I inherited a lot of equipment. I have a box of servos. They are all Futaba, but a mix of S3003/3004, with some S148 sprinkled in. How do you determine if a servo is good or bad? If it was bad, would it be obvious? They will be going in a GB Tiger II ARF. Any advice on which servos to use where, would be appreciated as well.

Thanks!
BH

The 3004 is the better of the three and is ball bearing

The 148 though still made has been around many years. There are older and newer 148 servos. the cases are different.

The 3003 is the lightest. All these servos have about the same power

hook them up to a receiver...see if they move...then see if they have any power by holding a servo arm lightly...last let the stiks go from full deflection..see if the servo hunts for center....then pray lol

hook then up to a reciever and battery and try to move them, the problem servos will show themselves out pretty quick,also a simple rattle test check the servo horn to see if there is any slack or movement.

you can also open them up,just pull the screws pop the cases open, and you can check for dammaged gears or exessive dirt in the servo,for example a servo that was used for RC cars will have alot more dust and dirt in them if theres exessive dust in them and the gears look good, the computer cleaner, "air in a can" can help get any debris out of them,if you notice any problems its not worth the 15$ servo to use them in a plane.

w8ye nailed it the 3004 is a prety good servo,I use alot of them the 3003 is a bushed servo, instead of bearings, there are bushings that work well enough, but can wear out and get a little loose,I have a few of these as well but use them mainly for throttle.

A 148 with a lot of time on it will have a lot of slack at the top bearing. You can wiggle the arm.

You can fix them with a EMS ball bearing repair kit.

Thanks again for the feedback. My father really didn't fly much, as his eyesight was getting pretty bad. I suspect most of these have never even been mounted. I just wanted to look for any obvious signs of a problem. My dad was old school and took very good care of his equipment, so I am not to concerned.

Thanks,
BH