Every season brings new lessons.. The story!

[Zaytri]

This is for those out there whom may be more newbish than I, so hopefully they dont make the same mistakes

Great day outside, having a blast bashing after finally tuning her from her 6 month rest..

You think to yourself... "Pffft, this little plastic servo saver doesn't fit my new HIGH TORQUE servo.. ill just rig it!"

"And you know what, I'm going to run her with no lid to since it's not done drying and i wont be doing anything crazy..."

...15 minutes later

Branch on the ground catches the battery->receiver wire, shredding it in twain, as car barrels WOT towards a foresty area.. Luckily, no damage! Quick Fix.. just splice, tape, and wrap.

...25 minutes later

Flying through the grass at WOT, into a unseen rock, propelling the car 2-4 feet vertically in a spiral, causing car to land end over end and stunningly landing on all fours, still running! You give her gas to bring her in, realizing you have no steering control! pps:

Cost of a gear kit.... 3-10
Cost of new wires for battery.... 1-3
Packing up all your stuff cause you're a shortcut taking :loser:... Priceless

Today's Lesson.. ALWAYS USE YOUR SERVO SAVERS AND LIDS! :thankyou:

 

[Jeep]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a servo saver?

Jeep

 

[AC48]

Jeep, A servo saver is a spring loaded thing that attatches to the servo, or in teh bellcrank of the steering system. Its so when the wheels get slammed one way, and the servo is turning the other, the gears don't strip.

Can't say I have run without a servo saver, but I have run plenty of times without a lid due to lazyness...haven't had a problem but I am sure I will sometime, then I will learn. I get out there with no lid, and the jump starts calling lol.

 

[Jeep]

My hitech servos came with rubber mounts, which I presume serve a similar, but less effective purpose. Guess I need to upgrade a lil more.
Like my motto says "Learning more everyday"
Thanks for the info.

Jeep

 

[ImBroken]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a servo saver?

Jeep

Here ya go Jeep...

http://www.servocity.com/html/servo_savers.html

 

[SpitFireV12RR]

Seriously? I thought it was the thing in RED?

 

[olds97_lss]

Actually, on that thing Spit, it's probably the thing on the far left side of that "circle" you drew. It's not really in the circle, but it's below the left edge of teh circle.

Older Savage's and Maxx's don't come stock with a setup like this. They come with an equivalent to this: Servo Saver
This thing mounts directly on the servo output shaft. It has a spring inside of it to allow one side of the plastic to stay in place while the other side turns. This absorbs impacts, but has a tendency to create a mushy feel in the steering.

Most 1/8 buggies have a setup like your pic though. They have a servo saver built into the steering bell crank mechanism.

 

[Jeep]

Here ya go Jeep...

http://www.servocity.com/html/servo_savers.html

Thanks, bro, makes perfect sense.

There is a similar setup on Harley's, mounted on the crankshaft output shaft to the primary drive.
It allows for hard and quick changes in torque due to cracking the throttle quickly or letting off of the throttle quickly at high rpm's.
It's a very heavy loaded spring that allows the drive to seem direct except under high load changes in short times. Since Harleys are high torque engines, they need a "damper" to the primary drive and tranny.


Jeep

 

[robriguez]

Thanks, bro, makes perfect sense.

There is a similar setup on Harley's, mounted on the crankshaft output shaft to the primary drive.
It allows for hard and quick changes in torque due to cracking the throttle quickly or letting off of the throttle quickly at high rpm's.
It's a very heavy loaded spring that allows the drive to seem direct except under high load changes in short times. Since Harleys are high torque engines, they need a "damper" to the primary drive and tranny.
Jeep

ed zachery Jeep. Completely different application but same theory. Let the spring take the brunt of the tourque not the device its there to protect.

Also, the rubber mounts on your servo you were mentioning (IMO) are useless. I've been told they are provided to help keep down possible glitching caused by metal/metal contact of screws to posts and to protect against stress fractures of the tabs on the servos. I dont use them and never had a problem so... dont know if they help or not to be honest.

The plate Spit has circled is to help provide front end rigidity. Reduces flexing and twisting of the chassis.

Another big no no would be to run without a TRS (Throttle Return Spring). Should the battery lead ever get cut, battery pop out, batteris go dead, whatever, the spring will mechanically close the throttle and keep your ride from going WOT away from you.

 

[houff]

ahh that you i lost a little clip on the steering servo pc that the rod connects to and though it looked useless so i super glued it guess i should go get more clips before i hit some thing again

 

[SpitFireV12RR]

Yes, you should. I also think you should use capitalization and punctuation(No spell check, please...).

 

[rocknbil]

My hitech servos came with rubber mounts, which I presume serve a similar, but less effective purpose.

Those are for mounting the servo in a plane. Should have come with some brass collars too, the rubber goes in the hole chased by the collar, so when you put the screws in it doesn't chew up the wood and isolates the servo from vibration. In ground vehicles it just makes for a more floppy servo action.

 

[olds97_lss]

I love it when things are floppy Cotton!

I thought that's what they were for, but I wasn't sure. I can't believe how small the screws are that come with them. I just can't imagine getting 15 feet of air at 40 mph and those little dinky screws keeping the servo in.