Senton Senton Mega 4 x4 , Steering, Servo, Toe, Handling?

[Curvin]

Hi All,

I thought I would run a few things past the collective here, just to be sure I am not missing something obvious.

After replacing the original Servo with a Power HD 20KG metal geared Servo with a matching Glitch Buster , when first powered on and testing steering, I need to wind the dual rate right up to get the steering lock to turn full ( or close to ) right/left. With the dual rate centered it was not turning the steering anywhere near the lock positions. Just checking that is normal.

Car seems to be difficult to drive in a straight line , with steering centered toe is more noticeable on one side than the other, which I can dial out with the trim so both are toeing out. Seems to be a little too much play in the steering overall, and non adjustable arms doesn't give a lot of options there. Car seems to wander under hard acceleration ( could also be that my son being over enthusiastic with steering inputs ), so just needing some advise to getting the car tracking straight better.

Lastly , general handling of the car seems to have shifted regards being a lot easier to roll in hard cornering since installing some HSP Aluminium shocks , which I also refilled with good quality oil 40/50 wt front/rear. Car ride height is a little higher with the HSP shocks/springs combo , and stiffer overall. Lands jumps nicely, just seems to roll very easily now. I have installed the original ( shorter/softer) springs and from the stock shocks and adjusted accordingly to match factory spacers to lower the height a little, and may actually lower the body a bit as well to see if I can minimize the rolling.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[Gray114]

Sounds like your spring rate was to high with the hsp's. I put a set of pro line's on my truck. They are crazy expensive,$115 for 4. But they handle very good. Dual rate springs with 27.5wt oil. Running flat out there amazing. Soft setup for jumps but you can corner hard on asphalt without rolling.

 

[Curvin]

@Gray114,

Cheers for that, I figured the springs were a little to stiff, thats why I will be testing with the stock springs next run.

I lowered the body a step as well today, and the ride height is a touch lower as well.

 

[Jerry-rigged]

Hi All,

I thought I would run a few things past the collective here, just to be sure I am not missing something obvious.

After replacing the original Servo with a Power HD 20KG metal geared Servo with a matching Glitch Buster , when first powered on and testing steering, I need to wind the dual rate right up to get the steering lock to turn full ( or close to ) right/left. With the dual rate centered it was not turning the steering anywhere near the lock positions. Just checking that is normal.

Sounds right. The DR should not be centered, but somewhere close to max. To set the DR, I start at max, then steer left/right, and check if the servo is moving too far and binding. If yes, lower the DR a bit till there is no more binding at the end points.

Car seems to be difficult to drive in a straight line , with steering centered toe is more noticeable on one side than the other, which I can dial out with the trim so both are toeing out. Seems to be a little too much play in the steering overall, and non adjustable arms doesn't give a lot of options there. Car seems to wander under hard acceleration ( could also be that my son being over enthusiastic with steering inputs ), so just needing some advise to getting the car tracking straight better.

Toe out is normal. Needing to use a bit of trim to make the truck drive straight is also normal. My granite 4x4 is also twitchy at high speeds. If you know you will be doing speed runs, you can dial the DR down a bit to help high-speed control... But then you lose low speed tight turning.

Lastly , general handling of the car seems to have shifted regards being a lot easier to roll in hard cornering since installing some HSP Aluminium shocks , which I also refilled with good quality oil 40/50 wt front/rear. Car ride height is a little higher with the HSP shocks/springs combo , and stiffer overall. Lands jumps nicely, just seems to roll very easily now. I have installed the original ( shorter/softer) springs and from the stock shocks and adjusted accordingly to match factory spacers to lower the height a little, and may actually lower the body a bit as well to see if I can minimize the rolling.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Again, seems normal. You say the HSP shocks make the truck ride higher - so you raised the COG, which will make it roll easier. Swaybars / stiffer springs / lowering the ride height can all help. Re: swaybars, I don't know if there is an option for the Mega chassis other than self-fab'ing some.

 

[Curvin]

@Jerry-rigged,

Thanks for the response, much appreciated.

I dialed in the DR with the steering, interestingly it was binding more on left hard lock than right, but I wound it back a bit more so it was no longer binding on the left lock , losing a touch of lock on right.

