Kraton steering locked up when A arms start to drop

[Alopizzo]

Hello

to start i am very new to this hobby, and this is the third time i have ever ran this car and im starting to have issues. the only upgrades i have done so far is the servo and i cleaned out the diffs and put oil instead of grease. the first couple of runs on the track the car ran great but then the steering started to decline until the servo seemed to loose power after a few tests we noticed that as the front of the car lifted the steering would bind up which has never been a problem before. so me a buddy took apart the whole front end and cleaned the entire steering system but that did not seem to fix anything. is there any suggestions to why this is happening or is this just how the car works, because any kind of lift on the car completely kills the steering .

 

[Alopizzo]

Anybody have an idea?

 

[Va-jeeper]

Hello

to start i am very new to this hobby, and this is the third time i have ever ran this car and im starting to have issues. the only upgrades i have done so far is the servo and i cleaned out the diffs and put oil instead of grease. the first couple of runs on the track the car ran great but then the steering started to decline until the servo seemed to loose power after a few tests we noticed that as the front of the car lifted the steering would bind up which has never been a problem before. so me a buddy took apart the whole front end and cleaned the entire steering system but that did not seem to fix anything. is there any suggestions to why this is happening or is this just how the car works, because any kind of lift on the car completely kills the steering .

Hmmmm...I have a few questions to try and help diagnose to problem.
1) what servo did you upgrade to?
2) does it only lock up under throttle?
3) can you turn the wheels with the car on the ground and not moving?
4) have you put it on a stand to see if the steering locks up without pressure?
5) have you tried to reinstall the original servo to see if it locks up under the same conditions?

The more information you provide the better chance someone can help you. There are a number of things that could be going on. From the information you provided I would guess the servo wasn't strong enough and it burnt out after a couple of runs or the servo may need more power and you are getting brown outs (under throttle there isn't enough power to operate the servo) or you are operating the servo outside of it's voltage range.

 

[j1980mac]

@Alopizzo and @Va-jeeper, I'm having some of the same issues. It's super frustrating.

My Kraton is less than a week old, and is having steering issues mostly when sitting still. Can barely turn left or right, and my turn radius is also hampered while in motion no matter the terrain.

My list:

1) Tried adjusting the servo saver. It's a joke. The only way to truly do it is to take almost the whole front end apart (which I haven't done yet.)

2) Savox 1210 waterproof servo upgrade, didn't help anything.

3) Servo mount flex issue (got parts on the way).

4) Loosened the steering knuckles a 1/4-1/2 turn (didn't help anything).

5) Servo linkage has 3 points. One on the servo, one in the middle, and one on the steering arm itself. I think if there were only 2 points (instead of 3 points), it would turn like a champ as long as the servo didn't flex at all.

 

[BigShow823]

@Alopizzo and @Va-jeeper, I'm having some of the same issues. It's super frustrating.

My Kraton is less than a week old, and is having steering issues mostly when sitting still. Can barely turn left or right, and my turn radius is also hampered while in motion no matter the terrain.

My list:

1) Tried adjusting the servo saver. It's a joke. The only way to truly do it is to take almost the whole front end apart (which I haven't done yet.)

2) Savox 1210 waterproof servo upgrade, didn't help anything.

3) Servo mount flex issue (got parts on the way).

4) Loosened the steering knuckles a 1/4-1/2 turn (didn't help anything).

5) Servo linkage has 3 points. One on the servo, one in the middle, and one on the steering arm itself. I think if there were only 2 points (instead of 3 points), it would turn like a champ as long as the servo didn't flex at all.

Last time i had steering trouble it was my trim my son had spun everything out of wack. I hear a lot of times resetting the esc works.

 

[Alopizzo]

the steering locks up even when the servo horn is off
on the test bench if the A arms are flat the steering is perfect when the A arms are down it completely locks
when driving at certain points during the flex of the A arms i will lock up

@j1980mac did you set your steering endpoints with your transmitter because out of the box you only have a 60% turn radius

 

[Vanning]

Adjust the ball joints...Turn the red caps at the end counter clockwise until the steering is loose, then bring them back in until you don't have any play. You could also have the tie rods installed wrong....are they installed on top of the rack by any chance ?

 

[travis328]

My brother had this same issue on his Kraton. We ended up just limiting the down travel of the front a arms with the droop screws.

