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Over the last couple of years I've come across two TQ10 buggies that were converted to trucks and then were beat on mercilessly. The first had the transmission converted to a really smooth running Thorp 48p setup. That went into my Frankenshorty race replica. This is what I found in the second one. This seems like it will be a good basis for a 6 gear basher build.
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I've heard of out drives being trimmed and used as steel idler gears. That might be what these are. However if so, then they also got a bevel trim. Anyone know if aftermarket steel idlers were ever sold?
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I was also going to put a lock ring Jamming Jay diff tube in it, but it looks to have a Losi Performance bearing supported diff tube. I'll dig out a set of D-rings and see if there is enough material there with the bearing setup to still modify the diff tube to work with a D-ring.
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They were likely beveled for clearance at the input shaft.

Outdrives are thicker than idle gears, and I've seen idlers nicked up on the edge before.

This is interesting, I was just working on the 6gear for my build, and had the same revelation.

The parts lot I bought had a second trans, with the dogbone cups being very worn.
After a few measurements, I decided to cut down the outdrives to make idlers.

The outdrive gears are the same thickness as the idlers, and align fine if you flip them over.

Frankentruck wrote: ↑Sat Mar 29, 2025 1:06 pm I've heard of out drives being trimmed and used as steel idler gears. That might be what these are. However if so, then they also got a bevel trim. Anyone know if aftermarket steel idlers were ever sold?

Bevelling a straight cut gear isn't unheard of in powersports. It's usually done to decrease drag and parasitic losses, when the gear strength is greater than the expected input torque. I suspect that's what the previous builder had in mind.

My top shaft diff gears were horribly worn and rough.
They were like the teeth were made of Velcro, snagging as they meshed with any 32 pitch gear I tried them on. I could have cleaned them up with a file, but they are very worn and a had a new set leftover from my RC10cc that got a Thorp 48 pitch gear set. I added external out drive bearings and everything is smooth and well supported.
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I didn't do the D-rings. This diff tube is steel and I really didn't want to spend the time to file it down. It's easier to make those snaps decisions and live with the final results with aluminum.

icanfixyourford wrote: ↑Wed Apr 02, 2025 9:30 pm This is interesting, I was just working on the 6gear for my build, and had the same revelation.

The parts lot I bought had a second trans, with the dogbone cups being very worn.
After a few measurements, I decided to cut down the outdrives to make idlers.

The outdrive gears are the same thickness as the idlers, and align fine if you flip them over.

Even using a 4 jaw chuck. Nice!