Kraton How to - Shim your V4 Servo Saver

[Just a Basher]

So with the release of the ARRMA V4s, they came out with the "Never Loose" servo saver. I will admit, when I first saw it I was pretty excited, I had issues with my V3 backing off over and over again (until I red loctited it in place). After seeing a few videos, and looking it over myself, it looked like a pretty much non adjustable design. I didn't have any complaints with the servo saver on dirt, but I run a lot of times on grass and asphalt. The out of the box setting just wasn't cutting it on grass and asphalt. I wasn't going to settle for that.

I saw a video here of someone tearing one apart and it looked caked in red loctite. So I wanted to come up with a method of shimming the servo saver without tearing it completely apart.

I measured the outside of the post, and its just under 1/2" or 12mm. (I mustered a measurement of 0.468", it looks like 0.47 just due to parallax)

If you wanted to, you would need a washer slightly larger than that to act as a shim to add more force to the servo saver. I still didn't to take it all apart. So out to the garage I went.
Digging through my toolbox I came up with a solution. External snap rings.

I first tried a 1/2" snap ring and it felt way too tight to get it over the head on the post of the servo saver. A 9/16" snap ring seemed to do the job. You should be able to pick these up at a hardware or maybe a home improvement store for around 50 cents.

Now the fun part, if you don't have snap ring pliers this part can get tricky. You can probably use some small allen wrenches that come with a lot of these RC car kits to spread the ends apart and just get it on the head of the post. Like this.

Once you have however many you decide to do (I'm giving 2 a shot first, its easy to add more) take a 1/2" or 13mm socket and push the snap rings down. You will have to push hard enough to compress the spring and the snap rings will be pushed over the bottom of the head, locking in place.
It should look like this (note the bottom snap ring is already in place).

When all is said and done, your assembly should look something like this.

And there you have it. Shimming your V4 Servo Saver. It will also never come loose, as the design intended...and all of that red loctite.

tldr: 9/16" snap ring over the head of the servo saver to adjust spring force.

 

[Notorious J]

So with the release of the ARRMA V4s, they came out with the "Never Loose" servo saver. I will admit, when I first saw it I was pretty excited, I had issues with my V3 backing off over and over again (until I red loctited it in place). After seeing a few videos, and looking it over myself, it looked like a pretty much non adjustable design. I didn't have any complaints with the servo saver on dirt, but I run a lot of times on grass and asphalt. The out of the box setting just wasn't cutting it on grass and asphalt. I wasn't going to settle for that.

View attachment 39610

View attachment 39611

I saw a video here of someone tearing one apart and it looked caked in red loctite. So I wanted to come up with a method of shimming the servo saver without tearing it completely apart.

I measured the outside of the post, and its just under 1/2" or 12mm. (I mustered a measurement of 0.468", it looks like 0.47 just due to parallax)
View attachment 39612
View attachment 39613

If you wanted to, you would need a washer slightly larger than that to act as a shim to add more force to the servo saver. I still didn't to take it all apart. So out to the garage I went.
Digging through my toolbox I came up with a solution. External snap rings.
View attachment 39614
View attachment 39615

I first tried a 1/2" snap ring and it felt way too tight to get it over the head on the post of the servo saver. A 9/16" snap ring seemed to do the job. You should be able to pick these up at a hardware or maybe a home improvement store for around 50 cents.
View attachment 39617
Now the fun part, if you don't have snap ring pliers this part can get tricky. You can probably use some small allen wrenches that come with a lot of these RC car kits to spread the ends apart and just get it on the head of the post. Like this.
View attachment 39618
Once you have however many you decide to do (I'm giving 2 a shot first, its easy to add more) take a 1/2" or 13mm socket and push the snap rings down. You will have to push hard enough to compress the spring and the snap rings will be pushed over the bottom of the head, locking in place.
It should look like this (note the bottom snap ring is already in place).
View attachment 39621

When all is said and done, your assembly should look something like this.

View attachment 39623

And there you have it. Shimming your V4 Servo Saver. It will also never come loose, as the design intended...and all of that red loctite.

tldr: 9/16" snap ring over the head of the servo saver to adjust spring force.

