servos. Whats a good torque for SC trucks and 1/8 buggy

I am shopping for servos and i am trying to get an idea of what would be a good torque rating for a 1/10 2wd sc, 1/10 4wd sc, and a 1/8 buggy steering.
I know a lot of people go over kill on steering servos, but my thinking is minimums..
1/10 2wd sc about 80 oz./in
1/10 4wd sc about 100 oz./in
1/8 buggy steering 150 oz./in

thanks for you inputs.. Just looking for some general guidelines. I had a 140 oz/in in my 2wd and 4wd SC trucks which seemed to be plenty strong, but the centering was total garbage. to the point i found my self thinking i had bumped my steering trims  on a few occasions.
So i am shopping once again.

Also,Wondering too if anyone has any experience with PowerHD servos. hows the resolution? how many teeth on the spline?

thanks
D

Many things come into play and if you want a "real" answer then listen up.  Don't go cheap and just pony up to a decent servo.  I personally run Hitec 7954SH in my smaller rigs and 7950TH and 7040TH in my larger quicker rigs.  As long as you stay with decent name brand servos you will be happier in the end.  For the money the best I can find is Hitec, some like Futaba, JR and ACE.  If you can stay away from turnigy, Savox, RCD or any other off brand.

Also your minimums are quite low, It is my opinion and the opinion of most who are in the know that a good starting point for lets say a 4x4 SC is at least 200oz and a seek of .12 or better.

The servo database website is a pretty good place to look for information on various servos:

http://www.servodatabase.com/

Careful. There information is not always accurate.

interesting sin,
are those metal gear? I would think so with those torque specs??!! good god man.. how small are your "smaller rigs"?

from A main:
This is the Hitec HS-7954SH Hi-Voltage 7.4V Ultra-Torque Servo.
specifications:

Size Category: Standard
Type: Digital
Torque: 333 oz @ 6V, 403 oz @ 7.4V
Speed: 0.15 sec/60 deg. @ 6V, 0.12 sec/60 deg. @ 7.4V
Bushing Or Bearing: Bearing
Bearing: Dual

the speed is nice... But the torque is over kill especially in the 1/10 rigs, at least In my mind. thinking i would like to be around 200 oz/in with the 1/8 ebuggy and 4x4 sc. i know when it comes to servos everyone has thier prefrences. not starting a brand war. Just looking for some general minimal guidelines. torque is great, but for me, speed, resolution and centering are equally if not more important in my mind at least, especially after my last experience with Losi brand servos. Digital and metal gear is what i will be shopping for.
thanks for the thoughts.

Well there is no "brand war" of any type towards me, I have and have run almost all manufactures of servos.  As per you thinking that's "too much" there is no such thing really.  Heres a scenario for you, if you are having trouble with a servo centering then the best fix is to add torque since there torque ratings mean more than just how much they can move it also depicts how much they can "hold" or in your case stay centered, or to "hold" the wheels in the direction you are commanding them smaller servos with less torque have less hold and make the steering feel sloppy.  And just as an FYI I think last year at the series races the lowest torque servo being used in a 4x4 SC was actually me as I am running an ACE 1015 which is underated at 200oz in of torque and .10 seek and seeing as I run a Lipo to it, it is more on par at 300oz and .07 seek as was tested by AE years ago. Most guys on the field were running the Hitec 7954SH on Lipo's which per almost everyone at the moment is the best deal going on a servo, that thing works great in any rig!  I run them in my crawlers and also my 1/8th buggies.  Now when we get into smaller stuff it changes slightly, in the smaller rigs we are not as concerned about torque but about speed and resolution.  In this case I run Hitec 7940TH in my 22T and all my SCT trucks. I was running Savox as were a couple guys but because of the recent price jump and the fact that they are the noisiest servo on the planet we have stopped using them.

