The TXT-1 is a monster truck and MTs are not generally known for their tight cornering abilities - but having said this, I was just not satisfied with the steering I was getting out of my truck. I didn't want to go with 4 wheel-steering, because I like speed and 2WS is the way to go to keep the truck steering/handling well when going fast. Besides, I just knew that I could get more out of this truck with a few modifications.

Clods use identical steering knuckles to the TXT and for the longest time, clod-owners have been getting more steering by shaving the stops off the knuckles. My Clod's steering improved tremendously when I tried this, so naturally, I thought to do the same with the TXT's knuckles.

The Problems...
Unfortunately, the TXT's axles are different from the Clods. They have been beefed up and some of the "beefing up" has actually meant that even by shaving off the stops, the knuckles are still restricted by other parts of the axle.

Shaving Parts of the Knuckle

Here's what I did. First, shave off just the FRONT of the steering stops. This will allow the rear stop to still function to prevent the wheels from turning too far and hitting the bumpers/suspension links at full throw.

Next, you will have to shave off about 2mm of plastic "webbing" - check out the pic to see what I'm talking about. Basically, at full throw, the plastic webbing hits the axle, so you need to remove some of it to get more rotation.

The Next Step

I then assembled everything together and tried the steering. Something was wrong because I still wasn't getting any more steering than before. I then realized that at full throw, the steering rods actually hit the bumper brace (the 2 gray pieces that attach to the axles).

The solution is to remove the gray pieces and shave off abotu 2.5mm of material from each one to give the rods more clearance. See the first and second pictures to see what I mean. You can remove the same amount of plastic from each of the braces, or you may choose to do what I did - the left brace (which only needs clearance for one steering rod instead of two) only has material from the upper part of the brace removed.

I know it sounds confusing, but look at the pics - they should make things 100% clear. :)

Picture 3 shows you how that added space for the rod allows for more steering.

The last picture in the set above shows the full steering I am now getting from my TXT-1. As you can see, the wheel locks just before hitting the bumper - that's maximum steering without getting rid of the bumper and going with a more extensive mod of the steering servo location.

Conclusion
I'd actually like to try to work out a bellcrank steering setup that would improve the ackerman steering angles on the TXT to improve steering even more... but that's gonna take a lot more thought and work. The simple mods you see here took a few hours to do and they maximize the steering of the stock bumper/axle setup - it's a mod worth looking into to get a more nimble MT - if such a thing exists! <grin>

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