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I recently picked up an old 6gear gold pan car that is in really nice shape. I want to start running it in a vintage class and I'm wondering what the options are for this transmission.

Can a 6gear handle brushless? I'm thinking about going with a 10.5 or 13.5 motor in it. That would give me all the power I'd need to win some races.

A correctly built 6 gear will do a 10.5 w/o any trouble, Ruffy has been using one with an 8.5-

I'm actually running a Stealth tranny now with the 8.5 to take advantage of the slipper, but I agree with Reggie. I don't see any reason in the world that a properly built 6-gear tranny wont handle a 9.5 T motor to be honest. It's all in the driver, not the tranny, unless the tranny is not built correctly (ie. the diff is left too loose to work as a slipper because you will surely square the diff balls up quick!).
The stock transmission itself is pretty bullet proof. I used to run 9 and 10 turn motors in my very old 6-gear tranny, on a car I converted to try out drag racing way back before the stealth even was a word in RC. The only time the 6-gear tranny's failed ( ie, eat up the idler gear) is when one of the clips that hold them on broke inside sending metal shards everywhere, but that was just metal fatigue on the clip as I had removed and replaced them often to clean the transmission. But for the most part I ran this "drag RC10" for a few months running 8 to 10 cells and never had a transmission problem not caused by me.
Just make sure you don't leave the diff too loose, and definitely do not tighten it down to where the diff doesnt work correctly.


In fact, If I get the chance this weekend at the RC Asylum, I will put my 6-Gear tranny that I started running here back in with the 8.5 brushless and let her loose on the track for some laps to see. I'll report back.

Oh wow. Thanks guys. I've heard about the idlers shredding before so I didn't know if they were able to handle the power. This is great news, it's already a runner with a stock motor. I guess I'll have to throw a brushless in it now.

I have personally shredded idlers, but I was really being hard on the car.

VXL motor, Mamba Max Pro speedo, timing on low, geared 22/81, 5400 35C lipo on asphalt with Panther soft switches. The tranny was very free rolling and diff smooth (not saying it was built right, but felt good). My son would start laughing uncontrollably if I started doing donuts, tearing the tires to shreds. Then 0-ballistic full speed runs (wheely-ing most of the way)...like I said, being very hard on it.

Back when I ran dirt oval, we ran 10-11 turn motors on 7 cells with no issues.

For racing, I plan on a 17.5, maybe a 13.5 if I want to run mod. The VXL is going back into my Blitz.

That's good to know. I will probably run the car in vintage class both oval and offroad.

[email protected] wrote:Oh wow. Thanks guys. I've heard about the idlers shredding before so I didn't know if they were able to handle the power. This is great news, it's already a runner with a stock motor. I guess I'll have to throw a brushless in it now.

run new black idlers (not old white ones) and bearings on the outdrives and they seem to hold up well

did they make metal idlers?

I've seen them before...dont know if they were cut down outdrives or production units though.

JK Racing wrote:I've seen them before...dont know if they were cut down outdrives or production units though.

hmm. I tore one of my 10s down last night and the tranny had one of each.. i have one more tranny to do yet.. might have 2.

Glad i found this thread, i have a 3900kv Reedy i want to use on mine.

My buggy came with a complete spare transmission minus spur. Both transmissions have metal idlers and black outdrives. Need to check on the bearings though.

It also came with some worn out metal idler gears that look like a bunch of daggers.

muck wrote:did they make metal idlers?

Yes, there were metal idler gears for the 6 gear tranny. I think MIP made them. I had some, and they were a pain. You had to chuck the outdrive in a drill and use automotive valve grinding compound to get them smooth. I eventually got rid of them.

if you get a set of worn out final drive gear/outdrives and cut and grind off the dogbone cups, you can use them as idlers. since all the gears are metal at this point, some kind of lube is definitely necessary.

A point to note: If all the gears are metal, there will definitely be more wear at some other areas on the tranny (idler gears pivot etc) as they are less forgiving. That's why most of the idler gears are plastic based material to cushion the wear.

BITD, I was told that having all metal gears could produce radio interferance. Is this true? How about with modern electronics? Anybody know? I figure 2.4G radios would eliminate that problem. IDK