Rlaarlo RZ001 steering wonky

[tod332]

My son got an RC for Christmas and since day one it was veering to the left but lately it’s gotten so extreme that it’s basically at 30 degree angle to the left at all times.

As it is our first RC I am not clear on what does what. The steering offset on the transceiver is set to max amount to the right yet it’s still heavily offset to the left. When the power is off I can move the steering arms left and right fully so there doesn’t appear to be a mechanical failure. It’s as if the transceiver is telling the servo to do stupid things.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[WickedFog]

My son got an RC for Christmas and since day one it was veering to the left but lately it’s gotten so extreme that it’s basically at 30 degree angle to the left at all times.

As it is our first RC I am not clear on what does what. The steering offset on the transceiver is set to max amount to the right yet it’s still heavily offset to the left. When the power is off I can move the steering arms left and right fully so there doesn’t appear to be a mechanical failure. It’s as if the transceiver is telling the servo to do stupid things.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Show me a picture of your transmitter adjustment knobs.

Also get some pictures of your servo assembly, looking at the horn, linkage, etc.

You can attach pics to your post here.

 

[TeknoJ]

I would also like to see these very same pictures.

 

[RustyUs]

Welcome to the forum @tod332. Probably just need to recenter servo horn after taking it off and setting transmitter's steering trim to neutral point.

Visual aid time. Is this your transmitter?

Show me a picture of your transmitter adjustment knobs.

Also get some pictures of your servo assembly, looking at the horn, linkage, etc.

You can attach pics to your post here.

I would also like to see these very same pictures.

https://rlaarlo.com/pages/rlaarlo-omni-terminator

 

[tod332]

Show me a picture of your transmitter adjustment knobs.

Also get some pictures of your servo assembly, looking at the horn, linkage, etc.

You can attach pics to your post here.

 

[tod332]

I cannot attach a video but if I adjust the wheels to be straight and turn the transceiver on, once it powers up the wheels immediately go hard left so it is definitely the transceiver mucking things up

 

[nino]

Take the horn off the servo. Turn the truck and Tx on, centered. Reinstall the servo horn so the wheels point as straight as possible. Correct with ST trim on the Tx.

You can also use the turnbuckle on the steering link to mechanically adjust steering trim.

 

[WickedFog]

Take the horn off the servo. Turn the truck and Tx on, centered. Reinstall the servo horn so the wheels point as straight as possible. Correct with ST trim on the Tx.

You can also use the turnbuckle on the steering link to mechanically adjust steering trim.

You don't want to adjust the steering link to set your steering. The steering link adjustment is to get the servo horn and the arm where it attaches to the bellcrank as parallel as possible. If those aren't parallel, then your car won't steer the same in both directions.
You want this:

Not this:

That is what the adjustment on the steering link is for (the red bar in the pic), and why I asked to see a pic of the "OP's" steering linkage

So ultimately, this is what you want:

His steering link looks pretty close to the correct length, but it is hard to tell at that angle the pic is taken from.

@tod332
Your pic of your radio does not show what your steering trim is set to. Can you bring that screen up to check it and get us a pic? What is it set to?

As Rusty and Nino said, you need to remove the steering horn from the servo and recenter it. I think maybe in this instance, we need the process explained a little more clearly (noob )

1. Remove the horn from the servo
2. Turn your radio on
3. Set your steering trim on your radio to zero (use the directional pad - ST TRIM)
4. Center your steering on the car by hand so your wheels are facing as straight as possible.
5. Reinstall your horn.
6. Drive the car on a nice flat surface slowly without touching your steering wheel, and adjust the steering trim again, until the car drives straight.

To remove the horn, remove the screw the arrow is pointing to. Likely a 2mm hex driver. The access to this screw appears to be the hole circled in this pic.

Hope this helps.

 

[tod332]

You don't want to adjust the steering link to set your steering. The steering link adjustment is to get the servo horn and the arm where it attaches to the bellcrank as parallel as possible. If those aren't parallel, then your car won't steer the same in both directions.
You want this:
View attachment 228223

Not this:
View attachment 228224

That is what the adjustment on the steering link is for (the red bar in the pic), and why I asked to see a pic of the "OP's" steering linkage

So ultimately, this is what you want:
View attachment 228225

His steering link looks pretty close to the correct length, but it is hard to tell at that angle the pic is taken from.

