There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to setting the gear mesh of your Traxxas Arrma Team Associated Redcat or other RC car gear mesh. Let's discover the best way to set gear backlash together!
Can’t tell you how thankful I am for your channel, I’ve always liked rc but never upgraded or messed with parts unless they broke, learned something new today!
Pretty sure it was the great Dave Chapelle that said "Some people think cucumbers taste better pickled". Been setting gear mesh by feel for over 30 years. If it works, it works.
@@DoRC The paper trick doesn't work on the Arrma 3S BLX cars. I tried it on my Typhon once and since the gears aren't held securely in place until the cover is back on, when I did put it back on, I knew immediately that it was too tight, so I've just been making sure it feels and sounds right and I've had no problems. The stock plastic spur gear has held up a surprisingly long time even though I always run it on 3S and have the punch on the highest setting.
Perfect for beginner in RC. I used paper method on Slash, when i started with a hobby (6 years ago). Now i adjust it faster only with hearing of clicking noise. But it is possible when you have big gears. When you have 64Dp gears in 1/10 race models, you have to see it from the side. Because, there is a need absolute precision in 0,1mm steps. I remember 29T pinion with 80T Spur for example, fine tuning Mesh. But it is nothing impossible, just patience needed :-)
Yeah the paper method can work but it can also leave your mesh way too loose depending on the paper you use how tight you push them together and the pitch of the gear. Doing it by field/ear is definitely the way to go
Thank you very much for this great video very helpful my friend I watched this an then went an checked mine an oh gosh how much more I could get a better mesh so yeah thanks again
I thought the paper was a good idea but you brought up an excellent point. I've been changing pinion gears a lot on my TLR typhon and have used this method and it's worked great. I am leaving a little to much room though which would explain the marks I can see on the teeth. Now I know to trust the feel and sound of my gears.
Yeah the paper method can be effective but it can also be very ineffective depending on a bunch of different variables. Glad this video helped :-) Thanks for watching and if you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated!
I've never liked the paper trick. Your video hits on what I've largely done and have had a lot of success with which is go by sound in that click, click, click. If I hear that, I'm good. After watching this, I think i can go a pinch tighter while still maintaining that wiggle click sound. I'll test it out. The tip for checking the gears in multiple spots because they're not perfect was a good one. Nice video.
Yeah a lot of people don't realize just how little backlash these gears really need to have. Glad you found it worthwhile :-) If you aren't already subscribed a sub is appreciated!
Great video man. Been doing it by feel for years. Actually tried the paper method not long ago and it screwed me all up, went right back to my normal method
Yeah there's so many chances for getting variable results with the paper method that I just don't think it's worthwhile. Thanks for watching and if you enjoy the videos a sub is appreciated:)
Always on point information an testing. I have a honorable mention Motor mounts showing the difference between stock an 7075. I believe you upgrade your motor mount should be also. Being able to keep a proper Mesh.
Excellent video man! I agree the paper trick is no good at all. And thank you for mentioning the fact that the mesh needs to be checked all around and some gears are not perfectly round, this is such a common oversight.
But if you adjust it for that one tooth wouldn’t it throw all the other ones out of whack? So what would be the point of checking them all when there’s only one adjustment and if they are different you will never get them all right.
Not really. Normally if you get any part of the mesh right you'll be pretty close all the way around. Sometimes you'll get unlucky and not end up meshing at the tightest spot and will need a little bit more adjustment but normally the loosest spot and the tightest spot are not that different from each other.
Why I love my HPI Baja 5sc, Kraken Vekta, and Primal MT. The gear mesh is preset and you have a ton of gear selections to choose from and never have to set the gear mesh as it's always preset. Take the Baja the total number of teeth of the pinion and spur gear is always 74 teeth so the clutch bell shaft and transmission shaft are preset for perfect gear mesh regardless of the gear ratio as long as the pinion and spur teeth count add up to 74.
I had the right idea I was putting up a 15 on my big rock 6s I forgot to rotate and then check and it chipped my pinion I guess I have to run it on the 16 Again thank for your east and informative videos was able to run the 16 no prob just need to watch my temps lol
You're welcome! Yeah unfortunately when getting mesh really close like I recommend it's definitely important to verify that tightest spot because you can easily end up with binding if you don't. Sometimes you get lucky as I have forgotten to do it in the past but you can also often hear it if it's a problem. I always like to give my vehicles a quick roll by hand before running them and you'll get a characteristic womp womp womp sound as you roll it if the mesh is binding anywhere.
I set mesh by feel as well but on plastic gears(arrma granite) the gear isn't 100% round so you will need to find the high side and then set by feel. Edit: you did mention this in last 30 seconds.
I would have to agree with your explanations. Some cars are harder to set mesh because when tightening the set screw the mesh can change. In those cases, the paper trick works better imo. I like using 3x5 cards and jam them in tight. But as you said, it doesn't work for all applications.
Yeah it really just depends. The mesh definitely can change When you get things tight though. The index card thing can work but technically it'll end up making the mesh too loose which will make the gears a bit more susceptible to damage under heavy load. That being said there's definitely more than one way to skin a cat. Thanks for watching!
Uhhhh yea. I have that exact losi ebuggy. The thing is once you find the perfect spot and start to tighten the screws it moves slightly and is no longer perfect. This car specifically is tough because you have 4 screws to lossen/ tighten and it's very difficult to keep it still during all that.
