C4.1 Idle Gears Problem

[nicmo]

I dont see any mention on the forum about idle gears breaking on the Centro often. Back where i race lots of us have this problem, a set of idle gears will last for 2 events or so and then break. I realise that we are running on astro tracks with a lot of grip but in my opinion they break too much.

How about your Centros? Do you also have this issue? What grease do you use?

[paulc]

Been running mine on grass and astro for the last 2/3 months not had a problem with gears and not using any grease at all

Paul

[nicmo]

no grease at all, thats interesting... maybe it has to do with the engine but i doubt it, i am using a 6.5 reedy.

[paulc]

Would'nt have thought so but im using a 7.5 Speed Passion

[Crash]

I recently stripped two idler gears at the same meeting. One was the black plastic and the other was the off-white colour plastic. Does anyone know of an alternative to associated items that I could try?

[blue_pinky]

If your stripping idlers that easily then I would look to other parts in your gearbox for another problem...I've been running AE idlers in B4's/X6 and now centro for 5 years plus and never once stripped anything in the box, even with rare maintenance.

Make sure your using the right bearings and shafts, make sure the bearings aren't worn out, that the fit in the gearbox casing is good, not sloppy, and that all your gears are replaced at the same time...so idlers, diff gear and layshaft are all the same age...if one of the gears is more worn that the others then it will accelerate the wear throughout the box.

My thoughts would be complete rebuild of the box...new bearings, shafts and idlers. If you've mixed and matched new/old parts during your Centro build that will most likely be the problem.

There is nothing wrong with the standard AE idler gears if the box is built right, and I don't know of any alternatives as it's a custom AE part.

***EDIT...check all your parts for damage as well...when I first built my centro...from new B4.1 and C4.1 kits the layshaft had a bit of damage to it which if I'd used it would have damaged the idlers. I noticed it when I first built the box and it didn't run smooth...so before I'd finished the build I got a new layshaft to replace the faulty kit one.

My Centro has been running flawlessly since I built it, and it's one of the first batch. That's at club, regionals and nationals...on carpet, grass and astro, so there is something not right with yours...as I don't think it's normal! The other centro's that I've seen running regularly also don't seem to have this issue.

[Crash]

Cheers Andy, I'll take a good look at the layshaft as that was the only part i kept from my B4.
All good advice, thanks.