Unimog 425 - black & yellow: Mods + Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank
 

Hi guys!

After some fiddling around with a horrible GPM steering assembly kit, I decided to throw it away. I guess it came from a faulty batch, since it hit the front differential cover, the bearings were loose, the link bar was a bit bent... I can't tighten the shaft bolt without the bearings being totally blocked. At first I thought I had not pushed the bearings all the way into the chassis, but three tries later I still haven't managed in making it work properly. I have watched several instructional videos and manuals on the internet, to make sure I didn't make any mistakes.

I was looking into some alternatives, but besides the GPM kit, I can't find a lot of alternatives. I have found this Hot Racing assembly. I have read Hot Racing is about the same quality as GPM, but the concept seems a lot better thought out to me. A larger shaft, bigger bearings, flush bolts...

What do you guys think? Anyone has given it a try already? The kit can be found for around 30 dollars.

Should I buy a new GPM kit for around 20 dollars and hope the quality controller was motivated on production day? Or go for the Hot Racing kit? Or any other plug-and-play alternatives? Maybe drilling out the chassis and using the standard plastic shaft is ok as well...

More information on the Hot Racing kit:
Hot Racing Tamiya Truck CC-01 Truck RC Car upgrades and Hop-ups
http://www.rcjpg.com/xu2dxk8axp6lhb6qbp0s/126564.jpg

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

Haven't tried it yet, but it for sure looks more stout.

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

I took the plunge and ordered the part. I will post my findings in this thread.

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

I have seen many reveiws about this part being of very poor quality and not lasting long before rounding off, so i made my own custom front mounted steering system and never looked back.

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

Well then, let's hope for the best... To date I haven't found any reviews of the assembly.

Worst case it's 30 bucks down the drain ;-)

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

Time for an update.

The kit arrived by mail today. I was getting worried Belgian customs had intercepted the package, as was the case with my CC-01 kit. Had to pay 94 euros customs fees to get posession of my 220 euro value package ;-)

The assembly is very staight forward. There are 4 small washers, not really sure where they have to go. I tried to use them for each bearing touching the other components, but this made the fitment through the chassis way too tight. I then decided to use them to shim the bolt on the uderside of the chassis (the bolt going into the plastic). There's an aluminium sleeve inside, which can be shimmed with these washers.

The first impressions are great. The fitment is ten times better than the GPM kit. The axle is a lot sturdier, as are all the other components. I will be changing the tie-rods and ball ends next, as well as the stock servo saver. This should reduce the wobbling to an absolute minimum.

I will be doing some field testing when the weather gets better, but my initial impressions are very positive, certainly compared to the GPM kit I've tried before.

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

Glad to hear it, plan on ordering one here shortly as well.

Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

Did some trails the last days, and I'm a happy man. Ordered some tie rods and ball ends to take out the rest of the steering slop.

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

Not much to add other than I had a very similar experience with the GPM bellcrank for a TA01 chassis. Loose bearing bores, tolerances way off the charts, soft material wouldn't hold a thread, hit on the chassis.

Oh, and where the installed and dirty pics?

How much of the slop does it take away?

Is there still room for plain Traxxas 1942 rod ends?

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

As requested, some installed pictures.

http://i.imgur.com/7Gmdx6H.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EjQZe9i.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bwKZBCP.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ekGtNA7.jpg

Had to remove some dirt after the initial testing :lmao:
http://i.imgur.com/pSoqMeQ.jpg

The kit took out about 75% of the slop. The remainder of the slop is in ball ends. I can't say anything about the Traxxas rod ends, but I did have to take some material from the skid plate to accomodate the standard rod ends without rubbing.

Also did a tire upgrade in the meanwhile. Chose the 1.9 Mud Trashers as an upgrade from the standard Tamiya tires. Haven't driven them yet, but I will do this soon.

http://i.imgur.com/dNZiUw2.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/4Wywhqq.jpg

Re: Unimog 425 - black & yellow: Mods + Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank
 

Excellent - thanks for the pics!

Sent from my SM-T550 using Tapatalk

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

how is the HR setup holding up for you? It looks much better than the GPM based on pictures.

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

Thanks for the pics, just got my HR kit this week, hoping to find the time to install it this weekend. Was trying to figure out where the cup marked 9mm and the one marked 9.5mm would go since there were no directions. (hate that)

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

I've been thinking about doing this for awhile. My stock steering is still near-new (after having built mine almost two years ago, only ran it a handful of times:(

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

I have the GPM steering (Working fine for me....FWIW). The upper bearing holder on the tub is smaller than the lower bearing holder, so I would guess the 9 mm goes on top and the 9.5 mm on the bottom.

What concerns me is that I have a Hitec Ultra torque MG servo (646WP). Before I reset my endpoints, the post the steering is on as well as the servo mounts bend quite a bit when the servo goes past the steering stop. Setting my EPA stopped the bending, but the plastic mounts are far weaker than the aluminum GPM (or others) bits. I am looking at the setup to see if I can reinforce the mounts and plastic posts so they are not the first to break.

Re: Hot Racing Steering Bellcrank vs. GPM
 

I went with the HR steering setup, GPM servo mount, Hitec 645mg with aluminum arm. I'm also running a Airtronics MT4 radio, with my end points adjusted properly, it's not putting any strain or flex on anything. I am going to do the tie rods next, might make my own using traxxas revo ends.