Now that was brilliant. Such a simple solution, and very adjustable to whatever setting you might like. Sometimes we over think the problem when the solution is something so simple. Excellent observation and thanks very much for sharing. There's going to be a lot of new Arrma owners breathing a sigh of relief tonight.

 

[Grumpy Old Man RC]

Ingenious. And I just happen to own all the proper internal and external pliers for the rings. Now all I need is a V4 servo saver.
I don't know if these are worth anything but this is what you need.
https://www.amazon.com/ABN-Snap-Rin...1&s=gateway&sprefix=snap+ring+,aps,155&sr=8-4
Depending on how you assemble them they will work on both types.
BRAVO!!!

 

[Wmorgan]

So with the release of the ARRMA V4s, they came out with the "Never Loose" servo saver. I will admit, when I first saw it I was pretty excited, I had issues with my V3 backing off over and over again (until I red loctited it in place). After seeing a few videos, and looking it over myself, it looked like a pretty much non adjustable design. I didn't have any complaints with the servo saver on dirt, but I run a lot of times on grass and asphalt. The out of the box setting just wasn't cutting it on grass and asphalt. I wasn't going to settle for that.

View attachment 39610

View attachment 39611

I saw a video here of someone tearing one apart and it looked caked in red loctite. So I wanted to come up with a method of shimming the servo saver without tearing it completely apart.

I measured the outside of the post, and its just under 1/2" or 12mm. (I mustered a measurement of 0.468", it looks like 0.47 just due to parallax)
View attachment 39612
View attachment 39613

If you wanted to, you would need a washer slightly larger than that to act as a shim to add more force to the servo saver. I still didn't to take it all apart. So out to the garage I went.
Digging through my toolbox I came up with a solution. External snap rings.
View attachment 39614
View attachment 39615

I first tried a 1/2" snap ring and it felt way too tight to get it over the head on the post of the servo saver. A 9/16" snap ring seemed to do the job. You should be able to pick these up at a hardware or maybe a home improvement store for around 50 cents.
View attachment 39617
Now the fun part, if you don't have snap ring pliers this part can get tricky. You can probably use some small allen wrenches that come with a lot of these RC car kits to spread the ends apart and just get it on the head of the post. Like this.
View attachment 39618
Once you have however many you decide to do (I'm giving 2 a shot first, its easy to add more) take a 1/2" or 13mm socket and push the snap rings down. You will have to push hard enough to compress the spring and the snap rings will be pushed over the bottom of the head, locking in place.
It should look like this (note the bottom snap ring is already in place).
View attachment 39621

When all is said and done, your assembly should look something like this.

View attachment 39623

And there you have it. Shimming your V4 Servo Saver. It will also never come loose, as the design intended...and all of that red loctite.

tldr: 9/16" snap ring over the head of the servo saver to adjust spring force.

Thank you for sharing. I'm definitely going to try this out!

 

[Just a Basher]

Ingenious. And I just happen to own all the proper internal and external pliers for the rings. Now all I need is a V4 servo saver.
I don't know if these are worth anything but this is what you need.
https://www.amazon.com/ABN-Snap-Ring-Pliers-Interchangeable/dp/B00YHFKHPC/ref=sr_1_4?crid=9W6C51BID4DS&keywords=snap+ring+pliers&qid=1559182471&s=gateway&sprefix=snap+ring+,aps,155&sr=8-4
Depending on how you assemble them they will work on both types.
BRAVO!!!

I think I have a pair of those snap ring pliers, I know I had issues with them for some of the stiffer snap rings when building transmissions for a couple friends race cars. I used to have a could really nice sets, but I have no idea where they ended up.

Kinda hoping more people see this, as this could help others with steering issues with their brand new rigs. It does suck to have to take the whole steering assembly out of the truck to adjust it, but if you are swapping out the stock bushings for bearings, this is the time to do this. I figure once the sweet spot is found, it should be an easy upgrade across all platforms.

Also, I was wondering if someone made a shock preload spacer that would fit vs using snap rings.

