New toys!
So i couldnt wait for HRP and the US distributors to get the machined ring gears in so i ordered them from TD UK as soon as i saw the post on the TD blog tuesday. They came in yesterday morning and i got them put in before racing last night. For those with short attention span they are really nice and worth the money and you can stop here, lol.
First out of the bag, they are almost sharp on the edges (not really but you can feel the edge in the gear area. Not in a half-assed, maybe a little leftover flashing kind of way, but a high quality no tolerance machining kind of way. I didnt weight them but they do feel a bit heavier. Personally i like a little rotating mass in the driveline as i feel it smooths out the truck when coming off power and doesnt bark so suddenly. The weight difference is small and i doubt anyone would notice the difference once its actually put back together.
[/URL]
IMAG0203[/URL] by
phukyr[/URL], on Flickr
Again, very high quality machining. The teeth look very well done and little to no swirlies from the tooling. Also note where the hardening was taken back off on the bearing seat. When assembled the bearing fit was perfect, no play at all but you didnt need a press to get it on there. It dropped right on.
[/URL]
IMAG0204[/URL] by
phukyr[/URL], on Flickr
Again you can see the machined bearing seat. This was identical in size. I rebuilt the diffs in new cases and also tried the previous cases that had probably 50+ packs on them. No changes in shimming was required and the setting for the pinion was unchanged for both the new and used cases. The mesh was very nice and had a great machined feel to it. The friction between the ring and pinion was barely noticeably and the mesh was perfect, again with no changes in shimming from the stock rings.
[/URL]
IMAG0205[/URL] by
phukyr[/URL], on Flickr
Overall this is a GREAT upgrade to the DESC and im sure will be just as nice in the buggy once i get it torn down and changed over. There are some people who havent had any issues with the stock ring gear (i had only one or two issues myself) and there are those who have had many. While these should fix any durability issues in this area they are a great upgrade for those with no issues also. I felt a VERY noticable increase in smoothness in the whole drivetrain. Its now even more quiet (already a very quiet truck) and has a very presicion feel to the drivetrain now. You WILL notice a difference.
I will suggest that if you are in the US just wait for your favorite online retailer or LHS to get them. Shipping from TD UK is brutal and due to the time differences overnight shipping that was ordered tuesday at 11am ended up arriving friday at 10am for the same cost, lol. And if you are in the UK reading this SCREW YOU for getting parts before we do, hahaha.
Enjoy!