Budget 4 wheel steering TX mod

[Andyrt200 201]

I’m not sure if this is the correct forum, but it seems appropriate. 

I wanted a way of having independent control of the front & rear steering on the CR-01.

I used to fly nitro planes back in the day so was thinking about my old FM TX, but then I saw how cheap the new 2.4ghz 4ch sets were. The only problem with them is the left throttle stick for planes is on a ratchet, so the stick just stays where you leave it, just want you want on a plane, but not a car! So as the video hopefully shows I took the back off the TX & swapped the spring return from the right stick (the elevator on a plane) over to the left stick, so the left stick has a spring return in both vertical & horizontal directions. Meaning the car throttle is working in the way you’re used to & normal front steering is in the normal place still on the right, but you have the option to use the left throttle stick side to side to control the rear steering. Takes a little getting used to, but is great once you get the hang of it! 

You could lock off the vertical movement of the right stick, I swapped the ratchet mechanism  from on to mine, but I think locking it in the normal centre position would probably be a bit better. 

All the screw holes have been there for either the spring of ratchet on both sides of all the TX units I’ve ever looked inside, so it’s simply a case of not loosing any bits while swapping them from side to side! 

Hopefully the video is a lot clearer than my rambling:

 

I had a different TX that you cycled through the modes of 4WS but we found we never used it as it was always too late by the time you got to the mode you wanted! 

[Mad Ax 10130]

Neat mod.  You can actually buy an additional return spring assembly for FlySky and Turnigy transmitters from rctankelectronics.com, not sure about your transmitter.  I did my Turnigy this week, I've yet to use it but it's nice to have dual steering on a stick again.  I used to have dual steering on my TXT using an old Futaba FM stick transmitter but that had the ratchet on the right stick so I never bothered to change it.

Currently my Mod Clod is set for 4WS on my DX3C wheel transmitter, there's a switch that'll toggle between no rear steering, crab rear steering or opposite rear steering, but like you say, it's a hassle to have to switch modes, plus I always forget which direction does which mode.  Having the rear steering directly on the left stick is a nice feature.

I'm sure the vertical axis on the right stick could be locked out with a little bit of modification under the casing - I might try this on mine, I'm not sure any of my cars will use that channel, plus I still have some other channels to play with on the switches