I'll try! Going to kick my scheduler now :deathstar

Hey guys, I'm driving the 710 now along with my Mongoose... :sneaky: I know how that sounds... Anyway, I trying to bullet proof the front end of my car the best way possible. The reason being is that I've gone through 2 right steering hubs in 1 weekend and the hits were really not that hard at all... One a car taped my right front end and other was when I had hit a tire going half throttle checking my steering setup... All the parts on my car are new... I notice that the steering hubs are alittle on the fragile side when compared to Mugen, Kyosho, TM, ect... I need to few tips to better setup my front end of my car to better take front and side impact... I'm already using the 710 Lola lower front bumper mount to add some protection, is there anything else I can do or use to bullet proof the front end of my 710 better. Are there any aftermarket steering hubs or upgraded ones??? Oh, Slow and Steady, I figured out those RCC shocks... :lol: That's for another thread...

RC_Alan

Thanks Mark, that´s a real time saver!

I spent a couple of days reading, and got only to page 75....

Ooof! :rolleyes: that hurt! :flaming:

It's his Zimmer-Frame which he borrowed from Bro Slow, it's too heavy for him http://www.3hobby.net/images/blocks/...wistedevil.gif

You're welcome :) Don't worry about the first hundred pages, it is more concerned with Michael Salven drinking wine :lol:

Well Bro, someone left the chair vacant, so I thought, why not! http://www.3hobby.net/images/blocks/...wistedevil.gif

Hi Alan, good to finally see your around here. It is really hard for me to believe you broke that steering hubs at is should be come of from its pivot ball on hard impact. At least that what I have seen. S710 steering hubs might not be the strongest available but I`m sure they are a whole (I mean a very ver much) lot stronger than never been improved MTX3 knuckles. Please check if the pivot ball has sufficient plays but I believe you knew that already :)

The steering knuckles didn't break or crack like what you would see in some other brand carss... The pivot balls poped out from the knuckles rendering the knuckles usless due to the hits and like I said the impacts were not hard at all... The knuckles were built correctly and the play between the knuckles and pivot balls are right on the money... My question is one, is there a way to bullet proof the front end of the car, 2. are there any after market knuckles availible and 3. Are there any updated pivol balls/knuckles from Serpent??? Like I posted in an earlier post, I'm using the Lola front lower bumper as well as using the Serpent Impact front bumper to ad. in protecting the front end of the car alittle better... I just can't see nor understand how easy the pivot balls pop out of the steering knuckles... Thanks for your reply back and your help Pyramid... Any input or tips would be greatly appriecated.

RC_Alan

Hi RC_Alan,

That's a tough question! Without trying to sound patronising I would double check the way you build the front knuckles - make sure that they turn extremely freely once you have put the whole unit together. Sorry if this sound like ABC stuff, I'm sure you have done these checks.

I know how frustrating this kind of stuff can be - and for me, I had a lot of problems with the two metal shielded bearings in the Centax-3 clutch at first. I was blowing them left, right and centre. I asked everyone why this was happening and no one could tell me. I followed others instructions about how to assemble the clutch, but nothing helped - I still blew the bearings.
I then asked a team driver to show me the whole process of what he did with his centax bearings and then I saw the crucial step which I didn't know about - cleaning the oil out with cleaning fluid and then lubricating them with WD-40. Since then I've never had problems again.

Back to your problem - certainly you can break the knuckles with a hard slam against the barriers, but I've never found them to break so easily - I think I've only broken one during the whole season this year and that really was my fault. Quite a few times, I was certain I had broken something when I slammed hard against a barrier, but the car was still fine.
Also I think I've only experience a knuckle poping off once, so I'm not sure what that could be.

Like I say, double check how you're building the assemblies and if you can check someone elses car to see what their's is like.

Cheers, Mark.

Thanks Mark... I'll try that, but the only problem is where I'm located, it's pretty much Mugen country... A few G4's ,Kyosho's and Serpents... The 710 is a very nice car to drive and it gives me something to compare it to while driving the Mongoose/G4... It just seems to me that the kind of contact that occured should not have caused that kind of damage... But I could be wrong.... It is a different car then what I've been driving... I guess if I could see some pics of how your front end looks and pics of other 710 owners, I could get a better gauge of how to better protect the front end of my car... The car steers like a dream and drives great... If the hit is head on, then I think it would not cause a major problem... Now it the hit is just a little off center where the front right tire or left tire get's most of the impact... That's the problem... Mind you, I'm not trashing the car hitting everthing in sight... :sneaky: lol It's just the kind of contact that is causing this damage seems a little strange... :weird: Thanks for the imput... Oh, one hop up tip... I tried the stock 710 clutch and the new UFO clutch from K-factory for the Mongoose... Lights out, the UFO clutch give way better performance.... It's takes about 2-4mins to mod the clutch and chassis, but once in... The power and performance was way better then the stock clutch.. Just passing that tip along for those looking for a different clutch set up...

RC_Alan

Just got back from my first race meet with the 710, I tried the RCC shocks after going with the stock set first so I could guage the difference. The car feels more stable & seems to react faster to steering imput with the new shocks. The added bonus is they are so easy to set up, fill em with oil, screw on the bottom cap & away you go. My results were not that good, but for first time out with a new ride I was pretty happy. I think I can be faster (in time) with this car than my NTC3. Just wish I had changed earlier, the Nationals probably isnt the best place to start with an unfamiliar car.

You need to learn to spit after saying that name, like this: *spit* *spit* :lol:

Ok, I'll send you a couple of pictures tomorrow, hopefully they will help.
In the mean time, measure the width of your car - get a flat ruler and place it on a flat surface. Now place your car on the ruler, so that the left front tyre's outside edge (or right its all the same) is on the 0 mark. Now position your car so that the right front tyre is also on the ruler. Now read off from the right front tyre's outside edge what track width you have. Max 200mm and min 198mm, for starters.
Once you've checked that, then measure the camber of the front wheels - actually you can also just check to make sure that the front tyres are wearing flat across their width. If they are coning from outside to inside then you have too much camber - if the coning is the otherway around then you have too little.

If your track width and camber is ok, then there is no problem in those areas.

Now remove the front shocks, wheels and also steering arms from the steering knuckles. The knuckles should pivot on the pivot balls without any resistance - they should really swing side-to-side just with a gentle touch.
Also make sure the front suspension arms are able to fall under their own weight.

If there is resistance in either of these two steps, the the pivot ball caps may be on too tight, or the little plastic spacer between the caps and the pivot balls may be badly seated.

Now try pushing and pulling the steering knuckles at the tops and bottoms - make sure you don't have too much movement to and fro. What I do is tighten the pivot ball caps slowly until the knuckles don't move so freely any more and then just turn the cap back a little until the movement is once again free.

That's basically it - there is nothing other than those things which can go wrong.

Try it out and let us know if you find anything.

Cheers, Mark.

I'm really interested to see what these shocks are like - I'm getting a set in the next couple of days.

Yeah new car and nationals is pretty heavy, but you'll learn a lot, too :)

Cheers, Mark.

RD Logics FRONT UPPER SUSP MOUNT SPACERS
 

Can someone please show me the correct way to install these. I was told to use these but don't know what is the correct way.

Thanks

http://shopserpent.secure-shops6.com...=1533&catid=41

They replace the stock roll centre spacers for the front. I dont see much use for them other than they are pretty.