, set your camber and toe to something moderate to start, like -1 degree camber all around, 2-3 degree toe in in the rear, and 1-2 degree toe out in the front. If you adjust the dampers a little, or add some weight, double check your camber and toe again (with a battery installed).

[JeepnMike]

hi,

the df03 should not suffer from torque steer , it has a central motor and battery which all but eliminates such issues

Even with a 5700kv motor on a 3s battery? That is pretty insanely powered! LOL

[TA-Mark]

Even with a 5700kv motor on a 3s battery? That is pretty insanely powered! LOL

Yeap that's pretty nuts. 4600Kv MambaMax and 2S Li-Po in mine and I rarely see full throttle on the track it's so fast. I'm not suffering any torque steer with mine either.

[Zac_F83]

Traxxas HD servo saver IS the best cheap saver on the market.. comes with adapters for all popular servo's as well

[Wooders28]

No such thing as over powered! Just need to tweak it until its right.

I actually managed to bend one of the rear uprated suspension shafts,so its running the standard set up at the rear.New shafts just arrived so can build them back up and give me a bit more to tune.Also got some different weight oils i can try.

First job is the slack steering,servo saver first then see if any improvement,before replacing/upgrading other bits.

I had to cut away some of the chassis to get the 3s to fit nice,so that my need bracing.

Would i need to buy 4 of those small digital scales or get away with 1 and rest the other 3 wheels on cd's or something to keep it level?

Thinking on,might see if i can lend a high speed vid camera and do a few launches,white stripes on tyres etc and set it up like at the drag strip.

One thing i aint dropping is the power!!

[speedy_w_beans]

I have four scales, about $10 each from the local Chinese tool company. One thing to watch for is static friction, or "stiction" in the shocks. Move the car up and down a little on the scales and let it settle to get the best reading. Jounce the car a little each time you take a reading.

[RS2RSR]

I`ve tried a Novak 5.5 550 on 4s and that did not have problem with spinning out so I agree that it is your suspension setup or maybe your bearings or difs that is causing the problem. Maybe your damper oil or springs are uneven?

[Wooders28]

Did you run 4s in a DF03? How did you get that to fit?

The speed control will take 6s,just not sure the gears will !!

Just checked the price of scales on fleebay,can get them for just over £3 delivered! Didnt realise they had become that cheap,last time i looked they where £20!

Once the snow clears and the grass dries out a bit i will fit the spikes back on,drop the gearing and head off to the golf course for some youtube filming.

[TA-Mark]

The speed control will take 6s,just not sure the gears will !!

The ESC is rated for 6S. The motor is not rated for 6S, 3S limit on 5700Kv. The sintered magnets are safe to 70,000rpm and the motor bearings limit is 100,000rpm. 4S will make a 5700Kv rev at ~85,000rpm and on 6S ~126,000rpm.

The only 'weak' gear in the DF03 driveline is the aluminium gear that is pressed onto the mainshaft. Not a problem if you've replaced the butter soft kit mainshaft with a Five Stars hardened steel one.

[Wooders28]

Couldnt find those five star hardened shafts anywhere!,so had to press on a,ground to size,hardened helicopter pinion.

So the max set up would be around 7000 on 3s?

I am thinking the 5700 is stretching it a bit as it is!

Sounding like set up issues,with weight,suspension,steering and maybe diffs.Enough to keep me going...for now.

[TA-Mark]

So the max set up would be around 7000 on 3s?

I am thinking the 5700 is stretching it a bit as it is!

Castle have 3800Kv, 4600Kv, 5700Kv, 6900Kv and 7700Kv motors. The 5700Kv on 3S is ~63,000rpm (within spec). The 6900Kv on 3S is ~77,000rpm (out of spec). 5700Kv is the highest Kv from their 540 can size range that is suitable for 3S.

As a point of note. The 4600Kv on 4S is faster than a 5700Kv on 3S, and still within spec (but not warranty) at ~68,000rpm. But as you noted earlier, fitting a 3S into a DF03 is hard, and 4S nigh on impossible.

[Wooders28]

Will stick with what i have,sounds way to much hassle for more power that actually cannot be used!

3s wasnt that hard to fit using the Orion rocket pack and trimmed some off the chassis,just so not to strain/damage the battery cable.

[RS2RSR]

I use the KMC saddle pack carbon chassis. No prob with 4s..

[RS2RSR]

And with the slipper you can use Team Durango spurs (81t) 48p. Easy to get pinions then, also with 5mm hole to go with most 550 motors

[Wooders28]

It was getting the hardened five star shaft that was the problem gear wise.After reading on a thread that a hardened gear can be pressed on that was that!

Have a selection from 18t to 28t pinions and the 2 spurs gives a good range of ratios.

Are the carbon chassis expensive? Presume you just swap everything over?

[RS2RSR]

I was lucky enought to get hold of the five stars shafts.

The KMC carbon chassis costs $69 including everything you need. Shipping was $17 to Norway I think.

Had a problem with the oem chassis cracking were the battery pin sits up front, but with the carbon chassis its much stronger.

Its also easier to fit the esc etc on the carbon chassis