Also any RTR servo is basically junk and will not hold a flame to any decent aftermarket servo.  And yes those are steel gears in all the decent servos or in the case of the 40 and 50 Hitec series they are titanium geared.

that makes a lot of sense. I haven't yet run my servos straight to my battery, but i might think of doing that.  any tips or links on the best way of doing that without running an external BEC? or is BEC req'd?
I agree about the torque/centering thing. static centering is a lot different than a servo under load when driving. good point.
after thinking about it, and doing some bench testing, it is clear to me why my steering inputs while driving required an intense amount of concentration. the torque rating and especially the reolution was totally lacking in the units i was running. And yes they were RTR servos. Not RTR on my rigs, but on a losi monster truck (LST2?). I thought i was getting a good deal for the Losb0812 servos on ebay for less than $20 as brand new take offs, but after a years worth of driving and confirming my suspicions on the bench, they don't seem like such a good deal anymore.

I'm certainly not a fountain of servo information, but I'll share my opinion(s).

My criteria when buying a servo is always torque first, speed second and then gear train material last. For my 1/10-scale stuff I've always run a servo with at least 120oz./in. of torque and a transit speed of about 0.1 seconds. And if it's full metal gear (either aluminum or titanium) that's a plus for me. That kind of servo is probably going to set a guy back abuot $100 or more. My 22T and XXX-NT2 both have the Airtronics 97358 which has been discontinued for many years but they've held up for 10+ years.

For my 1/8-scale stuff (monster trucks, I don't have any 1/8-scale racers) I basically go for the most torque and strongest gear train I can afford. I have a pair of Spektrum S6030 servos in my LST and they work beautifully. I did have to modify the steering racks to get them to fit in, but the thing steers with much more authority.

And, for what it's worth, I've heard enough bad things about Hitec servos that I'll never buy one. I don't have any personal experience with them, so take that with a grain of salt.

I will throw my 2 cents in.... haha. I run all kinds of stuff, from name brand higher end stuff, to straight up cheap stuff form china! I tend to run nicer stuff in my 1/8 ebuggy, 1/8 etruggy, and losi 4x4. But i did just switch to a off brand servo in my losi, and cant see a difference at all, except for the price! I also run a cheap servo in my sc10 2wd, and i love it. Its totally up to you what you get and how much you spend. If you can afford big name servos, go for it! If your bank roll wont support it, there are cheaper options to make your car steer just fine as well! PS..... i ran the cheapest servo at the oregon state series races, and won the 4wd class. haha

Hey now that's only because I ran 2-3 wheel drive in every race!  8) lol

yreka,
What was the cheapo unit you were running? I am not against the idea of running some hong king fooey stuff. It just has to work and be consistent, good speed and torque. Truth be told, i am on a budget.

Hobbyking.com, look at the Turnigy servos if your wanting cheap stuff, they are pobably the best of the cheap out there.  Many guys run them in there cawlers with fair results, but for me a $30 servo you have to replace four times because of either gear train issues, bad boards or motors giving out constitutes spending the $87 in the first place on a decent servo.  And as per Nexus, I'm unclear were he gets his info on Hitec?  In the RC land use industry they are considered by most racers one of the best, maybe "air" use they have issues?

Try the Solar 771 servo, found on Hobbypartz.com.    Its $17.50 and works great! It fits in the losi 4wd but doesnt fit in any 2wd vehicles that i kno of....

Possibly? I'm just going based on reviews I've seen from a handful of online retailers. I know you can't trust everything you read; that's why I say I don't know from experience. It could just be plenty of dumb people picking the wrong servo for the job and then crying when it fails for all I know.  :-\ Personally, though, I've always used either Airtronics or Spektrum servos and can't complain about either of them.

