TOPIC:

Hi all. The servo horn broke a while back and I've replaced it. Now the steering all seems to happen from the rear wheels. Servo is obviously connected to the front swivel, but the steering barely moves. Any ideas?

SEAN

Maybe the front servo saver.

That's pretty standard behaviour for the Clod/Super Clod/Bullhead ... the only way around that is to tighten up the spring loaded saver bit on the front axle so tight that the two plastic parts are for all practical purposes one part - in which case you're very likely to break your servo - or upgrade to on axle servo(s).

IMO thet're not really about speed, handling or even steering - just about being bigger than anything else & going where others won't - deep snow, across lakes, over the top of Lunchboxes, etc

Oddly, I don't remember it being like that before.....

SEAN

As Jonny Retro pointed out, the front servo-saver is critical. My truck has a solid one-piece alu bit as front servo saver and the thing works perfectly with a regular 1989 Futaba servo.

I tightened mines on my old clod

Took another look - it works fine in reverse - IE the front wheels turn perfectly when going backwards and the now leading wheels (rears) don't turn well. I think this is standard behaviour, although there is a servo saver at the front that can (I think) be adjusted?

SEAN

Front and rear there is a servo saver steering arm which can be adjusted, I removed both and replaced them for fixed alloy ones. Was a slight improvement less wobble.

Sean63 wrote:

Took another look - it works fine in reverse - IE the front wheels turn perfectly when going backwards and the now leading wheels (rears) don't turn well. I think this is standard behaviour, although there is a servo saver at the front that can (I think) be adjusted?

It's all about caster, the portion of suspension geometry which causes turned wheels to want to return to center automatically. Because the tires are so big, the caster forces are very large which makes the front wheels want to stay straight and makes the servo ineffective. The rear axle is installed backwards so the caster also works backwards, meaning the geometry is unstable and the servo needs to try to hold them straight. This is why Clods tend to weave back and forth at high speed as the rear axle oscillates around center. When backing up, this is all reversed and the front wheels want to turn. TXT-1 and TXT-2 use the same geometry but the axle mounted servos are much better at holding the wheels straight (or turned) since they are more directly attached to the wheels.

You are both very kind to explain.

The adjustment I can see is where the steering arm ball joint can be housed (3 positions). Or can the servo savers be tightened?

Sean