Servo Torque - Then and Now

[Y'ernat Al]

I finished steering servo shopping for RC10 runner. There are a load of threads on this board on ins and outs of Lipo and Brushless modern amenities for the vintage runners. But not a whole lot on servos frankly. These days you can get metal gears and more speed (sub 0.1), and torque (130+ ounce-in) than ever. So the days of the "servo saver" are nearly over for the lighter 1/10 buggys when it comes down to it.

For comparison, Futaba still lists this.. http://www.futaba-rc.com/servos/discontinued-servos.html.

Could anyone guess (or maybe some freak actually knows) at the torque (force-length) neighborhood where out old RC10 molded plastic/molded plastic with zip ties, or spring loaded 10T servo savers lie? It is probably pretty low given it protected all these plastic geared weaklings bitd.

I opt to still run my RC10 with a servo saver (I still have a Kimbrough on my spline, with an A&L rack) thinking that it is just one more shock absorber that may save a broken part now and then. And I just can't see how I could ever tell the difference if I ran without one.

But I did realize you can get away with a really tiny little bugger if you get the metal gears. I went with the Savox 1250MG (as opposed to the more common 1251). Only 64oz-in at 6v, and 0.11, but the thing is tiny and feather light, (intended for helicopters actually). I can push my battery so far forward its clear of the bulkhead cup.

[teman]

I broke the servo case mounts on a few servos this year so at this point, I tend to keep a ss on the servo wether it's MG or not

[JK Racing]

I did notice a difference (mostly psychological I am sure) when I removed the small kimbrough and went to a standard HD servo arm. I was pushing in a high speed sweeper at a high bite indoor track recently. I tried all kinds of little tweaks to get rid of it, but nothing was working. One of the other racers was commenting how my car seemed to turn very sharp, everywhere but the sweeper. Basically, we discovered, the ss was "saving" the servo and letting the wheels straighten and not hold them in the turn.

[Y'ernat Al]

I did notice a difference (mostly psychological I am sure) when I removed the small kimbrough and went to a standard HD servo arm. I was pushing in a high speed sweeper at a high bite indoor track recently. I tried all kinds of little tweaks to get rid of it, but nothing was working. One of the other racers was commenting how my car seemed to turn very sharp, everywhere but the sweeper. Basically, we discovered, the ss was "saving" the servo and letting the wheels straighten and not hold them in the turn.

I'll buy that. The small kimrough's were originally designed for the NES1A sized servo and really are likely not enough these days. I have like 3 or 4 old ones in the box and I went through and pulled on them all and found what felt like the stiffest (a couple were noticeably looser). I've been meaning to try one of the "mid sized" black ones that come with the 3 different spline inserts.

[MattyCJ7]

Is there a good upgrade for my s132h for 40ish dollars? also, not to get to off topic, im looking to upgrade my stock set-up with and bb type like an A&L, is there something available?

[fredswain]

I run a $17 Tower Hobbies TS-67 servo. I have 3 of them. They don't spec out as well as many others on paper but I have not found them lacking in the least for a 1/10 buggy when it comes to actual real world performance. It is much better than the old KO and Futaba servos that I ran from 20 years ago. I also have a Savox 1251MG servo. It is lightning quick and very powerful but in my opinion far more than I need. I actually run a bit of exponential on my setups just to tame things down a bit. The Savox is faster than I can turn the wheel lock to lock anyways. Although the TS-67 is a full sized servo, and takes up a bit of space compared to the 1251MG, it's performance is all I need and the price is right. I do run a servo saver.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?Q=1&I=LXPB40&P=4#tech

[Y'ernat Al]

Is there a good upgrade for my s132h for 40ish dollars? also, not to get to off topic, im looking to upgrade my stock set-up with and bb type like an A&L, is there something available?

Hitec seems like they give you metal gears for a pretty good price. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXUZ89&P=ML

Besides ebay for steering? http://www.vintageteamaandl.com/

[kaiser]

hitec's analog metal gears are great and a great value. i forget which one i have in my 1/8 scale but it was about 40 bux and it's a beast.

[JK Racing]

I havent bought a new servo in, 15~20 years (outside of ones in cars I have bought used). I still have my 3 Airtronics 94258/94358 analog monsters. Super quick and very powerful, I run them in my JRX, RC10 and Short Course truck. Recently I went to a digital servo in my RC10 (robbed from a purchase mentioned above), an ACE 1313...it is just too much for a buggy. I will be "downgrading" the servo soon, calming the car back down to old man reflexes speed. I think I have an old 9401 Futaba somewhere that should fit the bill. My "spare" 358 will end up in a Short Course buggy I am building, works fine in those overweight monsters.