You strip gear teeth when You don't shut it down in an immenent crash. If You goose it trying to save it and it hits something, they will strip. The heli's can take alot of abuse going straight down; esp. with unbreakable skids; so let it go.

You also strip teeth when the mesh isn't tight enough; people tend to overslop them, being afraid of too tight and losing power. You should have very, very little backlash on the sloppiest section of the gear, and rotating to the tighter side (they are never perfectly round) you should have next to nothing. Don't fret, the pinion and plastic gear will wear in within 2 flights and mate perfectly loosening up a bit more. You should have more slop in the vertical end play of the shafts; that's a real power thieve.

Your first photo demonstrates how many broken blades I've saved by getting the XTREME GRIPS and blades; I've been flying months now and have broke 3. Don't know if they will work with the bell canopy, though; they come very close to striking it, I found.

Gary