Chaotic Crawlers XR10 Single Steering Tierod!!
 

So I picked up a little something from Chaotic Crawlers today. Ever since I built my XR I wanted a single tierod to get rid of the slop and flimsiness of the 3 piece unit. Once I saw these it was love at first sight.

I got 2 full tierods to test out. The first is a length designed for the Vanquish Knuckles and the other is shorter and designed to work with stock or the HR knuckles.
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/tierod-1.jpg

I chose the longer link since I just love my Vanquish Knuckles. Instantly I knew this thing was going to hold up to anything. It will be made from solid stainless rod drilled and tapped for 4mm hardware and then included strong 4mm revo rod ends.
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/tierod-2.jpg

Quickly I realized I would need to remove the factory steering slide area. I took a razor blade and then a file and removed the upper area all without even taking the axle apart or even removing it from the rig
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/tierod-3.jpg

The tierod bolted up easily and fit great. With the tierod running straight it would be hard to clock the axles too far forward without it needing to be bent slightly. Since I prefer my knuckles clocked all the way back so keeping it straight worked out great. The clearance from below is still great. The tierod sits up close to the motor and is up and out of the way of most all rocks.
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/tierod-7.jpg

This tierod seems to give a pretty straight alignment. In the past I have run and/or tested with the idea of toe out. With this tierod I could easily trim a rod end 1-2mm and gain that toe out (for future testing)
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/tierod-5.jpg

The steering was still extremely well. With this set up I have my EPA's set at a full 150 both directions. It comes close to hitting on the servo horn but still clears.
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/tierod-6.jpg

what size rod is it?

Looks like 1/4" rod. Looks clean! Can we get a pic looking at if from the front to see if it hangs below the axle housing!

Yes it is 1/4" rod.

I started taking pictures of the front to see the rod. But it just looked like a picture of the front end. I had to get pretty low in this picture to show the tierod. The picture is basically from the table looking up!

http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/tierod-8.jpg

The tie rod looks like its made from aluminum K&S 1/4 x .049 tube #3061

The ones in the pictures are prototypes and are in fact aluminum. We wanted to test fit the length before we went ahead and cut the Stainless Tierods. But rest assured once they release all steering tierods will be stainless

When will these be available and whats the price? I want one now! "thumbsup"

Will you be making a bent version? If not its cool I'll probably make my own out of Ti.

How is the clearance to the motor can when the wheels are straight?

My 3/16" tierod will barely fit a "5 hour" motor skid (thinnest one I could find), there is no way I could get a 1/4" rod and a skid to fit. But I also run 13t pinions, so maybe people running a 14t pinion have a hair more room to work with.

Just something to be aware of."thumbsup"

since its a solid rod you could always take the ol dremel to it for a tiny bit more clearance if needed.

I vote it has a bout a 10 degree bend on each end for motor clearance issues. I'm running a straight one but it could use a bend on each end so i dont have to clock my c's fully one way as i have to now"thumbsup"

x2 "thumbsup"

We are making more prototypes tonight.
Ultimately I Want the rod to be straight, but if in the end they need to be bent we will do it.

I prefer my knuckles in the center position, so that's what we are aiming for.

The new prototype will be more like a Lunsford link.

We will keep you posted on progress.

Once we have one that fits the way we like, they should only be a week out at the most. "thumbsup"

How much are they going to be shipped?

We won't know until we get the link how we need it to be. "thumbsup"

Are those hundreds in 5000 dollar bands. Yeah, I can do that:lmao:

Just wondering why stainless? 316L is nearly as soft as alum and guals real easy, why not drill rod that could be tempered and slide over obsticles easier? ;-)

I've never had any of my stainless links gawl.

We used stainless for strength.
Titanium is way too expensive for such a small vendor like us.
We talked about delrin, but it's always a gamble with delrin when it comes to strength.

1 meelion dollars!!!
http://www.robertjschwalb.com/wp-con...08/dr-evil.jpg