Stripped stock servo horn - how far to beef up frontend?

[jason26]

I have a stock RTR and thru a 3s in it the other day and while my son was driving the servo horn stripped. I quickly replaced that with a metal one and we’re good again. But that’s not the real question.

I ordered some metal steering links but I’m thinking about not installing them. Won’t that start a chain reaction of upgrades probably starting with the servo?

This serves as a fun crawler and all rounder for me and my kids. My plan is to keep it mostly stock and replace when stuff breaks. But wouldn’t mind at least making the frontend bullet proof to start with.

Any suggestions? Metal steering links and a much better servo do? Or will their be other parts that need upgrading as soon as I do that?

Thanks.


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[Jboucher]

Even a cheap chinese 20$ servo on ebay will be 10x better than the RTR servo.

Upgrading is part of the hobby but there are many manufacturers at all price points.

Just upgrade the servo and steering links then wait for the next big break and look at options in your budget.

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[NitroDarwin]

I have a RTR bomber and have replaced the servo to a 400+oz-in servo with metal links and so far the only failures I have had are the 3mm rod ends on the links. I would hold off on the links till you have a new stout servo to install at the same time.

[Teng]

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[v33]

i really dont like rtr's because of the stock parts that come with it, but then when on a budget you cant really beat the price specially when they are 2nd hand stuff. anyways, the plastic servo horn is usually the first thing that gives out, then when you replace it with a metal horn you will see the steering bend. when you replace the steering, the knuckles may give out... like you said, it creates a chain reaction.

my solution is to always get the basic upgrades to beef up the rig, i change the following...
1. servo horn
2. steering links
3. chubs and knuckles
4. 4 links top+bottom front+rear

if possible, i buy all those alloy upgrades, you should have a more stable rig specially with the stock esc/motor combo that comes with the rtr's.

[Jim85IROC]

If you really want to keep the stock servo alive, then keep the plastic steering components, however a $20 300oz servo and metal links will allow the truck to work MUCH better than before.

[broadside]

Been running a Savox SC-1268SG with metal horn and metal links for a long time now and big tires (Flat Iron XL). Hasn't broken yet, but I had been through 3 other servos until this one. Put it on a BEC or up the output from your ESC if you can and run it at 6V

[thewildblue77]

I built a kit with a cheap servo and a cheap chinesium horn. The bomber killed the servo. I slowly increased the price and performance of the servos and it carried on eating them. In the end after 4 servos I bit the bullet and bought a Savox 2290. Superb bit of kit. This then started killing chinesium horns. So I cut down the one supplied by savox. This lasted quite a while until yes it stripped than. Now Im on a futaba ali horn and so far so good. Buy cheap buy twice !

[jason26]

Thanks for the input. I'll try to get a better servo by the time my metal steering links arrive, perhaps the Savox SC-1268SG or 2290. I probably should have been more clear in my original post. I ended up with an RTR as it was posted used locally for a good price and literally ran once or 2x. So it was low risk to see if my kids and I liked it. We love it. My plan is to upgrade as things break, but I tend to upgrade to stuff that will last and budget really isn't an issue. I was going down the road of adding Vaguish trusses and various other bits to my shopping cart but I thought I better halt, and make sure as I add meta links and horn, I make sure to upgrade the correct parts in order. Sounds like a quality servo is next.

Not keen on adding a BEC. I read that a better rx, or was it an ESC that can elimintate the requirement for a BEC? Or maybe its a must as I move to up to better servos.

No stranger to upgrades. We have 2 Traxxas Stampedes that are finally bullet proof, I don't want to even to begin to add up how much we've spent on those.

[durok]

If you are sticking with brushed for a while, the HobbyWing 1080 ESC has a good BEC and is only about $40...

Add in a Holmes Hobbies Trailmaster Sport 550 21t motor for $20, and you'll have a very nice combo for cheap.

Brushless, the Mamba X series has a very strong BEC - but is much pricier!

[NitroDarwin]

The ecs is what you want to upgrade if you don't want to run a bec. Although if you are going to run a savox servo I would strongly suggest a bec as savox have been known to be power inefficient. And esc upgrade wouldn't be bad idea if you plan to upgrade the motor in the future. I blew a hole out the side of the stock esc running 3s and 21t 550can motor.

[broadside]

My Mamba Monster X handles the 6v output to the servo just fine :-) Got it for a good price, big but priced right.

Switch to a quality servo like listed above and an aluminum dual clamping servo horn. The next weak link if you have the metal steering links would be the servo mounting bracket. Mine hasn't broken yet!