RE: Which Gear should I use
If you stripped the 17 tooth gear and the 27 tooth gear, it sounds like you stripped gears on two different shafts, right? The clutch bell drives a 35 tooth gear which shares the shaft with a 17 tooth gear, and the 17 tooth gear drives a 27 tooth gear which shares the shaft with a 19 tooth gear, which drives a 25 tooth gear which is on the output shaft. If you stripped the 17 on shaft #1 and it took out the 27 on shaft #2, you've got to buy parts number 08033 and 08014 to get them both.
The more reliable way to go tends to be to install the direct drive gearset, 02126, and an HPI 13 tooth clutch bell, either 77103 or A988. You end up with a bit less take-off but a bunch more top speed. The stock transmission & clutch bell has a reduction of 4.30:1 compared to a reduction of 3.23:1 (direct drive gearset 42 tooth spur driven by a 13 tooth bell), not counting the front and rear diffs.