Instead of an angled pinion, what about an angled spur gear? Since it sounds like people are having to replace them anyway.
I can never understand rules that make it harder for beginners, just to maintain a small original wear part. As long as it's the same number of teeth, why not change to a angled pinion that makes things easier for a beginner? It's not like they don't wear out
The issue with an angled spur is 15 degrees is probably too much angle and getting a small diameter pinion to reach it within the confines of the screw in motor bracket.
Small diameter gears makes getting a mesh tricker.
Add angled anything makes it even trickier as you are pushing the gears even closer, for the superior tooth engagement.
In a perfect world, for maximum reliability, a spec gear ratio would be figured out, that uses gears with a higher tooth count that are, of course, a bigger diameter.
Something that fits in the relatively small range that the screw in bracket allows.
Use an ARP angled pinion with the JK straight spur.
We get silky smooth, reliable gear meshes using that combo, for our Thursday night GTP racing, using the 4" C21 chassis, albeit sometimes with motor soldered in.
Mike Swiss
Inventor of the Low CG guide flag 4/20/18
IRRA® Components Committee Chairman
Five-time USRA National Champion (two G7, one G27, two G7 Senior)
Two-time G7 World Champion (1988, 1990), eight G7 main appearances
Eight-time G7 King track single lap world record holder
17B West Ogden Ave., Westmont, IL 60559, (708) 203-8003, mikeswiss86@hotmail.com (also my PayPal address)
Note: Send all USPS packages and mail to: 692 Citadel Drive, Westmont, Illinois 60559