With the ride height on the HSP springs, first run on them a few weeks back when first installed with the standard oil ( or lack there of more like it ) , it wasn't rolling over as easily, so I think its a combination of things with the better oil playing a part as well. To lower the ride height I had no other option of springs than to use the shorter / lighter ones from the original shocks, then adjusted back to a little below stock heights , which goes against the stiffer spring suggestion, but I'll give it a run and see how I go. I lowered the body one step as well. The stiffer HSP springs were at full extension so no adjustment available there to lower the car using the supplied springs.

 

[ptr1ck]

I'm running a TA radio setup in mine that has dynamic vehicle control. If I turn it off, my truck will roll easily. I keep it on level 4 or 5.

 

[Curvin]

Just as a quick follow up, I charged up the Lipo and we had a quick bash to test out the shock springs/ride height adjustments and to give the truck a first run up on 2S. Performance on Lipo was great, good 20+ minutes, engine was barely warm, and that is also with snapping a wire to the fan on motor , so just the heatsink itself cooling the motor off for a period of that session. I did have the wire a little too short/tight, all resolved now with a better quality fan with extended wiring.

Session went very well, less jumps on this outing, but gave it a good workout on speed runs on grass/gravel, and some embankments for minor air/jumps , etc. Very minimal rolling , so I have resolved it easily tipping over on hard cornering. Steering adjusted and noticed some additional Servo binding on lock , which turned out to be some small stones had got in between the horn and the chassis and was restricting the movement. Cleared that and readjusted the DR again.

Over all package now feels a lot more solid.

 

[KMS]

I was going to say that rocks by the servo saver can mess up your center or in my case steering completely. When running in my alley after every pass down and back I roll the truck over and shake the rocks out,,,

 

[Curvin]

The design of Servo mounting placing the horn underneath and close to th chassis was not overly well thought out IMO.

FWIW - I removed a lot of the play from the steering by giving all the tie rod/pillow ball connections a tighten as they had been working loose. Significantly better now, I expect the tracking/wandering in a straight line now to be improved. I'll confirm on next bash session.

 

[Curvin]

Still playing with springs/ride height, etc.

Tried going back to the HSP springs, but used 4 front springs and adjusted ride height at rear to suit. Original ARRMA springs are 70mm front/80mm rear, with the fronts having a higher spring rate. HSP fronts are 75mm , with a higher spring rate than both the standard. Rear HSP spring length FWIW is around 105mm, so lets say, way too long for the Senton at least. In hindsight 4 front HSP shocks may have been the better options, and I still have that option as I have a complete spare set of front/rears. the shocks are listed as 1/8th, so not overly surprised the rears were too long. Might be O.K for Ganite.

First run on the 4 x front HSP springs was not that good, too stiff , rolled easier in corners and was very erratic on jumps with the rear kicking the car into a nose dive most times. Ride height is around 45mm ( standard is listed as 32mm, which I cant see as correct , can someone please confirm that if they have the standard shocks installed ).

I have reinstalled the original ARRMA springs and adjusted ride height to around 40mm, feels a bit soft and bottoms out relatively easily when pushed down by hand. Shocks have 40/50 weight oil front/rear, so not overly thin. I can raise the car/spring tension , but then we are heading back to higher ride height/easier rolling, etc.

I noticed the Senton 6X has a lower ride height as standard.

Any suggestions welcome, just doing me best to find the best balance for faster flat runs/cornering and some regular jumping ( not crazy over the top air ) for a SC styled course/bashing.

 

[Curvin]

Just a quick follow up, I think I have finally found a 1/2 decent balance for the shocks/springs, ride height, etc. Stayed with the HSP Front/Rear shocks but with some additional mods - 3mm nylon spacers installed on shaft internally to set ride heights correctly ( 3x3mm front, 5 x 3mm rear ) , swapped the oil front rear to 50/40 , stock ARRMA springs used front rear, ride height at around 40mm. Front still a touch soft, but overall balance of the dampening/spring tension is the best its going to get with this combo IMO.

I am finding we are still constantly needing to readjust the steering trim , despite having very minimal slop/play in steering , so looking for some suggestions to could be the cause and where I can improve that if possible