Ideas for addressing steering slop in Kyosho Fazer

[fizz]

Hi Folks,
First time poster, new to RC. I've had a Kyosho Fazer Mk2 FZ02-R (rally variant) for about a week now attempting to learn the basics of driving RC, and while going over the car I've noticed there is a lot of slop in the steering linkage, to me at least.

I come from the car world where this many degrees of free movement in the steering would be a major problem and would take the vehicle off the road until addressed. I'm not sure what the reasonable tolerances are in the RC world so I'm looking for some confirmation that what I'm seeing is a legitimate problem, not the norm, and would affect steering precision.

My questions would be:
1. Is this free play in the linkage normal?
2. If not, are there things you would suggest to try to resolve the issue?

I've uploaded a short video demonstrating the slop to Youtube, hopefully linking it here will work.

Thanks very much everyone!

 

[DavidB1126]

Looks normal to me. Mostly all my cars has some slop like that.

If it's not like a tt02 where it doesn't drive straight and have a mind of its own, I see no issue.

 

[9x19]

Welcome to RC Talk!

As dB said, it looks pretty normal, and as long as it's responsive and predictable when driving, you're good to go.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Unless it affects the steering while driving, I wouldn't worry about it. As David mentioned, it's normal.
Welcome in by the way.

 

[Lumikko]

The amount of slop we accept is enormous compared to the tightness of real car suspension and steering components. If the car drives well, don’t worry. Any tightness of these parts would stress the servo so we err to the side of allowing some play.

That being said, simply knowing you have a precise steering mechanism can be satisfying. It probably doesn’t affect the lap times at all but feels good. I usually do a little something to reduce the slop.

For example, the bellcrank bearings may not always have a good fit over the shafts or inside the bearing seats. A dab of thick high-adhesion grease when installing any bearings improves the fit a little.

The ball joints in each end of the camber links and push rods don’t need lubrication but if you press some grease in there, it takes up space and reduces slop. Grease attracts dirt but I usually find dirt only on the outside – it doesn’t seem to work itself into the joint.

Steering slop can be indirectly caused by the A-arm, camber link, or hub if the fit is too loose. The suspension should move freely without binding, but there’s no need to let it rattle excessively. Shimming the fore-aft movement to a minimum and grease on the hinge pins is, again, a simple and effective method.

I have recently started using a hot wax dip treatment on my bike chains, and I think it could do wonders to RC parts as well. Tests with the wax kettle are still to be made.

 

[nino]

It's not a racing chassis so it's fine if it doesn't wander around. Teknos for instance are pretty famous (or notorious) for being pretty loose all around but still make good race platforms

 

[moosetracks398]

Hi Folks,
First time poster, new to RC. I've had a Kyosho Fazer Mk2 FZ02-R (rally variant) for about a week now attempting to learn the basics of driving RC, and while going over the car I've noticed there is a lot of slop in the steering linkage, to me at least.

I come from the car world where this many degrees of free movement in the steering would be a major problem and would take the vehicle off the road until addressed. I'm not sure what the reasonable tolerances are in the RC world so I'm looking for some confirmation that what I'm seeing is a legitimate problem, not the norm, and would affect steering precision.

My questions would be:
1. Is this free play in the linkage normal?
2. If not, are there things you would suggest to try to resolve the issue?

I've uploaded a short video demonstrating the slop to Youtube, hopefully linking it here will work.

Thanks very much everyone!

Try taking a super small o ring or rubber grommet cut in half and putting it on the ball of the suspension part where it moves there’s a guy on u tube who has a video and it works good

 

[fizz]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it. As a new RC driver I'm sure it's not affecting me any worse than my lack of skill based on comments above, but it would have been satisfying to have something to blame other than me, ha!

PS since this is my first thread: After missing out on phpBB-type classic web forums for the past 15 years or so I have to say that it turns out I really missed this format and I'm very glad to be back on this type of board as opposed to something like FB groups.

 

[gragner66]

The steering system is all plastic so it has a little more flex than with metal. Mine seems to work fine but I have changed mine over to aluminum turnbuckles for the steering

 

[CertifiedMike]

WELCOME TO RCTALK.COM!!!
If you're looking for excuses to blame your crappy driving on, you've come to the right place! These guys are FULL of em!!!
I like your choice of cars! I'm a Kyosho fan too!
I hope you post a build thread for your car so we can follow your progress!