Project Humm-666...

[DCLXVI]

Now my monster has a name after only 6 month of pondering what I sould name it...and it didn't come out all that good

Anyway, I've been home from work for a few day (hollidays and such) so I had the time to try and figure out how to fix the first think I decided to fix (I decided on it before I even got the truck), moving the front steering servo out of harms way and place it behind the axle...

I started yesterday cutting some thick plexiglass (about 1 cm) to make a bracket only to have it turn out askew (as usual) so I got mad and did something else when out of the blue, it hit me, why not just turn the axle guard around? I had already modified them to allow the steering servo to mount as close to the axle as possible:





So I started working and as of now I have come this far:







I've got some clerance issues, mainly, the servo hitting one of the upper links and the steering hitting the lower link at full steering and full artic...but I don't know if I really need to care...
I've got the final touches to add to the skidplate, then I just have to replace the Mag Mayhems with the stockers since I toasted my LRP F1 Pro with some water...then I can test it...

What do you think?

(Oh, and to give a hint as for the name, DCLXVI = 666 in latin numerals)

[DCLXVI]

Finnished:

[DCLXVI]

No one?

[jordanator62]

looks alright, u should have mounted the servo in front of the upper links. thats the way i did it and it works like a charm! lol, but doesnt the servo greatly effect the amount of articulation!??!?!? or at least thats what it looks like in the pic...

[fullmodtxt]

666, I went through the same thing that you are now. I have tried 3 different servo mount/locations. Each of mine was a little better than the previous, but still not quite right.
First, I used New Era axle brackets and skidplates, and removed the stock plastic plates. I screwed the servos to the aluminum skids in the same manner that the servos mount to the stock plastic skids. Steering worked really well, but clearance was poor.
Next I bent up some sheet aluminum at a 90 degree angle and screwed it to where the upper links mount on top of the axle (I use differnt link mounts). I trimmed the part that of the bracket that sticks up to fit the servo into it. Clearance issue solved, but the servo was too high up. It didn't have enough leverage over the knuckles to turn the tires in tight spots because of the angle of the linkage.
Finally, I mounted the servos directly in front of the front axle, and directly behind the rear axle. I couldn't mount the servos between the axles and still have them miss the links and driveshafts. Servos are down low so that the steering linkages are parallel. The servos are very close to the axle, they darn near touch. Again, I bent up some aluminum sheet to make the mounts. This time, the steering works great, better than the other 2 tries. However, clearance is again an issue, but not as bad as the 1st attempt. This was the best of my 3 homemade attempts.
At last, JK of MudCow fame turned me on to the MTPA TXT steering servo mounts. I just bought a pair for $55. They are stamped aluminum sheet. They mount the servos between the axles in a way that misses the driveshafts and links. They're sweet!! They have complex bends in them that just can't be duplicated with regular home tools and beer. These MTPA parts are hands down, absolutely the best TXT servo mounts that I have ever seen. I'll send you pics if you're interested. Vince B.

[DCLXVI]

It doesn't affect travel that much, I'll have to try it out and see...

If you could send me the pics it would be great!

I was fooling around abit yesterday and are wondering if anyone knows if you can mount the lover links on the upper part of the axle guard? Right next to the cantilever mount point...

[DCLXVI]

I found another place to mount the servo, not sure about it but I'll give it a try...

[DCLXVI]

Some updates:

I repositioned the rear servo and used my old homemade skid plate there then I lowered and turned the front servo around so I could mount the servo horn towards the axle (I had to shave of some plastic from the axle to make it happen), I haven't mounted it yet so I don't know if it still hits the upper links, probably not...

I also started to move the lower links to mount beside the mount points for the cantilever rods, I'm afraid it will put alot of stress on the axles but I'll have to try as I can't mount the lower links as they are mounted stock, they would hit the steering...















I haven't mounted a skid plate on the front axle yet but I will soon...

[AFJ]

and maybe low profile servo?? i like your mount 666, very cool idea!!

[DCLXVI]

Thanks...I need to get new axle guards so I can recut since I changed design a couple of times...

Also, the designs I've done here are easy to do since all I've really done is to use the stock plastic parts as much as possible...
I've also worked some with pure aluminium plating but that is easy as heck...even 2mm think are a breeze to cut through...
The small strip of aluminium I have one the rear mount are not really nececcary, I cut to much of the axle guard so I had to reinforce it...
The steering link in the front are just a long M3 screw I cut the head of...

And as I've said before, I have not tested it yet, I have not even mounted it...but I'm sure it will work just fine...

[DCLXVI]

Now I have mounted it nd I need to get some spacers for the upper links as the axles now lean back some giving me some caster angle...
The front servo still hits the upper link but I don't see it as a problem as it only robs a few centimeter of the artic...and the servo are also somewhat sprung so it will shift a little downwards when hit...

I'll try to test the current set-up and take some pics of it mounted and crawling later today, after work...

I'd still like more comments...negative or positive...I'd like to know if I'm on the right track or if I'm heading for disaster... :(

[DCLXVI]

Oh well...

I got some new tires and a new ESC (Mtroniks Msonic Super E-Truck), the TXT really flies at 14,4 volts...I'll settle for 7,2 v later though...

I got some some Jumbo Swamp Dawgs (ordered the Claws but they were out so I got the Swamps instead)...

[AFJ]

looks great, i cannot wait until i get ESC and couple of pack to finnaly run the beast, but yours surely looks sweet

[DCLXVI]

Thanks...I'm still not 100% on the steering servo set-up...I'm going to try to mount it top side, next to the cantilever link...