RC car Gearing 101 - all you need to know

Here is your complete guide to RC car gearing. Understand pitch and modulus, understand high gears and low gears, performance impacts, and impacts to your components.
Time stamps:
00:00 Intro
00:20 Gearing 101
00:27 Everything in 30 seconds
01:18 Pitch and modulus
01:45 quick look at most common gear pitch/modulus
02:25 32 pitch vs .8 mod
02:52 high gear and low gear characteristics
04:02 gear characteristics visually on a bike
05:32 Gear characteristics visually in rc gears
06:32 effects of gearing
06:47 Performance impacts
08:22 torque
09:28 component impacts
10:22 electronics impact
12:10 drive train impacts

Пікірлер: 99

  • @SuperChrismj
    @SuperChrismj Жыл бұрын

    Every new Rc person needs to see this , this was a major for me .

  • @jimchambers5246
    @jimchambers52462 жыл бұрын

    Just learning about gearing my RC cars and this is the best video I’ve found! Thanks:)

  • @iridiumnight3750
    @iridiumnight37502 жыл бұрын

    great explanation. Gearing was the one thing I wasn't sure about when modding rcs but this cleared it up.

  • @brendanshield
    @brendanshield Жыл бұрын

    Nice work, using the bike was a great way to show visually how gearing works. Well done.

  • @danielketchum7853
    @danielketchum7853 Жыл бұрын

    Awesome video sir! Thanks for your time explaining 🙏🏾

  • @davidconaway2830
    @davidconaway2830 Жыл бұрын

    Outstanding explanation!

  • @tedsimington7654
    @tedsimington7654 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for sharing that bit of important information👍👍👍

  • @flatearthdenier8454
    @flatearthdenier8454 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks, that was a very informative video that was very easy to follow. Cheers!

  • @bigtrev71
    @bigtrev712 жыл бұрын

    This was very informative about gearing. Thank you very much for sharing.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    2 жыл бұрын

    My pleasure, I hope it helps.

  • @lefthandscott
    @lefthandscott11 ай бұрын

    Great video! Extremely well explained, and easy to understand 👏🏼

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    10 ай бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @mason_m_1332
    @mason_m_13322 жыл бұрын

    Truly appreciate the effort put into the video! Don’t come by a hobbiest who is as knowledgeable as you and is able to explain it to the new guys like us. Your makin me feel smart now lol!!!

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the reply and I’m glad it helps. It’s a fun hobby but a tricky one at times and occasionally the complexities chase people away. Hopefully with a little shared knowledge it can be more fun and keep people more involved.

  • @Refer_jack

    @Refer_jack

    Жыл бұрын

    @@milehighspeedrc8412 I have a question sense gearing up and down isn’t the best can I go for more of the middle gearing like not to high or to low and would I have to change the spur gear and pinion?

  • @Refer_jack

    @Refer_jack

    Жыл бұрын

    @@milehighspeedrc8412 also thank you so much for this information

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Refer_jack middle is typically where you want to be for everyday driving. Your car should come with a pretty decent middle gear ratio as that will suit the most drivers so thats how they ship them. It’s not exact, but typically with rc motors a final drive ratio, which is your spur teeth count divided by your pinion teeth count multiplied by the cars transmission ratio (which should be provided in the manual or online) of around 10-11 provides a nice middle gearing.

  • @Refer_jack

    @Refer_jack

    Жыл бұрын

    @@milehighspeedrc8412 thank you so much for the help I appreciate you taking your time to explain to me that

  • @MrRj600rr
    @MrRj600rr5 ай бұрын

    Omg I need this. Thank you

  • @ernestoescasena7116
    @ernestoescasena71162 ай бұрын

    Thanks for sharing...was a real nice video

  • @SlooDon
    @SlooDon Жыл бұрын

    Good Stuff! Thanks for sharing.

  • @RiverTheNerd
    @RiverTheNerd Жыл бұрын

    Very informative. Good video!

  • @mykjeez
    @mykjeez11 ай бұрын

    Absolutely helpful now I have a clear understanding! Keep it up !!

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    10 ай бұрын

    Thanks, will do!

  • @gutenbird
    @gutenbird4 ай бұрын

    Thanks. Great explanation.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    3 ай бұрын

    You're welcome!

  • @ronchang9791
    @ronchang9791 Жыл бұрын

    Great video. Hopped from gearing video to gearing video and then found yours' and it began to "click" in my head right away. Your teaching style is very thorough yet made simple. That's something I was not getting from the other videos.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Appreciate that. Gearing isn’t really that complicated but people like to make it seem so. I think it makes folks feel “in the know” if they try and make it a little mysterious, meanwhile the majority of us just want to have fun running our cars and want some simple answers.

