My TXT is eating servos like crazy!

[redrover]

First a little background -
Im running INet R/C Aluminum knuckles.
Ace 12-14mm wide adapters.
Regular Moabs on narrowed velocity rims.
All of this makes my axles pretty wide. I kinda like the width because it adds some extra stability.

Now the problem is that I CANT keep my servos from stripping!
Ive been running Towerpros, and 645mgs. I have ran them both in the front and rear.
It seems like im only getting maybe 10 min. of run time before one or both let go.
I crawled yesterday, and stripped one towerpro, and two 645s.
I might have gotten 25 min. total runtime the whole day. This seems to happen every time I go out.

I know these servos are junk, but why I am stripping them so easily?
A friend of mine yesterday ran 645s front and rear ALL DAY on his full width Twin Force and had zero problems.

Now that all of mine are stripped out Im ready to get better servos, but I dont want to spend $100+ for a good servo, just to strip it out in 5 min.

Im thinkin something in my steering setup is off, and I would like to remedy it before I put and expensive servo on it and strip it out also.
Maybe the extra width is the problem? but still its no wider than his Twin?
When the knuckle goes to full lock the servo still pushes and stresses the gears?
Any ideas?

[RD400]

It doesn't have to do with how wide your truck is, it has to do with offset. Your friends axles are wider then yours but his servo is turning the tire on the kingpins axis. With all your offset for width your servo is actually pushing/pulling the tires in an arc. You are multiplying the force needed to turn the tires by pushing the tires center point out past the kingpins center point.

Ditch the wide setup or by the $100.00+ dollar servo, those are your two options

[TwistedXT]

time to go 1/4 scale!

[RD400]

Originally Posted by TwistedXT

time to go 1/4 scale!

Oh yeah, I forgot that option

[Unholy]

If your servo is trying to push after the knuckle has reached it's mechanical limit, that is probably your issue. You need to set your steering up better or get a radio with EPA. You will kill digital servos even faster if you don't have your endpoints right.

[redrover]

I was thinking that the wideners might be causing part of my problem. It does make sense that with the wideners the tire has to move more because they are farther away from the knuckle centerline. I guess you lose some of the servos torque because of this also. I think it is the same as when you attach your drag link to the servo horn - the closer to center you can get, the stronger it will be?? It also seems like everytime the tire takes a hit or bump - it will transfer more energy back to the servo because of increased leverage? If this is true, a small jolt to the tire may be leveraged into enough to strip or at least weaken the gears.

Also if the tire is at full lock and the servo is still tryin to push it more, that has to be hard on the gears and servo motor. So maybe everytime I turn to full lock - the servo tries to go a little farther, and it puts more and more stress on the gears everytime.
Is there anyway to stop this without EPA??
The servo turns 180 - I dont see anyway I can get that much movement from my knuckles.

It looks to me that I am going to have to lose the extra width, in order to gain any sort of durability

Why do you think that a $100+ servo would hold better? Titanium gears? Are they that much stronger? I honestly think I would strip any servo out there very quickly unless I make some other changes.
If a better servo such as a 5995 or 5955 would hold - I would be happy to buy them. I just cant stomach spending that much and having it strip after 5 min.
Also I know that either the 5995 and 5955 need EPAs. If I find a digital with strong enough gears - Ill do the EPA mod, or get a different radio.

Thanks for the ideas so far.

[Unholy]

Originally Posted by redrover

Is there anyway to stop this without EPA??
The servo turns 180 - I dont see anyway I can get that much movement from my knuckles.

Shorter servo horn.

[Etype R]

After I upgraded the front servo on my jugg to a 5945 I stopped stripping out gears. Before with the 645 I was stripping them out at every comp, those gears add up quick. I will soon be getting one of the robot servos for more power, I need to put the 5945 back in the truck I took it from

If you go quarter scale, do not get one with plastic gears. I snapped the output gear on one of those in one comp. Never got around to ordering the metal geared one.

[rockbender]

You have got to try one of the Hitec 5995 Ti Gear servos. OH MY GOD.
This sucker bends aluminum servo arms. I was killing 94359 and 94358 Airtronics top of the line servo's.
THis is onmy tlt Yes I am hard on it.