 

[Notorious J]

So with the release of the ARRMA V4s, they came out with the "Never Loose" servo saver. I will admit, when I first saw it I was pretty excited, I had issues with my V3 backing off over and over again (until I red loctited it in place). After seeing a few videos, and looking it over myself, it looked like a pretty much non adjustable design. I didn't have any complaints with the servo saver on dirt, but I run a lot of times on grass and asphalt. The out of the box setting just wasn't cutting it on grass and asphalt. I wasn't going to settle for that.

View attachment 39610

View attachment 39611

I saw a video here of someone tearing one apart and it looked caked in red loctite. So I wanted to come up with a method of shimming the servo saver without tearing it completely apart.

I measured the outside of the post, and its just under 1/2" or 12mm. (I mustered a measurement of 0.468", it looks like 0.47 just due to parallax)
View attachment 39612
View attachment 39613

If you wanted to, you would need a washer slightly larger than that to act as a shim to add more force to the servo saver. I still didn't to take it all apart. So out to the garage I went.
Digging through my toolbox I came up with a solution. External snap rings.
View attachment 39614
View attachment 39615

I first tried a 1/2" snap ring and it felt way too tight to get it over the head on the post of the servo saver. A 9/16" snap ring seemed to do the job. You should be able to pick these up at a hardware or maybe a home improvement store for around 50 cents.
View attachment 39617
Now the fun part, if you don't have snap ring pliers this part can get tricky. You can probably use some small allen wrenches that come with a lot of these RC car kits to spread the ends apart and just get it on the head of the post. Like this.
View attachment 39618
Once you have however many you decide to do (I'm giving 2 a shot first, its easy to add more) take a 1/2" or 13mm socket and push the snap rings down. You will have to push hard enough to compress the spring and the snap rings will be pushed over the bottom of the head, locking in place.
It should look like this (note the bottom snap ring is already in place).
View attachment 39621

When all is said and done, your assembly should look something like this.

View attachment 39623

And there you have it. Shimming your V4 Servo Saver. It will also never come loose, as the design intended...and all of that red loctite.

tldr: 9/16" snap ring over the head of the servo saver to adjust spring force.

Hey @NerveBag & @GabeRealD, this is the thread I was telling you about.

 

[GabeRealD]

Hey @NerveBag & @GabeRealD, this is the thread I was telling you about.

Thx brother

 

[98jdmcivic]

So with the release of the ARRMA V4s, they came out with the "Never Loose" servo saver. I will admit, when I first saw it I was pretty excited, I had issues with my V3 backing off over and over again (until I red loctited it in place). After seeing a few videos, and looking it over myself, it looked like a pretty much non adjustable design. I didn't have any complaints with the servo saver on dirt, but I run a lot of times on grass and asphalt. The out of the box setting just wasn't cutting it on grass and asphalt. I wasn't going to settle for that.

View attachment 39610

View attachment 39611

I saw a video here of someone tearing one apart and it looked caked in red loctite. So I wanted to come up with a method of shimming the servo saver without tearing it completely apart.

I measured the outside of the post, and its just under 1/2" or 12mm. (I mustered a measurement of 0.468", it looks like 0.47 just due to parallax)
View attachment 39612
View attachment 39613

If you wanted to, you would need a washer slightly larger than that to act as a shim to add more force to the servo saver. I still didn't to take it all apart. So out to the garage I went.
Digging through my toolbox I came up with a solution. External snap rings.
View attachment 39614
View attachment 39615

I first tried a 1/2" snap ring and it felt way too tight to get it over the head on the post of the servo saver. A 9/16" snap ring seemed to do the job. You should be able to pick these up at a hardware or maybe a home improvement store for around 50 cents.
View attachment 39617
Now the fun part, if you don't have snap ring pliers this part can get tricky. You can probably use some small allen wrenches that come with a lot of these RC car kits to spread the ends apart and just get it on the head of the post. Like this.
View attachment 39618
Once you have however many you decide to do (I'm giving 2 a shot first, its easy to add more) take a 1/2" or 13mm socket and push the snap rings down. You will have to push hard enough to compress the spring and the snap rings will be pushed over the bottom of the head, locking in place.
It should look like this (note the bottom snap ring is already in place).
View attachment 39621

When all is said and done, your assembly should look something like this.