From what I could tell, the pivot balls were jamming in the steering blocks at full suspension droop.

 

[Alopizzo]

I think that is the same problem I'm having but also I thinking of getting smaller nylon washers and replacing the shims that come with the car and instead of having different sizes for top and bottom I'm going to make all 4 even and just fine tune the orientation of the wheels

 

[j1980mac]

Last time i had steering trouble it was my trim my son had spun everything out of wack. I hear a lot of times resetting the esc works.

I wish it were this simple. it's definitely mechanical and not electrical.

the steering locks up even when the servo horn is off
on the test bench if the A arms are flat the steering is perfect when the A arms are down it completely locks
when driving at certain points during the flex of the A arms i will lock up

@j1980mac did you set your steering endpoints with your transmitter because out of the box you only have a 60% turn radius

Yes, absolutely. If I lift the pressure off the front wheels a bit, it turns full motion.

Adjust the ball joints...Turn the red caps at the end counter clockwise until the steering is loose, then bring them back in until you don't have any play. You could also have the tie rods installed wrong....are they installed on top of the rack by any chance ?

Adjust the ball joints...Turn the red caps at the end counter clockwise until the steering is loose, then bring them back in until you don't have any play. You could also have the tie rods installed wrong....are they installed on top of the rack by any chance ?

It's funny you ask. Top on the tire side, and bottom on the body side. Came like this stock.

 

[Alopizzo]

j1980mac, my steering rods came the came way as well should they be installed differently, if so which way because the book does not give an orientation

 

[Vanning]

That looks correct. It makes no sense that your steering is binding mechanically...plus it should be easy to see why.

I think that is the same problem I'm having but also I thinking of getting smaller nylon washers and replacing the shims that come with the car and instead of having different sizes for top and bottom I'm going to make all 4 even and just fine tune the orientation of the wheels

This here was something a few of us observed a while back...It wasn't much of a steering issue. What it was....the front dog bone was jamming into the outer diff cup on down travel. We added shims exactly to where you are talking about to correct it. It was causing the front diff to bind in full down travel. It's easy to miss and isn't obvious at first.

 

[Alopizzo]

Vanning, did you put those shims on both the upper and the lower A arms or just the upper. did you install different sizes?

 

[Vanning]

Vanning, did you put those shims on both the upper and the lower A arms or just the upper. did you install different sizes?

I have those on the upper and a thinner metric size washer on the bottom. It gives me very slight camber. The tops of the tires are slightly tilted inwards, at the same time, the dog bone moves slightly outwards. It's a win win because the plastic shims will fall out, and you also stop the binding.

 

[Alopizzo]

Vanning do you happen to remember the sizes?

 

[Vanning]

I used bushings out of the Kratons steering on top, then M6 washers on the bottom.

I just looked up the gold bushing. They are 6x10x3. I used just a M6 washer on the bottom then... probably 6x10x1.

 

[dpricenator]

This here was something a few of us observed a while back...It wasn't much of a steering issue. What it was....the front dog bone was jamming into the outer diff cup on down travel. We added shims exactly to where you are talking about to correct it. It was causing the front diff to bind in full down travel. It's hard to miss and isn't obvious at first.

Yep, I lost a couple of the little nylon "c" clip spacers, that come stock behind the ball. I decided to just take them all out because I thought they couldn't be of much use. WRONG. Steering would bind and the up and down travel was not right either. I went back and added something small like a differential shim or two behind each one, and ding ding, everything was cool again.

 

[Vanning]

This might be the solution to the OP's steering issue.

 

[derekq1121]

Hello

to start i am very new to this hobby, and this is the third time i have ever ran this car and im starting to have issues. the only upgrades i have done so far is the servo and i cleaned out the diffs and put oil instead of grease. the first couple of runs on the track the car ran great but then the steering started to decline until the servo seemed to loose power after a few tests we noticed that as the front of the car lifted the steering would bind up which has never been a problem before. so me a buddy took apart the whole front end and cleaned the entire steering system but that did not seem to fix anything. is there any suggestions to why this is happening or is this just how the car works, because any kind of lift on the car completely kills the steering .

How tight are those red nuts in the steering knuckle suppose to be I noticed that they were loose so I tightened a little bit then I noticed my steering was tight so I took front tires back off and loosened them and my steering is fine now thank you??

 

[Vanning]

Just snug them enough to keep the play out yet still maintain the ability to turn free.