How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh? And also I run all metal gears in my tranny, what's your opinion on running a hardened steel spur gear? (Stock gearing, just hardened steel, scx10 jeep rubicon rtr). Running a Holmes CrawlMaster 540 brushed motor if that makes any difference...

Re: How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

I use the piece of paper method when setting my gear mesh. Slide a small piece of paper between the pinion and the spur gear, press together and tighten. Then turn the gears to get paper out works every time.

Re: How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

I do the same, but I use the thickest paper I can find, or sometimes even a thing business card.

Re: How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

When I first started in rc's regular notebook paper folded in half. Placing between pinion and spur, then tightening motor.... now I set it by feel/eye.

Re: How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

That's the best way. You can feel when you have it right.

Re: How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

I run metal gears, that is the only way.


Hang up and Drive

Re: How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

It takes some practice, but I always set it by eye so that the mesh is as close as possible while still being able to freely wiggle the spur between the pinion teeth. The only truck I can think of where I can hardly see the mesh is the Traxxas 4x4 models, but even then I can still reliably set it via feel. I used the paper a couple times starting out but never really liked it, it's just all based on your preference though.

Re: How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

How much wiggle room is adequate? As long as it wiggles slightly at the tightest mesh point is good enough or is it good to back it off a little more than that?

Right now I run plastic spur, but I may switch to hardened steel in the near future

How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

It sounds right, and feels right..... just a hint of side play in the teeth, plastic must be a bit tighter due to wear

Put the paper in, feel your mesh......

Hang up and Drive

Re: How tight/loose do you guys set your gear mesh?
 

It varies from 32p to 48p and the sound is different from spur to spur, but yeah you want as much teeth engagement while still having the wiggle.

Here's a video I found that finally details this perfectly:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5cda07nREWs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>