View attachment 39623

And there you have it. Shimming your V4 Servo Saver. It will also never come loose, as the design intended...and all of that red loctite.

tldr: 9/16" snap ring over the head of the servo saver to adjust spring force.

Its been a few months, how is this working out? Going to do mine soon but wanted to see if this is still running strong.

 

[Just a Basher]

Zero issues with this on my end. Both of my Kratons are running with 2 snap rings on the servo savers and are still there.
Not sure who else has done this and can report back in with any issues/success stories.

 

[Chad08]

I did this to my outcast and it's been successful. I've ran at least 8 packs through it.

 

[Phaedrus]

So what are the signs that the servo saver is too loose. Asking for a friend

 

[98jdmcivic]

Zero issues with this on my end. Both of my Kratons are running with 2 snap rings on the servo savers and are still there.
Not sure who else has done this and can report back in with any issues/success stories.

Sounds good. Thanks for the update.

I did this to my outcast and it's been successful. I've ran at least 8 packs through it.

Awesome. Im going to do my Outcast too. Did you find the snap rings at a local hardware store?

I did this to my outcast and it's been successful. I've ran at least 8 packs through it.

Awesome. Im going to do my Outcast too. Did you find the snap rings at a local hardware store?

So what are the signs that the servo saver is too loose. Asking for a friend

Seconded...and may be asking for the same friend. At least he'll get the answer!

 

[Outcastblxnut]

Your steering will be horrible turning radius will be huge. You'll be able to see the v notch in the plastic part separating when you turn the wheels

 

[Just a Basher]

So what are the signs that the servo saver is too loose. Asking for a friend

As @Outcastblxnut said, turning radius will be huge.

If you run in grass or add big tires it will be way more noticeable. Something like a Talion or Typhon has narrow enough wheels that I don't think this would need to be done to it.

 

[Chad08]

Sounds good. Thanks for the update.

Awesome. Im going to do my Outcast too. Did you find the snap rings at a local hardware store?

Awesome. Im going to do my Outcast too. Did you find the snap rings at a local hardware store?

Seconded...and may be asking for the same friend. At least he'll get the answer!

I got them for free from work ?

 

[shingo]

Your steering will be horrible turning radius will be huge. You'll be able to see the v notch in the plastic part separating when you turn the wheels

That's my exact problem, I have a powerfull aftermarket servo that has no problem going fully in one direction or another but the wheel are just not following. In some case, the wheel does 1/3 of the travel and the servo 100%.

I just ordered a set of snap ring and a plier, will see how it handle after that. I can see the servo saver giving away a lot under hard turn.

 

[shingo]

I've put 2 shim in the servo saver and also replaced the bushing with sealed bearing and now it is insane how much the car turn. Before I needed about 40 feet to do a u-turn under a bit of power. Now when I turn the steering, the wheel just turn without compromise, even under throttle, it's crazy.

I just hope the servo saver is not too tight, I did some test and the servo saver is still doing it's job, just not as loose as before.

 

[Mnemikk]

Your steering will be horrible turning radius will be huge. You'll be able to see the v notch in the plastic part separating when you turn the wheels

Hey - think I am having the same issues and will give this trick a chance. However can you explain to me how the servo saver works. You say that when the v notch is saparating when turning this is wrong? Can someone elaborate how this works and what it helps if it spring is tighter.

 

[Outcastblxnut]

Yes if it separates when you turn then it’s too loose. The servo saver saves the servo from hard jolts. It will twist and give. Taking the shock from the impact and not destroying the servo gears themselves. If it’s too loose the servo will twist it and not the steering rack. ????

 

[northbourn12]

I never noticed an issue the first few days out of the box with the servo saver. But I replaced the bearings for sealed kit and I noticed it straight away on asphalt I had tight circles then as I applied power the steering would straighten up. Has anyone else noticed this. I have the parts on order to shim it now.