adding bearings to your steering linkage

[norcalsc]

I was curious how many of you guys take out the 4 bushings inside the steering linkage of your 1/8 scale rigs and replace them with bearings? other than reducing resistance, which is always good. are there any other tangible benefits to doing this and how necessary is it to do this to your cars/trucks in your opinion?

 

[GTRider610]

I was curious how many of you guys take out the 4 bushings inside the steering linkage of your 1/8 scale rigs and replace them with bearings? other than reducing resistance, which is always good. are there any other tangible benefits to doing this and how necessary is it to do this to your cars/trucks in your opinion?

i've always done it since it's pretty straight forward and does give noticeably smoother steering. I also like adding the rubber sealed bearings on bashers to keep them from rusting as fast. I'd recommend the snap ring mod too for your bashers. Good way to reduce some of the steering slop as well. This video from East Tactics helped me get my steering dialed in on my Notorious.

 

[jondilly1974]

I was curious how many of you guys take out the 4 bushings inside the steering linkage of your 1/8 scale rigs and replace them with bearings? other than reducing resistance, which is always good. are there any other tangible benefits to doing this and how necessary is it to do this to your cars/trucks in your opinion?

I replace them before even running the first pack. It is a must do mod.

 

[Sandracer_NL]

No more bushings in my cars. I replace them as soon as I replace the stock servo, which is right after purchase of the car.
To be honest I can’t tell a major difference, but that’s probably because I bash in very low grip offroad conditions, so I don’t have ultra precise steering.

 

[JvG]

I used to replace those bushings with bearings. But after a few rides (in sand) they get stuck and operate exactly like a bushing. So i stopped using bearings and never noticed any difference.

To me it’s not a must do.

 

[TL01magic]

I used to replace those bushings with bearings. But after a few rides (in sand) they get stuck and operate exactly like a bushing. So i stopped using bearings and never noticed any difference.

To me it’s not a must do.

I did replace but noticed ZERO difference in resistance; whats more I noticed the bottom bearing gets fowled quickly from grit / water. bearing is not exposed at all and even after drying rc from wet run, water seems to stay around that bottom bearing.

one had seized...and still did not notice resistance. I think the leverage placed on that is VERY minimal.

 

[Diem Turner]

I find the steering resistance from the assembly is vastly improved with a set of bearings (though I do think it's fair to ask if a servo with 44Kg of torque notices or gives even a single fork). That being said, I do have a titanium Ackerman and a set of flanged bearings on the way from Scorched RC because to my mind...is there such a thing as too little friction? And yes, before anyone says anything, there ARE applications where a little friction makes positioning of object X relative to object Y easier...but steering and roll resistance ain't two of them.

 

[SrC]

I was curious how many of you guys take out the 4 bushings inside the steering linkage of your 1/8 scale rigs and replace them with bearings? other than reducing resistance, which is always good. are there any other tangible benefits to doing this and how necessary is it to do this to your cars/trucks in your opinion?

Steering BB's seems to be the first thing to upgrade. I've always done this out the box. The Brass bushings suck. Out the box, steering seems to be at a disadvantage anyway. A cheap enough worthy upgrade IMHO. Don't hesitate to do this. A no brainer upgrade.
My TLRT Typhon was the only Arrma rig that came standard with (4) rubber sealed Steering bushings installed . FWIW.

I did replace but noticed ZERO difference in resistance; whats more I noticed the bottom bearing gets fowled quickly from grit / water. bearing is not exposed at all and even after drying rc from wet run, water seems to stay around that bottom bearing.

one had seized...and still did not notice resistance. I think the leverage placed on that is VERY minimal.

Yes bottom BB's will get trashed very easily. Been there also.
I repack the 4 Steering BB's when new very heavily with Marine grease for this reason. Lasting much longer. These BB's won't rotate at high speed at all. They just need to rotate smooth and do so slowly in this application over their lifespan IMHO.
Bashing in the wet gets the best of the lower ST BB's easily. They simply rust out becoming locked up.