New RC trucker from the UK

[SteveDownSouth]

To illustrate my point, I've taken and labelled a couple pics.

This first image is a stock truck steering linkage, in this case from a MAN 4x2 truck. As you can see, there are several points along the chain that introduce play in the steering – 6 illustrated here by red circles (one is out of crop). In addition, the red rectangle represents the stub axle, which also has excessive play.

IMG_5017 2.jpg

I wanted to remove as much of that play as possible, which meant moving the steering servo closer to the mechanism. Now I only have 4 sources of play, plus the stub axle – still too much. As an added bonus I now have much more steering lock.

IMG_5018.jpg

What would help the linkage problem is to swap out the open ball joints to the better closed cup style. I will try to find some but I don't really know what to search for, in terms of thread size, etc.

I'd also like to do something about the stub axles – the fit is awful and creates quite a lot of negative camber, maybe as much as 5 degrees or so. Are there any aftermarket parts to help this? As far as I can make out I would only need to replace the stub axle for a better fitting part, rather than replace the whole axle.

In this shot you can see my homemade servo bracket. I have to cut down the bolts once I'm happy with it. This unfortunately puts my gear change servo too far from the linkage, so I also have to find a longer rod.

If anyone can help I would very much appreciate it.
Steve