[TIP] Reduce slack in steering links

[Didumos69]

Warning: The suggested solution may not be regarded as perfectly 'legal' by some of you. Find out for yourself whether you want to go as far as this when it comes to fine-tuning your build.

Everyone who has ever played around with custom steering setups with realstic features such as caster angel and/or camber angle knows the hassle of finding the most optimal tie rod and tooth rack position. Optimal in a sense that effects like toe-in, toe-out and bump steer are avoided as much as possible. And when you have found the optimal placement, there is still so much slack in the ball joints that your build is always left with a certain amount of toe-in or toe-out, When all seems fine when driving forward, there will be some toe-in/toe-out when driving backwards.

It may not be the most aesthetic solution but I found a very effective way to reduce the slack in the tie rod / ball joint connections. Simply tie one or more rubber belts around the ball joints, just below the ball part of the joint. In my case the combination of a red rubber belt (24mm) and a white rubber belt (15mm) worked out perfectly, see image below.

Note that in a standard steering setup with all ball joints perfectly aligned on a 1-stud grid, this approach will prove hard to apply, as it will pull the pivot points slightly away from their ideal position. It is particularly useful in custom setups that try to obtain non-standard features such as caster angle, camber angle or Ackermann steering.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Didumos69

[syclone]

Very nice solution, I consider it perfectly legal

[Nick Barrett]

Neat, and legal enough for me. Thanks for sharing, I'll be trying this next time I'm wrestling with floppy steering systems

[2LegoOrNot2Lego...]

Clever solutions! Another great application of rubber belts, I use them all the time...