Originally Posted by jlavador

Curious to hear what motor setups you guys are running. Im running a Speed Passion 6.5t Drift Spec.

Originally Posted by Caseymacgyver

Awesome, glad to hear it. It really is a good car, with the potential to be great. Did the stock rear tensioner have enough range to take up the slack at 18T without any tweaking? Just wanting to confirm for the benefit of others.

I know what you mean with the D3 steering. Although the aluminum rack does increase steering throw and reduce flex, it does nothing to help with slop. In fact, I would argue that it may even make it worse due to 3Racing's poor fitment of the bearing seats. Overall, I think their upgrades are good quality and the accuracy in general has been excellent. However, I have found that their bearing seats are consistently oversized, whereas the plastic ones were flexy, but nice and snug. The rear hubs have been the worst, with the steering rack crossbar being a close 2nd. I ultimately replaced the crossbar with ball links and a turnbuckle.

In any event, I thought I would share some of the improvements that I have used and/or devised which have helped to reduce steering slop to an imperceptible amount on my D3:

1. Only use a ball removal tool to separate your ball links (See pic).
   
2. If bearings do not fit tightly in their seat, place a section of a plastic parts baggy across the seat opening and then pop the bearing in place. The tight spots will stretch the plastic thinner and/or cut itself for you. Use an X-acto knife to cut away any remaining exposed plastic on both sides. I found Teflon tape to be too messy and did not hold up very well here. I'm definitely not a fan of gluing them in their seats either (See pic: One end after popping in, the other post trim).
   
3. Cut 4-5mm square or hex pieces of plastic parts baggy and place in the bottom of EVERY ball cup. Doesn't have to be precise, just big enough to stay in the cup, but not so big that it creases. You want a single layer thickness that really only touches the upper half of the ball. It basically shims the ball down a tiny bit so it sits tighter against the snap ring. They last surprisingly long and typically stay in the cup when separated. I seldom replace them unless they fall out or get contaminated with dirt/grime. I'll usually cut a strip and make a few at a time, because they are very easy to drop while putting in place. Likewise here, I found Teflon tape to be too messy and did not hold up very well. (See pic).
   
4. Get an assortment of 5mm shims (0.1/0.2/0.3mm thick) to use for the steering pivots and wheel axles. Test tightness with all links detached.
5. Get an assortment of 3mm shims (0.1/0.2/0.3mm thick) to use on the king-pin, inner and outer hinge pins. Test tightness with all links detached.
   
6. Shimming a bearing too tight to mitigate other sources of slop will likely make it worse. A properly shimmed bearing should show extremely little to no signs of increased roll resistance. If it does, it's too tight, which will knead those little balls out of round in a hurry and just increase the bearing's inherent slop. Make sure you know where the slop is coming from before trying to shim it out.

There's been a couple Q's about my steering posts, so here's a bit more info on them. I developed this approach initially because I didn't like the E-clip attachment method on the Tamiya posts, which made it damn hard to shim them properly. They were always either too tight or too loose. Now, they are "Shimmed" snug with a Nylock nut, tightened onto a set screw which is Locktited into the top of the extended post. I'm using THESE in place of the stock steering posts, but there are probably other 5mm posts out there that would do just fine or better. The nut bears on a 5mm axle spacer, over a 0.3X5mm washer that is in contact with the inner bearing race. The thickness of the axle spacer doesn't particularly matter, as long as it extends beyond the top of the post. The ones I had handy are about 6-7mm (0.25" I think), which are definitely longer than needed. The nut makes it easier to set and adjust the tightness without having to trial-and-error with the assorted shims thicknesses. The washer allows the bearing to spin freely without the spacer contacting the outer race under normal operation. At the same time, the spacer effectively helps to limit out-of-plane travel (Wiggle/slop) without additional stress to the inner race, which would tend to deform the balls and accelerate wear on the pivot bearings. Different washer thicknesses can be used (0.1mm, 0.2mm) to change the wiggle-to-drag ratio. I'm using this identical arrangement for my front and rear suspension pivots.

Originally Posted by Erasus

If it is the ball cups that cause the wobble then the plastic bag mod works. Also new ball cups from tamiya or yeah racing do the job quite nicely without all that hassle. If it is the steering assembly itself, have you checked if the bottom screws, that hold the steering arms into place on the bathtub chassis, have become loose?

If it is the ball bearings in the steering crank check if one is broken. One of the ball bearings in my steering rack fell apart during one session without warning. It completely crumbled. So I had to replace it.

If it is the housing of the bearings...tough luck. you might wanna try the above plastic bag trick but instead of "tightening up" the ball ends, you could try to put the plastic bag between the bearing and the housing to eliminate the play. Other than that, the Eagle Racing OTA-R31 steering rack works very well for the Sakura, also the TA05 one.

Also check if all the king pin posts in your c hubs and steering arms are still present. When they fall out the suspension and steering become REALLY sloppy.


I have a big problem myself and I need some advice:

If you remembered, I had the problem with a warped chassis that lifted the rear right side up.

I then installed the graphite upper and lower deck. Also my car now has the aluminum suspension arms from yeah racing on the front and the rear. So far, so good.

But I STILL have to screw the rear right damper spring really far down in order to get the car to the same ride height left and right. My left damper spring is almost completely up while my right one is over halfway down.

I am at a loss as of now because I cannot figure out what is causing the massive imbalance. I have no means to weigh the car at all 4 ends independently but I highly doubt that the cars weight is so severly off to one side to cause such a big amount of imbalance between left and right. Also, it only applies to the rear. The front is aligned perfectly.

Of course I am using the same springs left and right. I quadruplechecked that!

The new chassis plate also isnt twisted or anything like that.

HAALP!