Outcast 4S Steering....

[stimpy]

Hey up folks, hope you all had a great New Year!

Not touched the Mts for ages and just went out on the weekend and had a blast!.. However, it reminded me of how poop the steering on the outcast 4s is. Most of the issue is the servo saver then the rest is the rod end/composite pillows.. Just wondering a few things:

1. Can one shim/tighten the standard servo saver effectively?
2. If not I see the losi lmt saver looks the best but costs a fortune in the uK.. I've heard Kimbrough units mentioned though with equal good and bad... Any other economic units? Tamiya? Yeah Racing?.. there's also a HR unit I see for £20 ish..
3. The pillow balls and rod ends don't seem the strongest - what are folk using? And are the pillows meant to be 6.8mm units?

The boy is also bending turnbuckles and links but then I'd rather those than breaking the chassis I guess...

Thanks

 

[SrC]

Yeah pick and choose your battles. Parts will break, Just stock up on the stocker consumable parts, you tend to break more. $Upgrading$ does not always solve theses issue. All I can say.
At some point driver skill improves and your 4s will endure less breakage. How I fly.
The current stocker 4s SS is on B/O last I heard. Kimbrough HD one, I've used for some years on older models here. It's one option. They are inexpensive too. Can buy 2 or maybe 3 of them compared to one HR one. It's all about that Spring inside. And not about the fancy alloy Bling they are made of.
A crappy spring will compress, get weak and SS gets sloppy. What trashes them. Think HR... There is nothing worse than an RC model that has poor lame, weak sluggish steering, it can actually cause more carnage when driving, due to poor, less than adequate, steering input response.

 

[StephenSchandelmayer]

I have tried to open it up and put more preload on the spring and I gave up. The Kimbrough is a good one to get for sure. I have also deleted the servo saver which of course opens up the potential to kill your servo. But if you are bending turnbuckles then you want to keep the servo saver for sure. I have ran trucks without it and I'm currently running my mojave 4s without one and it makes the steering so much better. Haven't killed the servo yet but time will tell.

For the pillow balls HR makes metal replacements. The plastic balls get beat up and create the slop moreso than the rod ends themselves.

Are you still running the stock servo? You could grab a better one and that would make a nice difference as well

 

[stimpy]

I have tried to open it up and put more preload on the spring and I gave up. The Kimbrough is a good one to get for sure. I have also deleted the servo saver which of course opens up the potential to kill your servo. But if you are bending turnbuckles then you want to keep the servo saver for sure. I have ran trucks without it and I'm currently running my mojave 4s without one and it makes the steering so much better. Haven't killed the servo yet but time will tell.

For the pillow balls HR makes metal replacements. The plastic balls get beat up and create the slop moreso than the rod ends themselves.

Are you still running the stock servo? You could grab a better one and that would make a nice difference as well

Hey up...

Yes, I have replaced the servo - but just a cheapy I had lay about as my son may kill a decent one!.. And what with the amount of slop it wouldn't matter what servo I put on!!

Do you know the size of the pillows by any chance? Or got a link to the HR ones - perhaps they'll list size... I have some 6.8mm axial ones which seemed to be the size - but the rod end was still a bit sloppy - probably the rod tbh...

Yeah pick and choose your battles. Parts will break, Just stock up on the stocker consumable parts, you tend to break more. $Upgrading$ does not always solve theses issue. All I can say.
At some point driver skill improves and your 4s will endure less breakage. How I fly.
The current stocker 4s SS is on B/O last I heard. Kimbrough HD one, I've used for some years on older models here. It's one option. They are inexpensive too. Can buy 2 or maybe 3 of them compared to one HR one. It's all about that Spring inside. And not about the fancy alloy Bling they are made of.
A crappy spring will compress, get weak and SS gets sloppy. What trashes them. Think HR... There is nothing worse than an RC model that has poor lame, weak sluggish steering, it can actually cause more carnage when driving, due to poor, less than adequate, steering input response.

Yeah, I just tried opening it up earlier but no joy... Looks like the plastic is sealed up around whatever lame spring is in there.... And yes, driver skill is the most important upgrade! We have not driven for a while and it's always skate parks for us whenever we do so no give. And let's be honest, some tricks you just don't get right when you're practicing!...

