X Crawler tie rod fix/servo guard.

[revo-4tec-mike]

first off my front tie rod broke at the threads which are very weak. also i hit rocks on my servo arms and broke 4 servo's. ive found that there is no need for an adjustable rod and what i really need is a solid tie rod that also acts as a bumper to protect my servos. so i went to Lowes and found some 1/4" mild steel solid rod. i got it home, using a ruler i set the tires perfectly in line with the rear wheels, measure the tie rod for length, cut to lenghth and drill the holes.





to mount it you need to put the screw in from the bottom of the knuckle arm, put a stainless washer on top of the knuckle arm, put the rod in place, add another washer on top then loctite the nut. turn the nut till its tight then back it off so the truck just turns free.



next to make the bumper i bent 2 90 deg. bends in the leftover 1/4" rod, tacked the hoop to the tie rod, checked that there was no interferance with the steering then added thin sheet metal to fill the hoop, welded it out and painted it to keep it from rusting.

[outofreach]

Good idea I think I need to get to work on something similar.

Are you having trouble with the motors getting banged up by rocks? Do you think something is needed to protect them?

Joe

[revo-4tec-mike]

Originally Posted by outofreach

Good idea I think I need to get to work on something similar.

Are you having trouble with the motors getting banged up by rocks? Do you think something is needed to protect them? Joe

funny you say that. last week my buddy who also has a x crawler was driving the crawler over a bolder, it droped 1-1/2' off and landed on a rock which shifted the motor which put alot of load on the motor shaft.
other than that the motor rubbing on the rocks seems to be just fine.

i run my crawler in a quarry 3/4 of the time which is very hard on crawlers. what terrain are you running on?

[i2oadsweepei2]

Nice fix for the steering Mike, Keep up the great work. Looks like the added bumper will stiffen up the tie rod nicely.

Kev

[grouser]

Forgive the newb ??? but are the twin srvos stock or something you came up with? Nice work on the bumper

[revo-4tec-mike]

thanks guys .

the x crawler can take up to 4 servos do to extra holes in the axles but it only comes with brackets for 2 servos so you have to buy more or make more to run more servos. why i used 4 servos on 2 y harnesses is so it under powers the servos since it y's to 2. also it spreads the load to two servos and it keeps them pretty cool temp wise even after several hours of hard use. i have about 28hrs on my servos without any problems and use 4 for 40$ "tower pro mg995" servos for now but want 4-333oz cs170's. if anyone was wondering, i use 1-1/4" futaba servo arms.