Trial Truck Steering Question

[MrNumbskull13]

Hi everyone, I've started planning a trial truck and I've done everything but some of the steering, is a better or worse to use a worm gear in the steering system, I am using one M motor in my truck for steering. I was hoping that you guys could tell me the pros and cons of worm gears in the steering system, thanks a lot! :)

[MarkusOSX]

Hi,

in one version of my 8x8 TrialTruck i used linear actuators for steering.

Works really well, but to slow for me.

Greetz

Markus

[MrNumbskull13]

Thanks! But I want to make 4 wheel steering and I have 2 LAs so I don't think I can do that idea. I prefer to use rack and pinion anyway. :)

[timslegos]

I have used a worm gear in my truck trisl trucks because it offers a lot of reduction for more precise steering. Bellow is a work in progress photo of how I did my steering on my upcoming crawler. Disregard the ugly roof .

tim

[Tamas Juhasz]

Worm gear:

pros:

- the same reduction requires less space

- large reduction is possible (for example a 16 tooth gear driven with worm gear gives you a x16 reduction)

- no backward drive: the wheels can't be steered by the terrain if you use less reduction(for example 1:3 with normal gears)

cons:

- lot of friction(so unefficient) in the case of high torque in the steering mechanism (steering usually needs the high torque in a TT)

- minimum x8 reduction: the smallest gear has 8 teeth, so this is the minimum reduction, which can be too much if you don't want a gearing up after the worm gear (but if you use it, the steering will be very unefficient)

- requires more power from the steering motor --> slower steering

But these are also depending on the use of the truck.

Edited February 16, 2013 by Mbmc

[MrNumbskull13]

Thanks Tim! That's a nice looking truck. Thank you so much for all those pros and cons Mbmc, I should be able to decide now, thanks! :)