Can someone explain what a servo saver is?

[cobalt172]

I don't understand what a servo saver is. How is it adjusted to "save" your servo?

 

[jondilly1974]

Yes to save your servo from hard impacts

 

[Rcproponent]

?

 

[Freelander]

Cool. Never knew that.

 

[NewSensei]

It's amazing the stresses these things have to deal with and aren't broken more often, mostly thanks to things like the servo saver and weak points to help prevent breakage on more expensive parts.

Think about it like this, a Kraton 6s is about 14ish pounds with batteries and inf you land on a wheel from 20 feet up it's going to experience hundreds of pounds of force in a fraction of a second which is why modern plastics are so amazing too...the engineering in these models is awesome especially for the price though I'd like to see a servo saver that has zero slop and still save a servo

 

[Rcproponent]

It's amazing the stresses these things have to deal with and aren't broken more often, mostly thanks to things like the servo saver and weak points to help prevent breakage on more expensive parts.

Think about it like this, a Kraton 6s is about 14ish pounds with batteries and inf you land on a wheel from 20 feet up it's going to experience hundreds of pounds of force in a fraction of a second which is why modern plastics are so amazing too...the engineering in these models is awesome especially for the price though I'd like to see a servo saver that has zero slop and still save a servo

Wouldn’t that mean you’d be dealing with constant bent turnbuckles? You need some form of “slop” in there otherwise it wouldn’t absorb nearly as much or as well.

Eliminate one “weak point” create another.... haha

 

[Freelander]

In terms of forces my kid gave himself an ankle buster last night with a 3S granite going flat out. Must have been like getting hit with a sledgehammer. It took his feet out from underneath him and I actually saw him literally sideways airborne for a split second.
Just a good reminder for him that these things are fun but they are not toys.
His leg is gonna have a huge bruise and he has some road rash on one elbow.
Trooper though. We finished our packs.

 

[Notorious J]

I don't understand what a servo saver is. How is it adjusted to "save" your servo?

Depending on the saver you have, you may not be able to adjust it. The older V3 and back savers had a screw type, which you could tighten or loosen depending on how much "precision" you wanted in your steering. Tighter meant less slop but more risk in damaging the servo or other steering parts. Loosen it up, and your steering feels less precise, but your components are better safeguarded. On the newer V4 saver, adjustment is possible, but very difficult. Seems like Arrma decided how tight is tight enough, probably to help reduce warranty claims for damaged servos and mangled steering parts. Hope this answers your question.

 

[NewSensei]

Wouldn’t that mean you’d be dealing with constant bent turnbuckles? You need some form of “slop” in there otherwise it wouldn’t absorb nearly as much or as well.

Eliminate one “weak point” create another.... haha

No because most of the materials on our vehicles can handle it to an extent and some (like shock ends) are a designed point of weakness. Better to break a rod end than a diff or shock

There doesn't have to be slop, it's just a side effect of the materials and scale of the vehicle. Think of your full sized car, do you have slop there? Even on Baja trucks, no slop is a must. It's just much harder to avoid in a smaller package and the servo's don't have our arms to absorb the shock like full sized vehicles do.

That said, it is the reason we have breakages at all but the way things are designed and the materials used can deal with some of that stress by flexing and transferring the load down the line but everything has it's limits

 

[Rcproponent]

No because most of the materials on our vehicles can handle it to an extent and some (like shock ends) are a designed point of weakness. Better to break a rod end than a diff or shock

There doesn't have to be slop, it's just a side effect of the materials and scale of the vehicle. Think of your full sized car, do you have slop there? Even on Baja trucks, no slop is a must. It's just much harder to avoid in a smaller package and the servo's don't have our arms to absorb the shock like full sized vehicles do.

That said, it is the reason we have breakages at all but the way things are designed and the materials used can deal with some of that stress by flexing and transferring the load down the line but everything has it's limits

Silly engineers... RC cars don’t need servo savers! We’re onto something here! ..... ??‍

 

[KevinC]

A lot of answers here but I don’t think the OP question was answered. What’s the concept?

 

[Hammer Down]

Basically when your steering takes a hit, it gets absorbed by the saver or reduces the impact on the servo.

 

[Rcproponent]

If my video didn’t explain what a servo saver is I’m at a loss ??‍

 

[NewSensei]

To put it plainly: the servo saver take the majority of any shocks that come down the steering arms rather than the servo taking that shock. The internals of a servo cannot handle being repeatedly stressed and it eventually either breaks some in the servo or electronics burn out from trying to keep itself on track against such shocks.

 

[KevinC]

If my video didn’t explain what a servo saver is I’m at a loss ??‍

My bad bro.....I didn’t see the video, apologies in advance....

 

[NewSensei]

If my video didn’t explain what a servo saver is I’m at a loss ??‍

The video did a real good job of showing how to fix the loose saver of a Kraton V4 with it's "never loos" servo saver but not really the theory behind the servo saver in general.

That said, I did this to mine last night. I didn't have washers or clips so I used a ring from a spring that was off an old broken toy. You weren't wrong about the locktite, man, had to use my soldering iron on the screws to heat them up since they're hurried in so much plastic. The servo saver itself though, really wasn't hard to take apart, there was no locktite on that part at all, only where the screw when in the top...they didn't even put locktite on the bottom screws, had a heck of a time getting the top screw out and had to use vice grips to hold the really thin bottom of the steel post...such a pain. Still, bearings made a huge difference as well as getting that spring tighter

 

[GRC]

I don't understand what a servo saver is. How is it adjusted to "save" your servo?

A servo saver flexes from bumps in the road that turn the wheels. So if you're turning right, the servo is trying to turn you right, but if a bump sends the wheels left, without a servo saver, the servo would take all that stress and you could strip your servo gears. By flexing and letting the wheels move a little without moving the servo gears, the servo saver "saves" your servo. Tightening the servo saver will keep your wheels on the line you want better, but will stress the servo more. Loosening the servo will spare your servo from stress, but will loosen up the steering precision. If you run on on smooth terrain and you want tighter steering response, you can tighten the servo saver. If you run on rough terrain, setting the servo saver too tight may end up damaging the servo.

 

[Notorious J]

A lot of answers here but I don’t think the OP question was answered. What’s the concept?

Funny, thought I covered his question pretty well

Depending on the saver you have, you may not be able to adjust it. The older V3 and back savers had a screw type, which you could tighten or loosen depending on how much "precision" you wanted in your steering. Tighter meant less slop but more risk in damaging the servo or other steering parts. Loosen it up, and your steering feels less precise, but your components are better safeguarded. On the newer V4 saver, adjustment is possible, but very difficult. Seems like Arrma decided how tight is tight enough, probably to help reduce warranty claims for damaged servos and mangled steering parts. Hope this answers your question.