@tod332
Your pic of your radio does not show what your steering trim is set to. Can you bring that screen up to check it and get us a pic? What is it set to?

As Rusty and Nino said, you need to remove the steering horn from the servo and recenter it. I think maybe in this instance, we need the process explained a little more clearly (noob )

1. Remove the horn from the servo
2. Turn your radio on
3. Set your steering trim on your radio to zero (use the directional pad - ST TRIM)
4. Center your steering on the car by hand so your wheels are facing as straight as possible.
5. Reinstall your horn.
6. Drive the car on a nice flat surface slowly without touching your steering wheel, and adjust the steering trim again, until the car drives straight.

To remove the horn, remove the screw the arrow is pointing to. Likely a 2mm hex driver. The access to this screw appears to be the hole circled in this pic.
View attachment 228226

Hope this helps.

Thank you for not assuming knowledge and ELI5 approach. Much appreciated.

Did what was suggested above but now I’m wondering if I’ve got an issue with my servo.

With the horn detached and both the car and the transceiver turned on, I aligned the wheels and reattached the horn. Now when I trigger the steering it is nice and quick turning right but takes a few seconds to sluggishly turn left. I also should mention that I need to adjust the steering dual rate to 100 to even be able to then left. Otherwise it doesn’t go left at all.
When the power is off I am able turn the wheels right and left to their extremes freely without any obstruction in the servo that would explain the sluggishness of turning left so it does not feel like a mechanical problem although what do I know.

 

[WickedFog]

Thank you for not assuming knowledge and ELI5 approach. Much appreciated.

Did what was suggested above but now I’m wondering if I’ve got an issue with my servo.

With the horn detached and both the car and the transceiver turned on, I aligned the wheels and reattached the horn. Now when I trigger the steering it is nice and quick turning right but takes a few seconds to sluggishly turn left. I also should mention that I need to adjust the steering dual rate to 100 to even be able to then left. Otherwise it doesn’t go left at all.
When the power is off I am able turn the wheels right and left to their extremes freely without any obstruction in the servo that would explain the sluggishness of turning left so it does not feel like a mechanical problem although what do I know.

It could very well be a servo issue. I am not familiar with that radio. Does it possibly have a dual rate for right and left individually? Like if you turn right, is it using a different rate than when turning left? Hold the steering left, and see if you can adjust the dual rate separately.

Do you have another servo to try? It's always good to have some spare electronics to swap in to test things like this. I would just grab a cheap 35kg one of Amazon for things like that.

 

[tod332]

After my post last night I spent a couple of minutes “exercising” the servo just in case it was a mechanical issue after all and lo and behold today I have full range of movement back. Another couple of adjustments later it tracks almost perfectly.
Thank you everyone for your input and help, it’s greatly appreciated.

 

[WickedFog]

After my post last night I spent a couple of minutes “exercising” the servo just in case it was a mechanical issue after all and lo and behold today I have full range of movement back. Another couple of adjustments later it tracks almost perfectly.
Thank you everyone for your input and help, it’s greatly appreciated.

So what was the issue?

 

[tod332]

So what was the issue?

It was your steps above plus the manual exercising of the servo, or so I think. I have not done anything else between exercising it last night and it starting to behave today.

Well, I say it started to have - when I turned it on, steering went to extreme right immediately after the transceiver was powered on. However, I could see that the servo was responding to the steering inputs very quickly unlike last night. So with the power left on I removed the horn and put it back on after re-centering the wheels and voila.

The front wheel toe and angle are still horribly out of plumb but at least it is tracking more straight than it had the day we received it.

 

[CertifiedMike]

Just a couple things. Its important that you turn the radio on first, then power up the car. It is possible for the car to 'run away' with no transmitter signal.
It would not be uncommon for the steering to jump around with no signal too.
Also, have you seen a radio calibration procedure listed in your manuals anywhere? If so, I'd run through that too.
Good luck!