this is a servo i had great hopes in.. Truth be told i bought three of them. this was going to be my upgrade servo for my current rigs from the crap losi servo. I was dissapointed for two reasons with this servo. Although, i havent run on the ground it yet. i have only bench tested and cheked fitment. Issues: 1) it didn't fit in my blitz or the firestorm, it fit the jammin fine.  2) i fear Jang (from ultimate rc) was right about the torques spec. Simply put, these things are not what they claim.
When i hooked these up and checked with a fish scale pull gage ( not the most accurate, i know), the Losi servo easily out pulled the Solar d771 by at least 7lbs. 14lbs for the lose 7 lbs for the solar. Not sure what that equates to? but the Losi is supposed to have 140 oz. and the Solar is rated 189 oz.in @ 6v i believe. i am running about 5.8v from my BEC. obviously, this was a dissapointment. What i can say about the solar was the centering, speed and the resolution were very very good and easily trumped the losi.  I have some Solar 770s on order for the Fstorm and the blitz. They should fit, but the torque is suspect. thinking of doing some more testing once i get them and recording my results.

Right now i have been looking at the power HD, XQpower servos mostly, ones that some suppliers have here stateside so i don't have to wait on the "slow boat from china", but i know there are other cheap options out there. if any anyone has any input on these or others feel free to chime in. I am cheap and unashamed to say so, and although it is true, often times you get what you pay for, i am willing to chance it on a cheaper unit given my level of time and intensity devoted to the hobby.

As for the Hitec debate, there is no question they (among others) are regarded as the industry standard by many. so much so that many of the up and comer off brands seek to challenge them directly to validate there own products (I think that is a compliment) There are plenty of videos on you tube demonstrating such. Redwing RC is one that comes to mind.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUZpgKQnsmYoJoj0WLD_geUw

this is a servo i had great hopes in.. Truth be told i bought three of them. this was going to be my upgrade servo for my current rigs from the crap losi servo. I was dissapointed for two reasons with this servo. Although, i havent run on the ground it yet. i have only bench tested and cheked fitment. Issues: 1) it didn't fit in my blitz or the firestorm, it fit the jammin fine.  2) i fear Jang (from ultimate rc) was right about the torques spec. Simply put, these things are not what they claim.
When i hooked these up and checked with a fish scale pull gage ( not the most accurate, i know), the Losi servo easily out pulled the Solar d771 by at least 7lbs. 14lbs for the lose 7 lbs for the solar. Not sure what that equates to? but the Losi is supposed to have 140 oz. and the Solar is rated 189 oz.in @ 6v i believe. i am running about 5.8v from my BEC. obviously, this was a dissapointment. What i can say about the solar was the centering, speed and the resolution were very very good and easily trumped the losi.  I have some Solar 770s on order for the Fstorm and the blitz. They should fit, but the torque is suspect. thinking of doing some more testing once i get them and recording my results.

Right now i have been looking at the power HD, XQpower servos mostly, ones that some suppliers have here stateside so i don't have to wait on the "slow boat from china", but i know there are other cheap options out there. if any anyone has any input on these or others feel free to chime in. I am cheap and unashamed to say so, and although it is true, often times you get what you pay for, i am willing to chance it on a cheaper unit given my level of time and intensity devoted to the hobby.

As for the Hitec debate, there is no question they (among others) are regarded as the industry standard by many. so much so that many of the up and comer off brands seek to challenge them directly to validate there own products (I think that is a compliment) There are plenty of videos on you tube demonstrating such. Redwing RC is one that comes to mind.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUZpgKQnsmYoJoj0WLD_geUw
[/quote]

That was my point about cheap servos. 3 of those servos equal one nice hitec. 

So far so good with my cheap stuff, i will keep using them til they die.... haha. I agree tho, u get what you pay for,  so if it leaves me high and dry in a big race, i can only blame myself. Knock on wood, they have got me a few trophies and hope they continue to.....

i get it.
But i bought three servos for three rigs. just worked out that only one fit.
Had the others fit i probably would have run them too and would have covered three rig's steering servos for less than $60. and that is pretty good. the only fly in the ointment was the lacking torque. unfortunately these servos on these particular rigs were misses. Had i done my research and some measuring  : i would have realized the two rigs were a no go. that part is on me. the torque.. that is solars bust. not cool.

yreka,
What servo are you running?