ETO Gearboxes!
 

Finally got my first set of these gearboxes for the King Tiger. For any of you who followed my long build thread on King 222, you know I put a lot in to that tank and wanted something with the best of everything in it. Only thing I was never happy with was the TU's. The Tamiya standard boxes are not a design I am fond of, that includes all of the makes of this type. They have a habit of stripping gears with a heavy tank with a lot of ground pressure, and if they are driven hard. They also are prone to getting dirt into the gears, which again causes problems of stripping and excessive wear. These ETO units are as bulletproof as anything you could dream of. The torque generated is outstanding and they certainly will break metal tracks if they get bound up. The scale speed seems to be dead on as well. Control of the tank is amazing. You can crawl with these things and it no longer has that jerky feel as it did before. Some may argue that they are expensive, but they are worth every cent for a tank you want to be durable. I will be updating my other tanks to these as funds allow. If you have a Tamiya tank that you enjoy running, get these TU's for it. There is nothing that comes close. One set for a KV, and another for a Sherman or 2 and 2 Tiger 1's...So ebay will have a few sets of Tamiya units for sale in the near future for sure. :Dhttp://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2144636

They look very robust. Does the beveled gear attach directly to the motor shaft or is there a reduction in there somewhere? Do you think they'd be adaptable easily to an Imex/Torro Jagdtiger?

And if you don't mind, just how expensive were they, delivered to the Garden State? It sounds like you're pretty happy and that's worth a lot, right? :)

I fit a set of these to my Torro KV2. The most difficult part was all the time filing inside the torro sprockets to fit onto the ETO shafts. Tamiya style shafts have a double flat vs single on the taigen/hl style if i remember correctly. In retrospect it may have been easier to grind the shafts instead of trying to mod the sprockets.

There is also an issue of the physical height - i needed to drill some new holes in the motor plate abd use some spacers to raise the gearbox, but otherwise was pretty lucky w/the KV. No major structural modification required.

I would recommend getting some measurements and pictures of the king tiger ETO box to see if it will work before purchasing.

But really it was all worth it. The ETO gearboxes are miles ahead of the standard type. For a big tank like the JT i'm sure they'd be amazing.

I have seen them before and am quite familiar with them, however, these are my first set to own. As for adapting them, I am sure it can be done if you wanted to, though it would take some planning. They are on ETO armor's website. Price is listed there. 265.00 for a set. Worth every cent on a tank you want durability from. The motors are bolted to a gear down assembly which is sealed. That beats the hell out of any type of cover you can make for the standard design boxes, and scale speed is correct with these also. And did I mention they are extremely quiet? That's a far stretch for any of the other types of TU's on the market. Most of them are louder than the engine sounds of the tank.

Forgot the most important thing - since the ETO is a single unit, the width (sprocket to sprocket) of your JT has to be the same as on the intended model(Tamiya KT), otherwise you'll need different shafts.

KV2 seems to be the same for both torro and tamiya, to the millimeter.

Fitting shafts for the outdrives wouldn't be that difficult either. Cut to length and make the notch for the sprockets..

Those look pretty tough. Have a link for where to buy them?

Steve

Here's the link to the ETO sight section for the transmissions. Warehouse in Md. has a bunch of them and more will be on the way by the end of this month. Be advised, my web guru will be working on the sight today, as in shortly, to make sure all is good there so sight might not work off and on for the day.

http://www.etoarmour.com/products.php?ViewCategory=47

I'm waiting for the day you release these for HengLong or Taigen based hulls, or a mod kit to facilitate cramming them in there. I'm not yet brave or equipped enough to consider cutting or milling shafts for specific tanks, but I've always liked these gears.

Whew! That's a serious looking engine! I bet you're getting to the point with that and metal gears and tracks where if you get your fingers caught in the works you're going to have a problem! You've built a very dull electric chainsaw! :)

Steve

How about a TU for the Leopard A4? That's what I really need! Otherwise it's going to be the 2 speed from AFV.

ETO is working on the Leopard 1 TU's. They should be available in the coming months.

Would love to try to fit a set in my Jagdpanther. I dont think there is a jp version though. :/ I like the idea of the big torro jagdtiger + eto gearbox though. If anyone tries that, please keep us all in the loop!

I will be buying a set for the Wecohe JT when I get it. Seems only proper to have that beast powered by the best TU's around.

Wow, you have a lead on the Wecohe JTs? They are elusive beasts AFAIK

There is a very clear warning in the instructions:

WARNING! THIS IS A VERY STRONG TRANSMISSION SYSTEM! USE OF THIS TRANSMISSION SYSTEM IS RECOMMENDED FOR ADULTS ONLY! DO NOT LET CHILDREN OR ADULTS PUT THEIR FINGERS OR HANDS IN THE TRACK SYSTEM WHILE THE TRANSMISSION IS IN USE! INJURY WILL RESULT!

And the warning is well heeded. Damn near lost a digit this afternoon...LOL Should have a warning that Joe should have some supervision as well...
My only issue with these units is I now need one for every tank.

The test bed for the coming Panther/JP system is a Jagdpanther. The system fits in the JP with no interference problems and is marginally lower than the Tamiya system but longer. and will be officially introduced with the Panther system.

Please read the instructions again and pay particular attention to the word 'children'. LOL.
Leaving in a few minutes for City and machine shop.

HAHAHAHA!!!!! yes I should have read them more carefully.
Have a good trip to the shop. Talk later.

Awesome. I will be on hoard for one of these this summer. 0.0 Will have to figure out fitting again for my Taigen JP.

Where did you find the Wecohe JT Joe? I've got all the manuals, diagrams, conversion/measurement equations, and math done for removing the proper amount of material on the styeren sheets to get the correct angles. Did you get your hands on the later kit with the extended hull or are you using a tammy KT lower that has to be extended? Either way, good luck on that sucker. Still gives me the cold sweats when I think back on it....He he.

A friend has two of them and we are planning to make a trade for one. If it comes through, these TU's will be the only thing to go into it.

Kits or already built?

Built.