So the problem turned out to be much worse, I don't believe any of the gears were damaged after all, and while I was able to get the servo to operate without any load when I posted my reply above, once I installed the servo back into my car and attempted to operate it under load, it seems that something is either wrong with the servo motor or the mechanism that transfers power from the servo motor to the first gear in the gear box.

The servo is not operable under load

This is the second A80 servo that I've had to replace due to "cooking" or damaging the main servo motor. While it's nice that the gears are not stripping, there is a bigger issue when the servo can't be repaired.

At this point I have lost confidence in AGF servos and don't plan to support the brand anymore. I will continue to run the AGF servos that I have, but when they eventually fail, I plan to switch back to SRT servos which are a little more expensive, but I've never had any problem with the SRT servo that I ran in my EB48.4 several years ago.

I plan to get the new ET48 2.0 when it's released next month and I will be going with this servo here for the truggy:
https://dialedhobbies.com/accessorie...s-servo-detail

I'd rather have peace of mind and willing to pay a little more for that assurance.

*** UPDATE
I've damaged $80 x 2 = $160 over 5 months of racing plus another $80 for the 3rd servo I am currently running which makes the total spent to $240 on servos so far

I ran the SRT servo for nearly 2 years before I sold my EB48.4 and never had a single issue with that $120 servo

In contrast, I do believe that the A80 servo is more acceptable for my 4WD SCT and the A65 has been doing extremely well in my 1/10 buggy and mini truggy.

Perhaps there is a more suitable servo for 1/8 cars, but the A80 is definitely not a servo that I would recommend for 1/8