JoshRC

Can I use an aluminium or brass pinion gear with steel spur gears? Will the steel damage the pinion gear?

maxwolfie

Newbie here so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Given that you are running a metal spur gear instead of plastic, you may want to lubricate it somehow. Is the pinion and spur enclosed? If not, a dry lubricant may be best to avoid attracting dust and dirt etc. Something like Rock N Roll Red/Absolute Dry (dry bike chain lubricant) may work well. It is likely that you will need to reapply it often.

Link:
http://www.rocklube.com/products.html

Honestly, I think I’d rather just run a plastic spur gear so I don’t have to worry about lubrication...

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

Yes they can be used, but aluminum and brass will tend to wear faster than steel in my experience.

I also have found that lubricating metal to metal gears is a good idea for enclosed spaces, but if they are exposed and dirt is attracted to the grease, then you will want to clean it regularly or you will risk wearing the gears faster than not having any grease at all. Instead of a heavy grease, I would consider lightly spraying the gears with WD40 - "Dry Lube" after every run, it will both clean and protect the gears without risk of attracting any dirt/debris

killer rock

you can. but i found metal spur gears tends ware out pinions faster, very fast compared to plastic spur metal pinion(the way i do it). ands since pinions cost 2-3 time that of plastic spur. i prefer to swap out spurs over pinions.

now i do get very good life out of my plastic spur being mod1 and 32p do a fairly good job of spiting out rocks and not letting them eat the gears. and for my 48p gears i make sure to block all the holes with electrial tape to block the holes and keep the rock from eating those gears. may of my heavily used cars still have the original pinion spur i installed 5 years ago. and see average of 3 hours a week use. and granted one of then (4x4sct) is getting a new spur and pinion this upcoming fall for its winter rebuild.

i will give it to my self tho when i did trying out metal on metal spur pinion. i was not lubricating them an this probably did shorten the pinons life alot. probably was my fault for its short life span(i had ajanky motor mount instaled too) but and only got 4-8 hour of it in testing and the brass pinon looked like i took a grinder to it.... sorry lost were i was going with it.