[Patrick]

Which way are the wheels not straight? I usually screw the top pillow ball in till there's no more thread showing and then have about a 1-2mm more of the bottom one sticking out. That seems to work on my car.
With the bell crank thing, bearings were falling out of mine as well so I cut the posts off my old stock chassis and used them as a spacer. You might need to ad a washer or two to get the correct spacing. Should be able to use those posts with the old chassis again if needed.