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Robinson Racing Products (RRP)Steel Spur GearEver since the first day I ran my T-MAXX, I have been stripping spur gears. I had stripped at least 5 spurs by July, and there was no sign of slowing down. I finally decided to try out the Robinson Racing hardened steel spur gear, despite much controversy regarding the plastic spur gears' job as a sacrificial part. How did this almost $30 super spur run? Was it really worth the 10 spur gears that could have been bought with that money? Read on and find out. The Gear The spur gear had kind of a grimy look out of the bag; it had streaks of black grease on it, probably left over from the machining process. In all the little lightening holes, there were little scraps of metal still stuck on the edges, but these were easily taken out with a screwdriver tip. But besides those little things, the gear looked pretty trick. Anyways, it came with a cool little pack of RRP stickers, which made up for the kind of sloppy finish. As far as weight goes, the gear seems extremely heavy, even with all the cool looking holes drilled out on it. I'd guess it weighs the same as 5 or 6 regular plastic ones. Installation Installation was pretty easy, but there was a paper included that said I would have to use a file to round off the hexagonal edges of the topshaft so the ball-bearing would fit on it. It seemed kind of scary to be filing stuff off my truck, but it turned out to be no problem. I hardly had to file anything off the 6 edges before the spur gear fit perfectly. Also, it said to use 12 slipper pegs instead of the 6 that are used on the plastic spur, probably for better slipper consistency. I'd recommend that you use new pegs instead of ones off the old spur gear. The pegs off the old gear are kind of smashed down and flattened out, and they are hard to get into the holes in the metal spur. Anyways, that was it for installation. It took about 45 minutes to tear down the truck, install the new gear, and put it back together. First Day I fired up the truck and went up the street to try out the new gear. First impressions? Well, the heavy gear slowed down throttle respone just a bit, but the added weight did seem to smooth out the engine rpm's very well. There is plenty of metallic noise caused by the metal pinion and spur gears, but it wasn't that annoying. Other than those things, the truck's performance was still great, and it was not that much different from when the plastic spur gear was on it. Then, i decided to take it for a little hill climbing. It ran fine for a few minutes, but then on one run it managed to tip over, and then the transimission would not turn. After taking it apart, I found that the forward primary gear had gotten a few teeth knocked off. I'm not sure whether it was the new gear or just a coincidence, but I have heard other people say they have stripped their primary gears by running the RRP gear. Anyways, the primary gear set was only a few bucks, so it wasn't such a big deal. Later Runs Well, since the stripped primary gear, the truck (and RRP gear) have been performing great. So, the question that everyone still has is, "Is the RRP gear really worth all that money?" I would say that it depends on you. Some people have been running the stock plastic spur gear that came with the truck for months with no problems. Other people, like me, seem to strip the spur every time they run it. I have adjusted the slipper clutch and gear mesh and all that stuff, and it still doesn't keep the spur from stripping. If that sounds like you, you might consider getting this gear. On the other hand, if you have not been having any/very many problems with the stock gear, then why spend 30 bucks on something that you don't need? 
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