Plastic or steel spur gear

T

texas2sweetie

New member
In my Losi 1/10 scale XXX-SCT for the offroad clay track, the standard pinion gear is steel, while the spur gear is plastic. I asked a guy about switching out the plastic spur for a steel one.

He said he preferred the plastic spur. If something binRAB, a motor overrevs or whatever, the plastic can break and be replaced cheaply. But if everything is steel, who knows what might be stripped, broken, loose teeth, etc.

Is this logical and correct? I would guess the steel makers disagree but what is your opinion? Naturally on the track, I go forward and don't use reverse. However, there are jumps, spinning tires, etc that put stress on the transmission.
TakeAim
 
I would think preference is the answer. I think the ? is more is what situations is it better to have the Steele Spur vs a Plastic. Example the HPI Flux HP delivers a lot of low end torque when running 3 cell. Here on RCTech one owner ran a plastic Spur because that was the least expensive weak link & only replaced 2 in the past year. Made cents to ME. Another hp owner thought that was ridiculous. I due subscribe to the theory of planning your weak link when bashing, although for race situation this maybe not so much the CASE.

Ultimately it comes down to experience (what parts in the past have broke or failed, and which parts do you prefer to break or fail) with the RC unit and it's application.
 
Typically plastic is fine for the spur gear, as long as gear mesh is set reasonably well they should last for a long time. A correctly set slipper will protect it from most mayhem. Little need for the extra rotating mass and inertia of metal. Some guys even run plastic spurs on electric 1/8 scales, lots more power and usually not a slipper.

Probably the main reason the pinion gear is metal is because of the set screw.

The tranny idler and diff gears have more force on them (gear reduction) and they are usually plastic too, but they do need to be replaced occasionally.
 
I run a steel Robinson Racing Spur gear on my E-maxx... One of the best moRAB I've done to that truck.... It's no direct drive like a 1/8 buggy tho! I see the potential for an issue there...
 
Should have clarified that my comments were based on experience with the XXX series of vehicles and 1/10 2wd cars in general, used on race tracks, per the question as asked.
 
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