Running question about DF02 buggy- Rising Storm

[civilguy]

I just picked up a DF02 4wd buggy for the kids to use next season to get some more practice on the track. They got pretty good at getting their Grasshoppers around the track this past year- which is no small task in stock form with a 27t motor. They also easily wheel my Slash around the track too.
I have 2 questions:

1) My gear mesh seems to be off-- I put the motor mounted as the directions say and the pinion is too far off the spur. I have to move to the mounting spot for one less pinion tooth to get the mesh correct. Is this a known issue or is there something else wrong that I should be looking for?

2) I have thrown in some gear with a 27t motor and a 18tooth pinion. It has the 70tooth spur, but I also got a couple 67tooth optional spurs with it. What is a good gearing and motor setup for this? My options are:
Spur : 67 or 70
Pinion : pretty much anything
Motor : 27t purple endbell handout, 27t P2K, 17t Venom Fireball, vintage Kyosho Lemans 360ST, 360PT, 240S, 240ST or vintage 27t Trinity Monster Horsepower... I could also go with a Mamba Max 4600 system, but I don't have a lot of parts support for this buggy and didn't want that much power.

Thanks, Jeff

[Mr. ED]

My wild guess is: the spur which is mounted has less teeth than the one in the instruction; hence you have to move the motor closer than indicated.

Start them with the 27t handout. For the gear ratio; just use the smallest spur and highest pinion you can get to mesh well. Check the battery temperature every minute past 5 minutes and if the pack doesn't get to hot you're fine.
Ifnot, try a tooth less on the pinion.

These buggies have a name for destroying the chassis, so be gentle on the jumps.

[civilguy]

It's a stock 70tooth spur in there, but I'm going to try bumping up to the 67tooth and there are directions for pinion placement in the package for that. I'll give that a go and see how the mesh is.

The kids will have little to jump from in the beginning, but I will be on the lookout for a spare chassis when they start using on the track next year.

Thanks!!

[civilguy]

Ok- the confusion continues. I took apart the whole drivetrain to swap out the spur-- boy they made that easy - and I installed the optional 67t spur. I did everything per the directions and the spacing seemed off just like the 70t- when I tested it (under load on the ground) the pinion would slip on the spur.
I was installing a 21t pinion so I moved it to the 20t mounting holes and it seems to work great-- sounds good, takes off good, and doesn't bind at all. Pinion spacing actually looks a bit more than I would like, but there's no slipper so I guess the chance of the pinion slipping is my only safety.
Bottom line- My DF-02 has to mount the motor in the position for one less tooth than the pinion I'm installing. Oh man..... at least the kids will be happy Christmas morning. A DF-02 runner and a Frog re-re kit.

[Mr. ED]

I'm starting to wonder if your pinion is the right module for the car.
Some imperial modules are only a little different of their metric counterpart...

[civilguy]

OK- so one of the LHS staff is clueless? They sold me 48p Robinson steel pinions (I told them what it was for)-- and I need something different for the DF-02? I am new to this 48pitch deal-- I ran all 32 pitch back in the 80s and my pinions were interchangeable between my Tamiyas and my RC10 (imperial). Now I'm peeved....

Edit: I went to Robinson's site and also looked at my DF-02 manual. I really need .6 mod pinion and I was sold a standard pinion. I bet they don't even carry what I need. Ugh.... Thanks for the help guys.

[Mr. ED]

That means I won the first prize?

I'm pretty surprized though cause yous aid it ran quiet when you changed the moter position.
I was rather expecting the pinion to strip the spur in no time.

[civilguy]

That means I won the first prize?

I'm pretty surprized though cause yous aid it ran quiet when you changed the moter position.
I was rather expecting the pinion to strip the spur in no time.

Yes- you win the grand prize: a free entry into the 'last to post gets $5' thread!
Seriously, thanks for the help. I would have run it with the wrong gears and wondered what the heck was wrong with it.
It seemed to run quiet across the basement floor (carpeted) and back as I was just getting this together to put under the tree. Given time I'm sure the spur would have been stripped.