radio_controlled_mad

been looking for decent alloy gear cover for ages as the plastic stock lexin ones tend to stress fracture at the mounting holes to easy,found a guy producing them as well as other tuned parts in germany for good prices.

www.the-racing-shop.de

Monstrous

id stick with the clear one mate

i sort of went the same route, i painted the clear one thinking it would be a good idea, but it was annoying because i could no longer see the mesh or if there was damage without removing the cover, i prefer the clear one as it allows quick gear mesh checks and inspection of the spur

Monstrous

icecreamslick

My Feedback: (9)

It looks like a good site for several cool parts, but...................the only German I know is ein beer bita (and I don't even know how to spell that).

I like the gear cover, but the thing that I did not like about the plastic cover is that it is not completely closed (I can't tell from the picture, if the aluminum one is made the same way). There is an opening near the rear wishbone that lets debris get into the gear mesh. []

I have all steel gears and I want one that is totally closed, so I can set it and forget it. Most people are of the opinion that you should not use all steel gears, but I'm a rebel...so far so good! [sm=spinnyeyes.gif]

radio_controlled_mad

your correct it aint all closed at the back - but the stock plastic ones are the same - i think its to stop the rubbing off the rear bottem wishbones but i could be wrong!! i agree the fg stock plastic lexan ones are good as you can keep an eye on things but i have went through a few already as the crack at the mounting points far to easy - even with the special pressure washers fitted.the alloy one in pic is only 40 euro - the price of 2 stock plastic ones.

turnell

i'v read somewhere in an old thread that the alloy gear covers aren't a good idea, apparently when the gears start to get hot for obvious reasons (friction) the alloy gear cover makes them to stay hot and causes damage to the gears, the plastic ones tend to melt or become mis-shapen, and causes metal gears to snap easily between the ridges of the teeth, and due to alot of heat can cause the gears to become weak. a friend of mine is mad about his car and knows an awful lot about these cars i dont often get to speak to him but his girlfriend told me he gets quite a bit of his stuff from www.raco.com, i had a look on the site earlier and found a cheap metal gear cover thats slightly vented so it shouldn't get as hot as the one in your post, but at the same time it doesn't look as durable. have a look it mite be wot your looking for.

..........TURNELL..........

Automan

I use the plastic cover for now, but i want something metal soon, but it need to be something that can let air in and ventilate the gears... the big gear as mine is plastic still, because i want a weak point there. But the gear carrier gave up, so that is alloy now.... when i checked the original gear carrier i couldn't understand how it held up as long as it did, stupid to make that all plastic, should been some reinforcement of metal for the center at least.

Anyways, i painted my plastic "see through" gear protector, as i couldn't see jack sh*t after one tank of driving, so that is pretty pointless to have as it's not see trough for very long. Dirt, and it scratches the inside.. until it become like a fog effect, even if you wash it But i haven't ever had any problems with the gears not being aligned right, they work perfect and all is good.
I check my truck over once in a while, if something looks suspicious i will investigate, and don't take any chances, but so far everything have worked rather nice, i cant complain

That alloy gear cover RCM showed in this thread looks very nice, but if you got a plastic gear.. if it's only the big gear that is plastic, don't take the chance. That gear cover is more suited for all metal gears. Because there is no ventilation, it is a risk any plastic gears inside it will get hot and be damaged, just a warning.

icecreamslick

My Feedback: (9)

That's a good point about the gear cover trapping heat, turnell.

[&:] What we need is an aluminum cover that is completely closed and also doubles as a heat sink, similar to the aluminum fins that attach to electric 540 'can' motors. I have two on my TC4, and they really help to dissipate the heat from the motor.

Automan

Icecreamslick, having it completely closed and using outside heat-sinks for it will not work, it should be ventilated, with some small openings with net-protection, if you use any plastic gears it should be ventilated.

You are right icecreamslick If using all metal-gears then go with closed gear-protector and heat-fins on the outside).

Or just go for the main source of heat problem, put some big heat-fins on the clutch bell (edit: i meant clutch bell, for those who didn't already understood that by me just typing clutch )

hellya

Remove a section of the front and rear of the cover (or just from the front if the rear is open)..... replace those areas with screens, this will ventilate and protect.
Most of the time a plastic pinion melts from the clutch bell overheating.

icecreamslick

My Feedback: (9)

The screen idea did occur to me, but if it were inside the cover, I would worry that it might come loose and get caught in my gears...[X(] that would be bad.

If it were outside the cover, it would look too tacky... that would be almost as bad.

hellya

JB WELD will hold it in place................... its a cold weld treatment

http://jbweld.net/products/index.php

icecreamslick

My Feedback: (9)

hellya, I know that a lot of people swear by the JB Weld, but in my experience it has not proven to be worth much. I mixed even amounts, but never got a really good weld. [:-]

I'll give you an example: The plastic, stock uprights. They have a pair of bolts that screw into them, one from the bottom and one from the top. They are notorious for stripping out and most people upgrade to aluminum, but I decided to use JB Weld to hold the bolts in before they stripped on me...they still stripped. Right now, I have a pair of really tough zip-ties holding the two sets of front wishbones together against the uprights (hubs) because even JB Weld could not hold.

I also tried it with the plastic drift 'tires' that I mounted to a set of plastic rims for my TC4. The stuff did not hold that either. [&o]

...I'm sure that I'm doing something wrong.

hpiguy

I've had it hold wood to metal before, but everytime I use it to hold R/C style plastic together it fails too.

It's not just you.

But I think it would work to hold plastic screen into a lexan gear cover or metal cover. But so would CA glue or any other epoxy or strong glue for that matter.

hellya

I was thinking more along the lines of .......metal screening from a patio door, epoxied or jb welded to the alloy cover

triton5150

someone needs to make a fan blade that would mount on the spur gear that would cool the gears.

hpiguy

Somebody probably will someday. And charge $200 for it.

jeepfreak1972

After 2 stock covers split out at the holes I stopped using them. I have no more spur gear problems now than with it on. In fact every spur I have ruined was from bad crashes where the upper link hit the gear and ate the teeth off. Alloy a-arms, upper and lower, and switching to a 46 tooth spur has done wonders for gear life on my rig.

hellya

What pinion (tooth count) you running with your 46 tooth?

jeepfreak1972

I run a 17 tooth steel or an 18 will work too.

original.mb

radio controlled mad,

i like that cover mate some nice parts on site as well. i think if you bash hard then a cover like that would ensure ultimate protection

radio_controlled_mad

i think its worth the money (40 euro) its just the price of 2 stock lexan covers that always crack - as for the heat issue,most of it comes from the clutch bell - add a vented tuning bell will prob get rid most of that heat.