The full bearing steering mod for the XC/cc-01 chassis

first off take out your kit supplied steering shaft and the seperate end which completes it.
You need to carefully drill out the open shaft in which the steering column fits in the chassis with various drills up to an 11mm drill bit.
I did this in three steps using a 9.6mm drill bit, then a 10.3mm and finally an 11mm drill, you choose.

This avoids making a hash of it by going in to fast with a large drill, and wrecking your chassis.

Next insert a standard tamiya size 11mm OD x 5mm ID x 4mm wide ball bearing, that is shielded (can be rubber or twin metal shielded your choice) at each end of the drilled out hole.

Use a nice fat wod of grease in here to keep it all nice.

You will need to make a steering column now, and this can be done by using a 5mm rod (round bar section in either aluminium, brass or steel again the choice is yours) and tap an M5 thread on each end of about 10mm long. You also need to drill a hole for a drive pin about 1-2mm below the thread and through the rod, these pin holes need to be spaced apart by the same distance as the length of the shaft you have just drilled out.
That's because you will need to be able to slide a pin in each hole once the shaft is inserted through the bearings in the drilled hole of the chassis. The alternative if you can weld or braze is to use two drive axles and cut the cup off of each one, it will leave you with aprox 2-3mm gap when placed, cut end to cut end, for the weld to melt into.
You should then dress the weld down so that it doesn't foul on anything. To gain the correct measurement for the two welded together pieces, you need to measure the length of the drilled out hole in the chassis and make the two cut axles the same between the inside of the little hole that is there for the drive pin. This will allow you to slide a drive pin in the hole at each end when fitted in the drilled out chassis hole with the ball bearings in.
Then take the kit supplied steering column and cut with a junior hacksaw both ends off whilst it is pressed together.
This will give you the two ends to go back on the new steering column.
You need to make a slot in the underside of each end for the drive pin to sit in (make sure to note the position of the pin for the slot at each end when the column is in the same position, so that when you have cut both slots the two ends are in the correct rotational position). You need to file off the collar on both ends of the steering column so the nut can wind down nicely.
Then fit the bottom section and link it to the rest of the steering links and wind on a nylock nut.
If you don't do this you won't be able to get the nut to go down on the thread and tighten up.
Almost finished, you now should replace the servo saver with the servo supplied horn for a positive action and adjust up the linkage as normal at the two ball sockets *NOTE WELL* this part is for people who want the most positive action using metal geared servo for trial/trail/crawling.

To see this steering work after the modification check out the short movie clip here http://www.tamiyaclub.com/moviecomment.asp?id=2640&uid=19456