TT-02B Pinion Gear Options

[tomjkear 24]

Please can someone help me with pinion gear options for a TT-02B buggy.  The kit comes with a 17t pinion and I'm going to upgrade the car to a cheap brushless system (goolRC combo from eBay).  On another thread someone advised me to buy a 19t pinion since that's the largest the manual says you can use.  In fact the manual specifically says not to use a 20t or larger pinion.  However, I've seen plenty of people talking about using a 20t pinion, apparently with no issues.  Further exploring I found this thread which suggests there are loads of other options... there's even a shot of a manual, posted by nbTMM, that talks about lots of other sizes... is this really for TT-02B?

 

Also, how do I know exactly what product to buy?  Assuming I was to buy a 19t pinion, how do I know which one?  I will want a genuine Tamiya part because I'd be concerned another manufacturers part is not exactly the same.  Are all Tamiya 19t pinions the same or do they vary from one car to the next?

I've also been reading about the affect of a smaller or larger pinion and spur gear and whilst I understand the basic theory I'm not sure what I'm really aiming for when upgrading to a brushless system?  In case it matters I want the car to be faster than the stock motor but I don't need blistering fast, in fact I'll be using NiMH batteries, which I've done in the past and have been perfectly happy with the performance.  

Any advice greatfully received.

Cheers

 

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

19T is the largest you can use with the stock spur gear and motor mount. You can go bigger but need a couple of other bits first. The pinion you need is .6 mod. It looks a lot like 48p but isn't, so make sure you get a .6 mod. I use Yeah Racing pinions and haven't had a problem with them. This is the one I have

https://www.rcmart.com/yeah-racing-aluminum-7075-hard-coated-motor-gear-pinions-06p-19t-for-tamiya-car-kits-mg-06p19t-00033057

Be careful of the Tamiya pinions, some are steel but many are aluminium and they wera out fast. Aluminium from other brands is fine as they put a hard coating on them.

The High Speed Gearset. This is essentially an adaptor allowing you to use any spur gear. If you buy this then switch to 48p gears as they are much more common. You would fit a smaller spur gear than standard to allow a bigger pinion to fit

https://www.rcmart.com/tamiya-tt02-high-speed-gear-set-68t-54500-00036841

Yeah Racing motor mount. This has a slot instead of the holes for each pinion size which allows you to set the mesh. 

https://www.rcmart.com/yeah-racing-aluminum-adjustable-motor-mount-for-tamiya-tt02-tt02s-tt02b-tt02-013bu-00036559

When you combine the high speed gearset and motor mount you can buy spur and pinion gear combos to give you any gear ratio you want. 

[TurnipJF 9192]

The above is good advice. I would just add that RW Racing and Robinson Racing also make good 0.6 module steel pinions that work well with Tamiya spur gears.

Also, regarding the gearing options: each motor has a range of final drive ratios (FDRs) that suit its torque profile. If you are using the stock motor, going higher than a 19t pinion will likely put too much strain on it, hence the warning. However if fitting a stronger and/or torquier motor, you would be able to run a bigger pinion and/or smaller spur. Check the FDR recommendations in your motor's manual. They should give you a starting point.

[tomjkear 24]

Thanks guys, that answers all my questions and gives me plenty to think about. 

Cheers