June 18, 2022 – video comment from El Duderino Lebowski
RGT Rescuer EX86190: I tried to find anywhere that described exactly which type of powder metal process was used to make the gears in this drivetrain, and I just couldn’t find anything. Is that because it’s proprietary industrial secrets for how good they are, or because they don’t want us to know how cheaply made they are? Lots of questions, no answers.
It would be interesting to find out more about these gears and how they were made. The way it’s worded does make it sound like a positive feature, which implies they’re made with one of the better methods, but at this price point, we can’t just accept that assumption.
There are a number of modern powdered metal processes that are actually superior to other forms of manufacturing and are preferred in high-stress high-performance and/or mission critical applications (HIP comes to mind here), so without knowing which method was used, it’s hard to gauge whether or not these are any good.
If these gears are [made well], no problem. …If these are just a cheap cast powder process (I really hope that’s not the case!), then yeah, your observations are spot on, and possibly somewhat optimistic, about their durability.
RGT Rescuer EX86190 Gears
A. Thanks for bringing this up, I should have done this in my review. Sorry I missed it!
I’ve taken the truck apart to see what we’re dealing with here. I found the transmission, diff and portal gears all have the same appearance. They’re smooth, not rough like the powder-coated cast gears I’ve seen from other manufacturers (eg. the BOM TC). They looked pretty good.
They were not magnetic, for whatever that’s worth. I’m not familiar with latest manufacturing methods but given the smooth surfaces even on the gear teeth, I’m inclined to think this process must be alright. Certainly, the gears have stood up to considerable use already in my unit. I’ve used it in all weather, including under water and in mud, with no maintenance until today.
Service Time!
I dried everything out, applied a fresh glob of moly grease to everything, and bolted it all back together. If anything changes on this front, I’ll update this post and let you all know in a Community post. So far, so good! -Craig
Craig Veness
RC-TNT
Craig has been into radio control since the 90s and into RC crawling since about 2010, when a Losi MRC started the obsession! Now it's all rocks this and crawl that and upgrade all the things! ...You know how it is, right? Welcome home 🙂
