TC3 breaking lose to left

[austin_racer]

Hi,
I just built an associated tc3, and took it out for some bashing a couple of times. After the second time, the car seems to break lose when turning left hard, very badly, i don't have the same problem when turning right. i checked my diffs to make sure the front wasn't slipping also checked the shocks and all seems fine. Does anyone know what else could be causing this problem?

Thanks

[Richard Lowe]

Have you checked the drive pins that locate in the hex's that drive the wheels? Sounds like you have 3wd to me....

[austin_racer]

Thanks Richard. If one of the drive pins maybe the culprit, which wheel would you suspect is slipping? I checked the drive pins and even rotated the hex's around and I have the same problem.

[Mike Haswell]

Check that the drive shaft isn't pushing against the diff cover when the suspension loads up. You check this by taking off the rear shock and seeing if the suspension moves all the way up without binding.

[Richard Lowe]

I'd expect it to be the left rear if it were broken, should be pretty easy to spot as the wheel would spin freely.

Another thing to check is the rear toe-in, the moulds for the hub's is crap at best, you might find you have a couple of degrees less on the right than the left. It's a good excuse to get some nice shiny blue alloy ones ;D 8)

Lastly there's droop/tweak, although you should'nt suffer tweak with a moulded chassis, if you crank down too tight on the motor clamp it can warp the chassis, actually thinking about it, check that first. If the clamp is too tight it'll twist the right rear corner up, which would give you oversteer turning to the left.

[Phil C]

were you driving indoors on carpet? i had the same problem and its due to torque steer. you have more steering to the left than the right with tc3's. As i have a ko radio i sorted it out using steering balance. Use the method of placing the car with the left wheels on a line and using the radio turn right. push the car around untill the right wheels are parrallel to the line the left wheels were placed next to.then spin the car around 180 degrees making sure the car is in exactly the same place. then turn left using the radio and push it round untill it is parrallel to the line again. it should end up where it started. if not use the steering balance on your radio and keep using the method above untill you have the same amount of steering left to right. Hope this helps

Phil Chambers.

[Richard Lowe]

The TC3 has more settring lock to the right to counter the tourque steer Phil ;)
When the motor is accelerating (anti-clockwise looking from the back of the car) it pushes the right hand side of the can down, giving more grip, thus reducing the lock needed.

[Phil C]

oh yes my mistake but i do no it lifts the left side up! anyway still make sure the steering is balanced because that was my problem.
Phil Chambers

[Richard Lowe]

;) Just checking ;D

[Phil C]

FINALLY I HAVE FIGURED OUT YOUR PROBLEM. I FOUND IT OUT AFTER HAVING PROBLEMS AT THE HPI JUNIOR NATIONALS. IT WAS DUE TO 1 OF THE FRONT HINDGE PINS BEING BENT!!
Cheers Phil C

[austin_racer]

Thanks alot Phil. You hit the nail right on the head. Looks like I had more then a bent hinge pin though. There was actually a crack in the lower front left arm as well. Why didn't I see this you ask? The crack was on the underside of the hinge. This was causing massive oversteer to the left. :D
Regards, Aaron

[Phil C]

Good good. I unfortunaltly found out the hard way :(. It ruined my weekend at the hpi junior nationals. oh well atleast i found out my problem.
Phil Chambers.