The Kimbrough is definitely cheap. I just worry it'll be poop is all as I've never tried one... I like the complete adjustable spring ones like the LMT unit but at £30 it just don't sit right!....

 

[StephenSchandelmayer]

Hey up...

Yes, I have replaced the servo - but just a cheapy I had lay about as my son may kill a decent one!.. And what with the amount of slop it wouldn't matter what servo I put on!!

Do you know the size of the pillows by any chance? Or got a link to the HR ones - perhaps they'll list size... I have some 6.8mm axial ones which seemed to be the size - but the rod end was still a bit sloppy - probably the rod tbh...


Yeah, I just tried opening it up earlier but no joy... Looks like the plastic is sealed up around whatever lame spring is in there.... And yes, driver skill is the most important upgrade! We have not driven for a while and it's always skate parks for us whenever we do so no give. And let's be honest, some tricks you just don't get right when you're practicing!...

The Kimbrough is definitely cheap. I just worry it'll be poop is all as I've never tried one... I like the complete adjustable spring ones like the LMT unit but at £30 it just don't sit right!....

https://www.amainhobbies.com/hot-racing-arrma-4x4-aluminum-pivot-ball-set-red-hraatf160b02/p971729

 

[SrC]

The Kimbrough is a good one to get for sure. I have also deleted the servo saver which of course opens up the potential to kill your servo. But if you are bending turnbuckles then you want to keep the servo saver for sure. I have ran trucks without it and I'm currently running my mojave 4s without one and it makes the steering so much better. Haven't killed the servo yet but time will tell.

I've used Direct/ no SS before. Rare that you will ever see any Crawler with a SS. Just a strong Servo with a good alloy arm. Clamping one even better.
The steering always phenomenal dead on. Sharp and quick ST. If you don't mind taking the risk, the ST doesn't get any better. Simplifies everything to some extent.. I have "pinned" my worn out Kimb. HD SS's and others before, locking them out. Been using them for like 25 years. I don't think the part number ever even changed.
...With hard bashing not a great option though. Unless you want to stockpile $servos$ and ST . Parts.

 

[stimpy]

I've used Direct/ no SS before. Rare that you will ever see any Crawler with a SS. Just a strong Servo with a good alloy arm. Clamping one even better.
The steering always phenomenal dead on. Sharp and quick ST. If you don't mind taking the risk, the ST doesn't get any better. Simplifies everything to some extent.. I have "pinned" my worn out Kimb. HD SS's and others before, locking them out. Been using them for like 25 years. I don't think the part number ever even changed.
...With hard bashing not a great option though. Unless you want to stockpile $servos$ and ST . Parts.

Yeah I don't run savers on anything but I reckon the boy could do with one!....

Most times servos take it tbh but I'll give an upgraded SS a go and see....

 

[SrC]

One of the few reasons I lean to Arrma 6s platforms. A way better S. Saver design. And quite tunable.
And I like them still on the tight firmer side. I hate giving up Steering to my SS.

 

[stimpy]

One of the few reasons I lean to Arrma 6s platforms. A way better S. Saver design. And quite tunable.
And I like them still on the tight firmer side. I hate giving up Steering to my SS.

I ran 6S Arrmas for a long time. But eventually got the Tekno bug. Then the 4S series came up thought I'd upgrade the boy from his 3S Granite... It's a fun truck,. just needs some working I guess!...

 

[SrC]

Some guys here have done some awesome work to their 4x4's.

The Kimbrough is definitely cheap. I just worry it'll be poop is all as I've never tried one... I like the complete adjustable spring ones like the LMT unit but at £30 it just don't sit right!....

Kimbrough is an old brand name in RC. From Decades ago. Well regarded. My first RC in the late 80's used a Kimbrough SS. My TA RC10L Pan car. The TA kit manual even stated you had to buy it separately from Kimbrough, the exact recommended .part # SS. that fits. Kimb. was a big OE supplier back when for kit built RC's
Some things don't need to be expensive to be good quality. Just good enough for its application. Remember that a SS spares/saves the servo, so you want that to fail if anything. Then just replace. Many RC parts just need to be replaced at some point from wear, at best, or from simple driver error. Searching for that upgrade that is 100% bullet proof, can work against you, by costing more, yet still breaking as designed. It's why many stock parts are best. Some of the beautiful looking shiny alloy $bling$ is just showy. Trick looking.