RoveMax XL3 doesn't steer

[Redchrome]

I can't seem to get rovers based on the XL3 wheel to steer. They just go straight down the runway. I'm working on a giant rover, but when I found this problem I built a tiny rover (just two Mk2 cans back to back, with 4 XL3 wheels on a very short wheelbase) and even that doesn't steer.

I checked the wheel settings, and even tried reversing the direction of steering, but to no avail.

It seems I'm not the only one with this problem

I have not yet found a resolution tho.

I believe in the past I've used these wheels successfully, but it's been a while. Does anyone have any experience to shed light on this?

I do realize based on my reading of the forum here that these wheels are supposed to use differential steering. However, even that doesn't seem to work for me.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Differential steering is a bit strange with those wheels- often it results in the wheels on one side accelerating at full power while the other side accelerates at normal power and you end up speeding up without really turning much. It tends to work OK when you're stationary, but that often results in the vehicle starting to move forwards or backwards and then the reverse side stops reversing, meaning you speed up and stop turning properly again.

Unless you need them for the size and carrying capacity it's usually better to go for the TR-2 wheels instead which have normal steering.

[Redchrome]

Thanks for the feedback.

Thing is, I never saw any indication that either side was speeding up, even on my short-wheelbase test vehicle.

[jimmymcgoochie]

36 minutes ago, Redchrome said:

Thanks for the feedback.

Thing is, I never saw any indication that either side was speeding up, even on my short-wheelbase test vehicle.

It usually shows itself as one side’s wheels jumping to full motor power when you try to steer the other way e.g. right side wheels when turning left; try driving with the wheels’ PAWs pinned open and see if that’s happening. You might need to add some hefty reaction wheels and drag it around with torque, or use some smaller wheels on the front/back to steer with and disable the differential steering on the XL3 wheels.

[Redchrome]

10 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

It usually shows itself as one side’s wheels jumping to full motor power when you try to steer the other way e.g. right side wheels when turning left; try driving with the wheels’ PAWs pinned open and see if that’s happening. You might need to add some hefty reaction wheels and drag it around with torque, or use some smaller wheels on the front/back to steer with and disable the differential steering on the XL3 wheels.

Thank you for the hint on watching the wheel information windows!

I had considered adding some trailing small wheels for steering.

[FleshJeb]

Is your control point facing forward or up? Also, try leaving Friction on auto, and Traction Control off.