Steering is Screwed for the Noob

[MotorGong]

Dudes, weakness level is high. I havn't had a problem yet with steering alignment. I have MS's, LXX's and a couple clones, and the steering on these needed minor adjustment. Well, I won this TOMY 35mhz on E-bay....oops, at the end of post....

JUST got it today, and I have the steering alignment lever all the frickin' way over right, and the sucker STILL turns a little. On top of that, after 2 charges, it wouldn't move....further inspection revealed that the gear on the axle was MOVING FREELY! I can turn it with ease!! I'm soooo glad this was not my first experience with bits.

There's no Articles about steering, and I scanned through some steering topics here, but nothing caught my eye. I betcha I missed something. Can you guys 'steer' me in the right direction, or perhaps some quick advice?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MEWN:IT

BTW, it was brand spankin' new, factory tape, box in EXCELLENT condition.

[sessiz]

That is definatly weird for a tomy bit. I can honestly say this is the first time I've heard of a brand new stock tomy doing that. I know this sounds silly but make sure all of the tires are on the rims snug and flush like. You could also check the return spring to see if it's bent out of shape at all.
As for the axel problem I got no advice really cept for maybe trying another one and seeing if ya get a mesh.
Good luck man.

[DarkTari]

Me too Sess. I find it impossible for the spur gear to move by itself, it has
2 holes that the wheel proms fit into. ARe you sure one of the wheels isn't
turning freely. If this is the case then that's where your steering issues are.
Take off the rear axle, twist off the wheel (loose one will come off), put
a drop of Super Glue in the wheel hole, press wheel back on the axle,
place up to chassis to make sure it's spaced right, let it sit for 2-5 minutes, put back on chassis and you're ready to go.

[MotorGong]

Boy, when did I leave that post, 4:30am? I read it this morning, and I must say I wasn't very descriptive. Tired, Buzzed, and a little ticked.
These are definately 2 different problems.
The spur gear does move freely....I think the 'wheel proms' (?) are just plain not attached to the wheel. Closer, I see only ONE of the two proms, and it's just about flush with the flat surface of the spur gear. As for the wheels moving freely, they seem as snug as the other axles I have.
Of course I just used another axle, problem solved, but still WEAK coming right outta the box.

Return spring? Sounds like this noob it heading for the dictionary of bit terms. I shoulda done that before, so as to communicate more accurately.
You guys at least deserve that if I'm asking for help. However, with my finger or left/right on the controller, it turns and snaps back straight.
Tires are snug (that was my 1st noob prob with my 1st bit ever).
I know TOMY is supposed to be the shit, it befuddles me. I'll work on it s'more.

[SuperFly]

Since you said you have other bits around, the first thing i would do is just swap the entire rear axle with a different car and see if you still have a steering problem. If not, just glue that gear to the wheel. All those little prongs are doing is keeping it aligned and stationary with the rear wheel that's next to it, as there's probably not enough surface area in the hole in the gear to keep it fixed on the axle.

Another thing I would try is changing out the front knuckles/wheels with some others. If one of your front wheels isn't spinning completely freely, it will pull to that side. Sometimes if the little post on the top of the knuckle is slightly longer or shorter than the other, it will cause a steering imbalance.

If your steering problem is as deep as the steering coils or the centering spring, well, at that point it becomes a parts car. For me anyway. Even, balanced steering is critical. If you don't have that, nothing else matters.

[crazydave]

I've had a few Bit Char-Gs that the steering had to be cranked all the way beyond it's range of adjustment. It's just the spring in the front end. If you bend and fiddle with it, you might be able to fix it. Then again you might watch that little spring fly across the room. Search the Articles section for betty.k's tutorial on the steering, I think he covered that somewhere in there.

If your haveing problems with the gear spinning on the axle, check to make sure the wheels are not spinning freely also. Just about every bit I ever owned has had the wheels break free, and that will wreak hovak on your steering. I'm always tearing the axles apart and glueing everything back. One thing I do is crimp the end of the axle with wire cutters, so it has a flat surface for the glue to lock onto.

[Bird]

Just about every bit I ever owned has had the wheels break free, and that will wreak hovak on your steering.

Yeah... 9 times out of 10 on any conventional bit/clone/zz, taking care of that cures the steering problems... hog taught me that one.

lmao@ hovak...

[stampede_dude]

ive moved my steering adjustment past what its supposed to be-but it was too much. maybe you could use a dremel to make the adjustment tract wider for the car so it can have a wider range of adujustment. i never though of this beofre it tore mine down, ubt maybe itll help you.

[SuperFly]

ive moved my steering adjustment past what its supposed to be-but it was too much. maybe you could use a dremel to make the adjustment tract wider for the car so it can have a wider range of adujustment. i never though of this beofre it tore mine down, ubt maybe itll help you.

I do that sometime by just prying the little white tab adjuster over the edge. I suppose you could dremel it out, but usually if the steering is that bad I'll try to get it more even and centered by some other means. All my best cars have that lever pointing straight down the middle.

[betty.k]

i once got a tomy bit that had bad steering, i opened it up and the steering spring had been mangled somehow. but that's the only case i've heard of until now. you definately need to take a leap and open that sucker up!

[crazydave]

ive moved my steering adjustment past what its supposed to be-but it was too much. maybe you could use a dremel to make the adjustment tract wider for the car so it can have a wider range of adujustment. i never though of this beofre it tore mine down, ubt maybe itll help you.

I do that sometime by just prying the little white tab adjuster over the edge. I suppose you could dremel it out, but usually if the steering is that bad I'll try to get it more even and centered by some other means. All my best cars have that lever pointing straight down the middle.

I agree I like to set up my cars so the adjuster is centered. Sometimes it just takes a little tweaking of the spring, but sometimes I get lazy, and I'll just chop that steering adjuster in half. That'll give you a fuller range of adjustment, so you don't have to pull it up over the edge, and it doesn't get stuck in that in between spot that it might have if you did.

[MotorGong]

Success!!!!! Unfortunately, it wasn't as technical as I 'hoped' it would be, but still a step for a noob. Just did it!
If I hold the bit in front of me, ass-end towards the ground, I can see that the top left wheel (passenger-front on the bit) seemed to sort of 'hang' if you will. The opposite wheel appeared very straight. I remember SuperFly saying something about the white knuckles....I replaced the whole knuckle with one from an MS SpeedSet, and WOW! My first noob 'fixed-it-myself" excitement!!!!! My TOMY 35mhz alignment is straight-down the friggin' middle!! Now I'm on a roll, betty k. has got me excited with his advice, so I opened up a super-cheapo hummer clone. Whoa, glad I did it first with this cheap sucker. I have TONS of understanding now about the steering inner-workings.



However, CrazyDave, I couldn't SEE the spring fly across the room!!

Then again you might watch that little spring fly across the room.

[betty.k]

My first noob 'fixed-it-myself" excitement!!!!

welcome to tha club it gets better too!