DKLM gearbox
 

The motors are on the wrong side for an Elmod board ,one of the leads is short due to motor fixing. Stripped gearbox down as the short lead is hidden, you need to disassemble the side with the toothed belt. Will colour code the plug and socket to avoid mistakes .Attachment 2271142Attachment 2271143Attachment 2271144

Part 2 of the maintenance, was going to add some grease and found a possible problem . One of the gears has bearing recesses that are not round, have part of another position for a different gear. Filled the upper section with epoxy as the bearing might move and destroy the gears.

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My DKLM gearbox developed one totally wallered out bearing recess and allowed the gears to completely slip while climbing any incline. Very disappointed.
I happened to have a new Heng Long version on hand so I installed it and never looked back. I did however use the DKLM’s slower drive gear on my Heng Long unit.
Not saying that I couldn’t possibly repair the DKLM but didn’t want to bother with it. If I ever buy a second tank I will buy another Heng Long dual current gearbox for it as well.
edit. Just found my old video.

I would open up the HL gearbox,if it’s a copy it will have the same bearing positions . Looks like a money saving design using the same housing for high and low speed gearboxes. All depends on the Al used as Al has many grades, If it’s a soft Al same result will happen 😳. The bearing is only held in a 2/3 housing.

How many DKLM gearboxes have failed because of this gear?
When the side plate is mounted, the gear is between two ball bearings, so nothing wobbles...

It look very cheap for that price ;)

True. It's just that today everything is make to a price point. A race to the bottom 😩 and no incentive to make durable products as they are more expensive. The price will fall if they are factory fitted and production is ramped up.

I think if you took one half of the mounts off any gearbox the same thing would happen. There are many happy users of the pdsgb that have never had an issue. However I have found the manufacturer to be very helpful after I managed to bend a final draft shaft which was causing a tight spot. Think he charged me $10 for the repair and that gear pack has been going strong since.

I'm wary of the HL knock offs as they're just as expensive (if not more) and have cut a few corners which I think will effect longevity

That good , I would buy a couple of base units as it’s a good system. Gearbox goes faulty you can replace without tracks and sprockets off. The board manufactures should tweak the setting for realistic wide turns.

When I replaced the motor with a powerful one and used it for a heavy tank body of 15kg, my PD SGB damaged the mounting part in front of the case.
I heard that PDSGB will release metal cases next time, so I will try them.
There is no problem with the metal case of HENG-LONG so far. However, it is not compatible with the base of PDSGB, so there are no plans to increase it.