Which bomb-proof servo (metal gears)?

[flipwils11]

Which Futaba metal gear servo would you recommend in my gold pan RC10 runabout? There's SS3305 high torque ball bearing metal gear, the S3002 mini metal gear servo, S9405 high torque "coreless" (whatever that means), and others. I know it's probably overkill...

I was just hoping for something quick, smooth, and pretty bulletproof to gears stripping for some of the hard hits my car takes when my 4 year old drives it. Hopefully the connector plug is compatible with the older AM band radio receiver I have.

[scr8p]

if it's for the rc10 you posted in the in the rc10 forum, i'd get a $4.00 kimbrough servo saver and call it a day. i've never had any of those super duper heavy duty metal gear servos in any of my cars....... ever. i've yet to break or strip the gears in any cheap servo while using a quality servo saver.

just my $.02.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

I would agree that it's probably overkill, but these are very good all around and very strong servos. I run one in my GT. Not that I ever run it...
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&P=SM&I=LXUZ89

[SteveK]

Hitec servos are pretty good for the money. Just watch the size, some of them can be a hair longer than 'standard', which makes them a tight fit in the tub chassis.

Actually, take a closer look at the performance specs of all servos; people always look at the first number given, which is only for 4.8V. The second set up numbers is for 6.0V, which most BECs supply. The cheap Futaba S3003 (S3004 with bearings) actually puts out nearly 60 ounce-inches of torque, which is plenty for anything smaller than a racing truck. Of course faster and stronger is always better, especially for a race car, but servos are the only things that are a real pain to swap from car to car, so if you've got 6 or 8 (or 20) cars to outfit.....

Seconded on the Kimbrough servo savers. They are much easier on cheaper servos than the servo savers built into the bellcranks, and they are the only kind I use, they are much better than the kind included in some kits.

[flipwils11]

I took Steve's advice and went to Futaba's website to really compare specs. I went with the S9405 coreless, metal gear, high tq, bb servo. Pricey little bugger. I also got a Kimbrough servo saver for it.

Totally overkill I know considering an eBay gold pan runner can be had for the price of this servo, but I figure I'll see how I like it and maybe put it into the nib Team Car I have if/when I try some racing. The specs on this thing for tq and speed are damn impressive.

[SteveK]

Yeah, might be overkill, but it won't hurt to have too good a servo. The only reason I wouldn't get one is because I could outfit 4-5 cars with servos for that price. For a buggy, size and speed are more important than torque, but you'll have this servo for years and years, so it's hard to argue with it. You'll be able to put it in just about anything you'll ever own.

[flipwils11]

Update on this, my new Futaba S9405 servo arrived yesterday and I got it installed last night. I took the advice on the Kimbrough servo saver and got that as well.

I know this servo is worth about what a whole gold pan runner RC10 is, but wow, it is niiiice.

Check out the video.

video link

The steering response is immediate. I didn't expect to realize that much of a difference when I drove the car actually because I've been so happy with the new brushed motor I put in (see my other thread in this section). But I must have been driving around the Airtronics servo I had in there (sorry civilguy, I really appreciated it because it did get me running which was the important part right? It was free after all!). There was a lot of play in the airtronics servo spline and it was fairly leisurely to turn the wheels. I thought it was great when I drove the car and seemed to do fine, but testing out with the new servo last night... jeez. The car just drives so..... frantic. It just responds and changes direction so quickly it's truly night and day.

I did notice some strange behavior though with the servo. I really had to adjust my throttle trim settings and neutral on the old Novak esc to get a happy medium. When I would turn the front wheels, the servo seemed to be activating the esc and motor and the car would start creeping along or twitching. Not sure what would cause that but I finally got it trimmed and you can steer the car from a rest now without the motor activating.