Steering slack in the front

[jaceracer]

Hey guys on this xl 5.9 there is just a little play in the front steering setup, i took it apart hoping to find something wrong but there is not. Is there a way to eliminate this slop by maybe adding some washers onto the bell crank? or something else i'm not seeing?

 

[rcnut14]

make sure everthing is tight. I found that the ball ends on mine were worn out, I I replaced them with metal ones. took away a good bit of slop.

if you still want to get rid of more slop, there is a couple of aluminum setup out there.

 

[jaceracer]

are you talking about the metal ball that swivels inside the plastic end on the tie rod? and you changed the plastic to all metal?

 

[Jam Racing 1]

are you talking about the metal ball that swivels inside the plastic end on the tie rod? and you changed the plastic to all metal?

I think Nut is referring to how the plastic ends stretch and wear over time causing the slop... new rod ends will certainly help remove some of that

 

[jaceracer]

Now this truck is brand new so they shouldnt be stretched by now think tonight i'm going to take the steering completely apart see if i might be able to put a couple of washers in between the bell crank and the post to take up that up and down slop and maybe that will fix it.

 

[rcnut14]

yes, I was talking about the ball. the balls that mine had were plastic.

you can also just replace the entire rod end like jam said. they come on a parts tree with some shock parts for about 7$.

 

[Jam Racing 1]

if you are referring to the servo saver bellcrank then you can tighten that up by tightening down the knurled nut and that will most likely take out the slop in your steering system...

 

[jaceracer]

Yeah i tighten it a little bit but it would hardly budge so i didnt push it. I did add 1 shim per side on the steering crank post because if i turn the wheels by hand the servo saver and the other side have slop up and down, i literally can move these up and down by hand and there is no need for that, in my mind they should just swivel side to side and be stationary no slack up and down. I used an e clip for a shim and it's a perfect fit takes up exactly how much play gap up and down there is, i think thats where all the slack is coming from. I'm going to try this and i will post results tonight.

 

[jaceracer]

well my idea did not work oh well, it's still fun to try to figure things out. I guess i will just buy some bearings to replace the nylon bushings and see if that helps as well, thanks for everyones advice.

 

[Just a bill]

I put shims under and on top of bell crank to take up that same slop.that stopped the up and down movement.i see the issue as being excessive tie rod angle on long travel suspensions.i tightened the spring pre load and got slower steering as result .are your tie rods connected above or below at the spindle ? Mine were below I moved them to top side less angle less slip .had to add small clearance for rod end around inside of rim shimed all the slop out of suspension arms also to get almost all steering and misalignment out lot of labor but well worth it