Servo help needed

[Syholl]

Sorry guys, another stupid newbie question. I built a new midnight pumpkin this week and used it today for the first time. The fun lasted about 3 minutes before the servo saver broke off, resulting in me having to carry it about whilst my son played with his lunchbox.

Had a search on here but it's quite hard to find the right info. I had a look on eBay and there are servo saver hop-ups available, but they are still plastic. Are they stronger....? Do I need a better servo as well??? Presumably the servo saver is meant to break before the servo, hence the name? I did see some aluminium ones, but not sure what to get at the moment. Cheers...

[ChrisRx718]

Yes - the servo saver is there to absorb any damage which would otherwise have killed the servo.

The hop ups you'll have seen will be metal sprung - much like the stock setup which uses a plastic coil. The metal spring is far better at absorbing impacts.

One thing you don't want is a direct to servo aluminium 'horn' - this will be very rigid and won't absorb any force, putting pressure on both your servo but also the connection between steering knuckle and tie rod.

Tamiya 51000 is perfectly adequate. 50473 is the same thing but in white.

[CoolHands]

cheapest 51000 I can find £6.85 but from hong kong so will take longer (over 2 weeks it looks like):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamiya-51000-RC-Hi-Torque-Servo-Saver-Black-Ryu-/331517856541?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4d30010b1d

cheapest uk one £10.99:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamiya-51000-Hi-Torque-Servo-Saver-Black-NIP-/251960841871?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3aaa09568f

[Nobbi1977]

£3.50 posted from Banzai but will take three weeks

[Syholl]

Thanks for that, seems ironic that the servo saver costs more than a servo....!!!

Bought a couple from HK. Found a spare standard tamiya one for now, let's hope it lasts more than 3 minutes this time.

[CoolHands]

yeah I can't understand why they're so expensive. Odd, really.

[Nobbi1977]

The quality of the high torque is leagues above the standard spru in terms of quality. I will be using one on every build now

[WillyChang]

Tamiya 51000 is perfectly adequate. 50473 is the same thing but in white.

IMHO the mold of these are getting sloppy and you've gotta check when building. If the 2 tabs that the spring/s bite into aren't perfectly equally thick, you'll have a car that trims straight only until the next bump. Some tabs need a slight scraping or filling with a layer of superglue.

Ironically 3Racing has xeroxed something similar yet works better their version is chunkier & their plastic is less brittle

[Syholl]

Managed to brake another one today, after 5 minutes of running. Not impressed with Tamiya so far....!!!

[WillyChang]

What are you breaking... the big white C?

Grab the 2 broken bits and place back where they should be... then wrap a ziptie around it

Don't worry, small ziptie usually pops before the servo does - even with basic 40oz stock servos with plastic gears.

[Syholl]

The bit where the screw goes through is snapping. So the screw stays in place, along with the smaller bit in the picture, but the big bit in the picture above is coming off....

[WillyChang]

wired, that's an odd place to break - never done that meself before best get the hopup then

Doubt it'll glue too well.

Yeah at one point that kit servosaver sprue was pretty hard to get, I needed a fair few pronto (some cars can't use anything else) so I went around borrowing them from NIBs. Only later found a source to buy a fair bunch to replace the missing bits.

[Syholl]

The 2 that broke were both new ones from recent tamiya kits, I have nicked a 20 year old one off my M01 Mini Cooper. I hope this one was better made....!!!

[WillyChang]

if you've been around long enough to own an M01, might remind you of "Kimborough" too... maker of indestructible servosavers

think there's a few cheaper copies nowadays but the brand is still around afaik

Haven't bought any lately, I just stockpile the Tamiya heavy duty & 3Racing copy as that's all I fit these days.

[Syholl]

The M01 mini was bought about 20 years ago, and has sat in a box in the garage for probably 18 of those years.... It did get a lot of abuse for a couple of years though, and is still going. (Apart from missing a servo saver now!!)

I managed an hour of crashing and bashing my new pumpkin last night without breaking the 20 year old part, so I finally got to enjoy it!!!

[Mad Ax]

Bad batch or lower quality plastic..? In all my years of bashing I have never broken a servo saver like that...

[XV Pilot]

Likewise. Once or twice I have lost the screw that keeps it attached to the servo, but even when racing every week on a track bordered by hard wooden battens, my Tamiya kit servo savers haven't broken. Is there perhaps something up with your suspension geometry that my be overstressing the servo saver?

[markbt73]

Forget Tamiya. Get a Kimbrough servo saver. Direct replacement, infinitely stronger, and no slop.

[Syholl]

Likewise. Once or twice I have lost the screw that keeps it attached to the servo, but even when racing every week on a track bordered by hard wooden battens, my Tamiya kit servo savers haven't broken. Is there perhaps something up with your suspension geometry that my be overstressing the servo saver?

Well it's a midnight pumpkin with standard geometry, but they are pretty big wheels connecting to the servo. The second time it broke, my son drove it into a kerb from a stationary start about 1 foot away. I was not very impressed when that little knock snapped it...!!!

[BigBratMan]

if you've been around long enough to own an M01, might remind you of "Kimborough" too... maker of indestructible servosavers

think there's a few cheaper copies nowadays but the brand is still around afaik

Haven't bought any lately, I just stockpile the Tamiya heavy duty & 3Racing copy as that's all I fit these days.

I second this option for Kimbrough savers. Have ones I still use over 10 years old. Always used them on the Asscoiated and Losi buggies back in the day.

[Syholl]

Thanks for the help, I have ordered some kimbrough ones and some 3Racing ones, oh and some tamiya hop-up ones too!!

Let's see what they are like, I'm liking the sound of the kimbrough ones if they are better made, as the standard tamiya ones seem very sloppy...!!

[Syholl]

Ok, so the new ones have arrived from Hong Kong today. Must say that the 3 racing ones look the best, so this is what I have fitted. They have a built in spring system that absorbs any impacts and will hopefully prevent any more breakages.

The new ones arrived just in time, as I broke the 20 year old one today that I have been using for the past week or so....!!

[ChrisRx718]

I agree with the 3Racing ones feeling very tough - the plastic feels much more rigid and is visibly thicker. They're cheap too.

[WillyChang]

No idea what you're doing to wreck so many servosavers my Lunchbox managed to rip its servo mounting points off the chassis tub but the servosaver survived fine

[Syholl]

No idea, my son has a lunchbox that he has absolutely trashed. It has slammed into numerous kerbs, benches etc and hasn't broken anything apart from the windscreen. Mine breaks every time it hits something....!! The 3racing one I have fitted looks a million times better than the tamiya junk, we will see soon enough!!