I agree. That specific type of mount is one of the most challenging. I found the best way to do it is to bring all the screws to just a little past touching get it adjusted properly and then slowly snug the screws down in a criss-cross pattern a little bit at a time
I used the method described in this video and people told me it was too loose because you need to account for chassis flex. Any comment in regards to chassis flex? Thanks for the great content.
The goal of this method is to get the gears as close together as possible without actually binding so if you do that does not really any way it can be too loose.
I called Traxxas because I keep breaking my pinion on my Sledge. Today, I broke my pinion and Spur. They referred me to your video on how to mesh it! That’s how great your videos are! Thanks for your videos!! I broke my pinion and spur. Since I’ll be taking the housing of the differential apart to install new spur, do I need to fill that with grease? If so, what do you recommend and how much? Also, what spur and pinion brand do you recommend that is stronger. Maybe the Traxxas ones are too weak. And would it fit in the Traxxas gear housing? Thanks
There are a lot of different brands out there but I had good luck with the GPM spur and tekno pinions are very good. Traxxas puts 20 million weight silicone fluid in the center differential. It's essentially a putty it's so thick. You probably won't have to add any but it's not a terrible idea to get some from Traxxas anyway to have on hand as it's fairly inexpensive. That's crazy that they recommended my video. I guess it's pretty good :-) thanks for watching!
Still waiting on the Traxxas machined spur and pinion. And the 20 million oil you recommended. Do you have a solution that you recommend to stop the sledge pinion and spur from breaking every time? You still have stock motor mount on yours?
I used this method on my Traxxas Sledge and it works perfect and drives just great! It sounds super high pitched though and it doesn't sound like my dad's sledge at all. He even said we should look at it before we drive them, any idea what it is?
Variations in mesh will significantly alter the way the gears sound. That's not to say there isn't a problem but it's not inherently indicative of one. As long as you're able to hold one gear still at wiggle the other one and you've checked that in several spots around the rotation of them then you should be fine.
I’m trying to mesh my stock pinion and spur on my xrt ultimate. I can’t move the motor closer to mesh it. There are pins that the motor mount sits on that really don’t let me do that
Traxxas uses that pin system to do the mesh for you. It works pretty well for stock gears but if you upgrade to aftermarket gears of any kind the pin system isn't usable anymore. Either way if you want to set your mesh manually you can just take the pins out. I'd also recommend getting the aluminum motor mount screw washers that are available from Traxxas as it helps prevent the screws from digging into the plastic in the slots for the motor mount.
@@DoRC thank you!!!! I appreciate your help very much!!!! You have absolutely no idea!! Understood. The ultimate came with those aluminum washers you mentioned. Part of the $500 price. Lol!!! What automatic screwdriver do you use? I’m over hand tightening and unscrewing everything. It takes so long!!!
@@DoRC unfortunately wasn't the problem. I'm at a complete loss. Using a vxl3s combo with a brand new 3rd party 3s battery. New receiver. If you have any thoughts I would love to hear what you may think.
@do629 My first thought would be potentially the battery. What brand size and c rating is it? It's possible the battery can't handle the load and The battery voltage is sagging too much causing the ESC to cut out.
@@rccarsandmusic2641 Yeah I guess you could do that but that's definitely leaving things pretty subjective. Different vehicles are going to sound differently and I feel like that's kind of making it more complicated than it needs to be. The process in the video is pretty simple and if followed is essentially foolproof.
Yeah the paper method is extremely inconsistent. Once you get this method worked out it's fast and works every time! Thanks for watching and if you enjoy the videos a sub is appreciated
That would be nice but even then paper method is susceptible to a lot of subject ability and inherent variability. You can get some very different results depending on how tightly you squeeze together against the paper. Best thing to do is just follow this process and you'll get a perfect mesh every single time. Thanks for watching if you enjoy the videos a sub is appreciated!
If it works for you then it's fine just keep in mind that the looser the mesh the less tooth engagement you have so the inherently weaker the gears will be.
Maybe though different gear tooth pitches, quality of the paper, how hard you squeeze the gears together etc will all come into play. I just don't really see the point in doing something like that when the best method is Also extremely easy, requires no guesswork and works for every single gear setup.
@@DoRC I hear you, but if you use paper and give it a wiggle to make sure there is a tiny bit of wiggle then you are good. Like you said, there are different methods and the paper method has been around for ages and is still going for a reason, plus is free, everyone has paper. You can legitimately do it your way too, the only difference is you dont start with a distance based on the thickness of the paper.
@@Xbot4LifeThe paper method frustrated me because I had both binding, and a mesh that was way too loose depending on how hard I pressed on everything before tightening.
@@JPTulo you just gotta go with what works for you. Luckily for me, the traxxas pin system worked fine last time I changed gearing (after I made that post)
I don't really like paper because it doesn't necessarily give you the most consistent mash. Depending on the gear pitch and how hard you push you can get some pretty different results. I prefer just to get a feel for it by hand.
There's no way to have a jig as you'd need a separate one for each setup. This method is foolproof. If you do what I said you'll get it perfect every time. It's a skill like anything else though. At first itll take a few tries to get it right but keep practicing and you'll get faster and faster at it! Thanks for watching:)
