New 540 motor on to Grasshopper 1

[karlfrancis]

Hi folks,

Does anyone know how I can fit a 540 motor onto a Grasshopper 1? I've tried all the pinion gears that I have but none will allow it to engage the gearbox cog, (don't know the proper name for it)! If anyone can shed any light onto this I'd be very grateful.

Kind regards,

Karl.id="size3">id="black">id="Book Antiqua">

[gozone]

Now, i don´t remember what pinion-size, fitting a 540 to a Grasshopper 1 will need, but i know of a replacement-pinion for retrofitting the Subaru Brat with a 540. In fact, i just stumbled on one of those Subaru/540 pinion gear sets in my LHS the other day, as i also have the Subaru. Perhaps someone else ´knows what size pinion you need for your motor.

And by the way, on the touring cars i mostly run, the second wheel after the pinion is called Spur gear. But if this is the right term for the wheel you refer to, i don´t know.

Cheers..

[karlfrancis]

Hi Gozone,

It is the Spur Gear, you quite correct. As soon as I read your reply it 'spurred' my memory!!! You may be able to answer another question of mine. I bought what I think is a TA02 but from looking at pics of a TA01 it could be one of them. With it came three different pinion gears, one fitted and two in a bag, also there were three spur gears. Again, one fitted and the others in a bag. I understand that it's something to do with ratios but I'm not sure why you'd want to change the ratio to make the car go slower. Is it to do with endurance races so that you get longer from the battery? Help me out on this one as it seems like some kind of black magic to me!

Regards,

Karl.

[karlfrancis]

PS: What's a LHS by the way?

[tamiya_runner]

Hi,

Should be the same pinion as the Hornet, Check page 4 of the Hornet manual.

The tamiya web site shows 50192 RC Subaru Brat 540 Pinion, check

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/rcpss.php...ts&kit_id=58045

For the hornet re-release which should be the same the part is 3515006 RC Pinion 18T X9985, check :

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/rcpss.php...ts&kit_id=58336

[_Jimbobulon_]

Oh, and by the way, LHS is local Hobby Store

James - Happy to help!

[dunebuggy71]

It´s an 18 T pinion gear ![]

[DJTheo]

Like on most early 80s Tamiya its 0.8 module if you want to order a non Tamiya one.

Cheers

[SonicCJ5]

You would change the gear ratio to achive either low end or top speed. If you are running at a small track you wont need any top end so you would want to gear your car lower to get better acceleration. If you ran a larger track with long straights then you want a gear that would allow a higher top speed.

[karlfrancis]

Hi SonicCJ5,

Thank you for explaining the ratio thing, it makes a little more sense now. Well kind of. Which gives the fastes acceleration? Is it a smaller pinion and a larger spur gear?

Regards,

Karl.

[karlfrancis]

Dunebuggy71,

You say it's an 18 tooth pinion, but is that the original pinion? I ask this as I've tried an normal 21 tooth pinion. Remember that the original motor is mounted on a mount that moves it closer to the spur gear. What I want to do is use an modern 540 motor on the old Grasshopper set up. I have noticed that the old pinion has rather large teeth compared to the 'modern' pinions. You'll have to bare with me if I'm missing something here as all this is like 'black magic' to me! All the help you guys are offering is not falling on deaf ears, I'm just starting out on the technical side of the RC world.

Thanks to everyone,

Karl.

[SonicCJ5]

When you say bigger gear do you mean the teeth look larger? New cars today run a different pitch on the gears. Older style cars run what they call 32 pitch newer cars run either 48 or 64 pitch.

As for the better accelertation it would be a smaller pinion or a larger spur gear.

The Grasshopper and Hornet share the same gearbox(Lunchbox, Midnight Pumpkin, Pajaro). The hornet runs a 18 tooth 32 pitch(I think 3 lines on the pinion been a while) with no adapters. You should have no problem installing a 540 in the grasshopper I had bought one back in the day and did not even run the 380 went to a 540 out of the box.

[dunebuggy71]

Karlfrancis,

You don´t need the plasctic mount for the 540 motor.[] It´s only for use with the original small 380 Motor. Install the 540 Motor directly to the gearbox with the 18 tooth pinion. It´s shown in the Grasshopper manual on page 14.[]

[SonicCJ5]

Wanna see a fast grasshopper check out this post

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp...813&whichpage=1

[karlfrancis]

Ok folks, lets recap!

Dunebuggy71 says that I don't need the plastic mount that the original motor was on. I've gathered that so far. Next I need to find an 18 tooth pinion. I have a 19 tooth but it looks nothing like the type that was on the origianl motor. Are you talking about a larger diameter pinion with 18 teeth? I'm going to post this and then have a look at the manuals on page 14. Do I look at the manual for the GH1 or GH2?

Regards,

Karl.

[karlfrancis]

I've had an idea!! Before I go taking the gearbox apart and break something, is the spur gear the same as you would find in a TA02? It looks very similar from looking at page 4 of the GH1 manual.

Karl.

[DJTheo]

You probably have a 0.6 module 19T pinion, like they are used on most modern Tamiyas, as I said Hornet has 0.8 module which means bigger teeths and diameter.

quote:New cars today run a different pitch on the gears. Older style cars run what they call 32 pitch newer cars run either 48 or 64 pitc

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Tamiya always used metric and NOT pitch pinions, 32 pitch may work as its close but still its not absolutely the same and may lead to excessive wear, if you can get both, please choose metric ones.

Cheers

[dunebuggy71]

The spur gear on a Grasshopper isn´t the same as on a TA02.

Have a look at the "Grasshopper 1" manual on page 14. The 540 motor is mounted directly to the Gearbox with two 3x27mm screws. You only need the 18 tooth pinion gear now. As DJTheo said. Modul 0.8 ! Tamiya part number for the pinion is now 50192 called Subaru Brat pinion gear set.

[karlfrancis]

Right, I'll hunt down a 50192 Subaru Brat pinion gear set and give it a go. Many many thanks for everyones help. As I've mentioned before, I'm new to this hobby but very willing to learn. All I'll need to finish the job after the gear set is a receiver, ESC and it'll be working. It could do with new front tyres. Are these easy to find?

Thanks folks,

Karl.

[NYDriver]

Try a larger pinion, I have installed so many 540's in my GH's and never had this problem.

Tom

[SonicCJ5]

I have always refered to it as pitch sorry for any confusion. I used to run Rc-10s,JRx2s(American) that had both 32,64 and 48 pitch. SO I just refer to the Tamiya gears in that sense.

[karlfrancis]

SonicCJ5

I think that pitch is the correct word for the depth of teeth on a cob/gear.

NYDriver

You say that you've NEVER had this problem? Did you buy your GH from new? I'm thinking that who ever had mine before me may well of changed something. If that's not the case, which I'm not 100% convinced about then I'm confused that you have been able to slot a 540 straight in and not encountered the problem of the pinion being far away from the spur gear. I wish I was that lucky! I'll be asking my local model shop this weekend for he cost of the Brat accessories. I also need bits for my mini cooper as I found that hitting kerbs at 40kph is not good for turn knuckles!! Keep that advice coming folks, I'm learning the RC 'Black Magic' quite fast!

Thanks one and all,

Karl.

[DJTheo]

I doubt you will find a Brat pinion on your LHS, but its more likely you can find or order 0.8 module pinions from Carson.

Cheers

[karlfrancis]

Thanks for everyone's help on this matter. I will be deleting this topic within the next couple of days. Thanks again and I'll see you all in another topic!

Kind regards,

Karl.

[DJTheo]

Please don't delete old topics, can be usefull for other (new) members.

Cheers