Basher 6 gear transmission

[Frankentruck]

Over the last couple of years I've come across two TQ10 buggies that were converted to trucks and then were beat on mercilessly. The first had the transmission converted to a really smooth running Thorp 48p setup. That went into my Frankenshorty race replica. This is what I found in the second one. This seems like it will be a good basis for a 6 gear basher build.
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I've heard of out drives being trimmed and used as steel idler gears. That might be what these are. However if so, then they also got a bevel trim. Anyone know if aftermarket steel idlers were ever sold?
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I was also going to put a lock ring Jamming Jay diff tube in it, but it looks to have a Losi Performance bearing supported diff tube. I'll dig out a set of D-rings and see if there is enough material there with the bearing setup to still modify the diff tube to work with a D-ring.
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[juicedcoupe]

They were likely beveled for clearance at the input shaft.

Outdrives are thicker than idle gears, and I've seen idlers nicked up on the edge before.

[icanfixyourford]

This is interesting, I was just working on the 6gear for my build, and had the same revelation.

The parts lot I bought had a second trans, with the dogbone cups being very worn.
After a few measurements, I decided to cut down the outdrives to make idlers.

The outdrive gears are the same thickness as the idlers, and align fine if you flip them over.

[icanfixyourford]

I've heard of out drives being trimmed and used as steel idler gears. That might be what these are. However if so, then they also got a bevel trim. Anyone know if aftermarket steel idlers were ever sold?

Bevelling a straight cut gear isn't unheard of in powersports. It's usually done to decrease drag and parasitic losses, when the gear strength is greater than the expected input torque. I suspect that's what the previous builder had in mind.

[Frankentruck]

My top shaft diff gears were horribly worn and rough.
They were like the teeth were made of Velcro, snagging as they meshed with any 32 pitch gear I tried them on. I could have cleaned them up with a file, but they are very worn and a had a new set leftover from my RC10cc that got a Thorp 48 pitch gear set. I added external out drive bearings and everything is smooth and well supported.
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I didn't do the D-rings. This diff tube is steel and I really didn't want to spend the time to file it down. It's easier to make those snaps decisions and live with the final results with aluminum.

[Frankentruck]

This is interesting, I was just working on the 6gear for my build, and had the same revelation.

The parts lot I bought had a second trans, with the dogbone cups being very worn.
After a few measurements, I decided to cut down the outdrives to make idlers.

The outdrive gears are the same thickness as the idlers, and align fine if you flip them over.

Even using a 4 jaw chuck. Nice!