[redrover]

So I take it that you havent stripped a 5995 yet?

I know that the torque is supposed to be alot, but right now Im more concerned with the servo being able to take a shock or hard hit without stripping the gears.
I do want to get as much torque as I can - but what good is that if the gears strip after 5 minutes.

Also do you have EPAs?
If you which radio do you use? or did you mod the TQ3, etc??

[Reflection]

Originally Posted by RD400

It doesn't have to do with how wide your truck is, it has to do with offset. Your friends axles are wider then yours but his servo is turning the tire on the kingpins axis. With all your offset for width your servo is actually pushing/pulling the tires in an arc. You are multiplying the force needed to turn the tires by pushing the tires center point out past the kingpins center point.

Ditch the wide setup or by the $100.00+ dollar servo, those are your two options

Hey Jed...../\/\/\ thats some good info and good advice. Wideners cause allot of troubles. My 359's are ALLOT happier now that I changed the backspacing on my wheels and put the wheel closer to the axis of the knuckles pivot point Wide tires don't help either. Taking a 1/2" out of my moabs,I notice a difference in my steering.

Allot of guys run HUGE servos and thats great,they do work good. Don't get me wrong,you'll never have enough steering power. I'd buy 800 oz. servos if they were out there. My point though,is that allot of guys would see better steering performance if their geometry was right. If you want the width,I think you'll need the HUGE servo's. Either way,I wouldn't go any less than 200 oz.

[rockbender]

I beat the crap out of the 5995 Ti Gear. It has not stripped a gear or so much as a hickup.
Best servo I've used so far. My TXT is running 2 of those now.

[redrover]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Steve - Advice taken, Ive already ordered a set of the RCGuy narrow adapters from a guy here on the board. They should be here tommorow hopefully. I think that will help alot. What RD400 said made sense, so I figured that the wideners needed to go. I kinda liked the width because of the stability, but Its hard to steer with a stripped servo, so the width has to go. Plus if its narrower it should get those dam narrow gates easier
I also bought a JR XR3 off flee bay - so now I should have EPAs and its FM so it should help with our problem of running out of channels.

[Unholy]

Originally Posted by redrover

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Steve - Advice taken, Ive already ordered a set of the RCGuy narrow adapters from a guy here on the board. They should be here tommorow hopefully. I think that will help alot. What RD400 said made sense, so I figured that the wideners needed to go. I kinda liked the width because of the stability, but Its hard to steer with a stripped servo, so the width has to go. Plus if its narrower it should get those dam narrow gates easier
I also bought a JR XR3 off flee bay - so now I should have EPAs and its FM so it should help with our problem of running out of channels.

You'll like that radio! Top Notch and pretty much a bargain now days!

[redrover]

Good - Thats what I wanted to hear about it
Sven helped me out on choosing that radio - he said the XR3 was a good one and ready to go for indy rear steer. He said that he runs one. I think he changed the configuration of the buttons for the 3rd channel, but I dont have mine yet to look at to see what he meant. I looked at the thread where he explained it, but I really need a radio in hand to understand.

[dittohead]

I just picked up a 5955 the other day and it is the best servo i have ever used, hands down. It just laughs at my maxx mashers. I was runing a tower 995 for 15 minutes before it stripped, then bought a hitec 985 that lasted exactly 1 hour, and now i have found a servo that WILL take punishment. I just had my truck out for 2 hours straight with tons of big spills and that is the longest i have ever driven it before something let go (usually the steering) My only problem is i have to come up with the $$$ to get another 5955 for the rear!

[BARK]

I used to burn up a 645 every time I went out.
I went 1/4 scale and never looked back.

[JasonInAugusta]

Originally Posted by BARK

I used to burn up a 645 every time I went out.
I went 1/4 scale and never looked back.

Same here, even with Kimbrough #124 servo savers.

[madmarty]

You might want to step up to 340 ounces or better or a quarter scale servo would be a safe bet......

Marty

[miniwheeler]

How bout the new jr ds8711 403oz/in

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...rodId=JRPS8711