My DS mode is off........I was careful to make sure of that, since Futaba is very explicit with their warnings on the dangers of using an analog servo in digital mode.

I moved my linkage ball closer to the servo spline, like you said, by drilling another hole. Of course, now the servo has to travel much further to move the tail assembly the same amount as before. That doesn't seem like a good thing though....why is that better?

I'm sure I probably eventually need to get one of the 9650 servos like you have, but I don't have the money right now.

I don't use the fin brace to guide my tail linkage. I changed out the regular bent-wire linkage on the servo end, with a stainless ball and link. I also have stainless balls all over the heli, so my linkage seems to be as smooth as it could possibly be. I used my ball link tool to loosen all of the links a little too, just to be sure nothing is binding.

I'll give her a test flight this afternoon, and let you know what happens.

Barracuda, you said your gain is set to 32% in heading hold mode. Considering that positive numbers from 0-100 on my transmitter is all heading-hold mode, approximately where on a scale of 1-100 would your 32% be on my transmitters scale?