  • @rccarloverluxembourg718
    @rccarloverluxembourg7183 ай бұрын

    acceleration for me meant how fast there is speed on the wheel and in high gear, the wheel began to turn very fast so I did not understand why in high gear there was written "I accelerate very slow it takes me a while to get up to speed" there I said "No" look how fast the wheel is turning, then I went back to the beginning, watched again from start, then concentrated on the leveller and then I understood that it rotates much more slower...so my conclusion is that only with the resistance of the bike sat on the ground, one could say in high gear that ""I accelerate very slowly and it takes me a while to get up to speed". Low gear = low high speed. High gear = high final speed. Like this I will remember it. Fantastic visual and understanding video.

  • @martianmonkeyrc829
    @martianmonkeyrc829 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent explanation very easy to understand and your visual made perfect sense

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    10 ай бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @brokenthought3890
    @brokenthought3890 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you MileHighSpeedRC this truly helped me understand RC car gearing. Heading to my local RC shop now.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Nice, hope the new gears have your cars running more like you like them. Just changing pinions can take cars from 40mph to 80mph, when you start also changing spurs crazy things can happen!!! Good and bad:) Ultimately, Finding that good balance of speed but not too much load on the electronics is the sweet spot for most.

  • @miguelmingau7405
    @miguelmingau7405 Жыл бұрын

    Great video …thanks 🏁🏁🏁💯

  • @justonjacoby4455
    @justonjacoby4455 Жыл бұрын

    Did a great job man!

  • @zainosmodifiedrccarscrawlers
    @zainosmodifiedrccarscrawlers Жыл бұрын

    You Sir have schooled me well. I walk away educated with the understandings of gearing and the impacts. Thank You for compiling such an informative video for us. I have just subscribed to your channel and look forward to more educating videos👌🏽😎👊🏽

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad it helped.

  • @venomrogue1
    @venomrogue19 ай бұрын

    Excellent video. Very informative.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    8 ай бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @jhicks1774
    @jhicks1774 Жыл бұрын

    Great info, thank you!

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    My pleasure!

  • @gibsonlife573
    @gibsonlife573 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you

  • @gibsonlife573
    @gibsonlife573 Жыл бұрын

    And this is beautifully done very awesome easy to understand

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    10 ай бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @tser1983
    @tser1983 Жыл бұрын

    Knowledge is power is one of my favorite sayings. Subscribed lol hope this helps me out

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the sub! It’s a great saying because it is so true.

  • @Teamxmedia
    @Teamxmedia Жыл бұрын

    Awesome Video 👍🏽

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    10 ай бұрын

    Thank you! 👍

  • @willmallen2727
    @willmallen272710 ай бұрын

    Great info

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    8 ай бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @jacobmartinez806
    @jacobmartinez806 Жыл бұрын

    Great video thanks so much?

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    You're welcome!

  • @marshhobbies
    @marshhobbies Жыл бұрын

    Thanks man 👍

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Any time!

  • @salmanalizzz
    @salmanalizzz Жыл бұрын

    Great🎉

  • @scottgamer
    @scottgamer Жыл бұрын

    Wow that really helped me thank you mate u got a follow from me

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad I could help

  • @paulreade8887
    @paulreade8887 Жыл бұрын

    Great vid,so gearing up or down 1 tooth on the pinon gear should be ok,i have a feiyue 08 (1:12 scale) with a 5000kv motor with a locked rear diff and a 23t pinon gear,the take off is very rapid so wanting to leason the take off and give it a bit more top end gearing it up with a 24 t pinon gear.i have a 25t pinon gear as well, but little steps at a time as advised by other rc owners,thanks for a very informative video.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Little steps is good advice. Smaller higher kv motors are impacted more by changes due to having less torque so smaller increment changes are a good idea. The more teeth in the system the less impact a single tooth change will make. Smaller 48 pitch gears have lots of teeth between them so changing up/down 1 isnt as impactful (good or bad) as when using 1 mod for instance.

  • @dailyroejoganclips.
    @dailyroejoganclips.5 ай бұрын

    what pinion would be good with a 60 tooth spur?

  • @yonilatantiado9645
    @yonilatantiado9645 Жыл бұрын

    Sir good day .how i can put back the gears of my CATERPILLAR TOY dumptrack back in order..it was broken and cant put it back in order/pattern..

  • @Codeboball
    @Codeboball Жыл бұрын

    amazing source of truth, just gotta speak up or turn up your mic sensitivity

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the tip. We’ll look into our audio editing.

  • @Blueknight1960
    @Blueknight1960 Жыл бұрын

    I don't know if you didn't mention it or if I missed it but when you gear for speed, if you gear up too much, you'll never reach top speed because it's overloading the motor. In turn it'll overheat the whole electronic system pretty quick even with good fans.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the note. You are correct, something to watch for is heat in high gear scenarios. I didn’t directly note the motor but within the electronics impacts section the first item for high gearing to watch out for was the increased resistance which places additional load on all electronics which causes overheating.

  • @MrKillerhaze
    @MrKillerhaze Жыл бұрын

    What gear would you recommend for a Arrma vortek At the moment is running a 57 spur with 20T

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Context is everything. How do you want to drive, what packs are you using, what size motor and what kva, what are you driving on etc…. But for me, the vorteks is a nice basher that’s more truggified so I’d gear down looking for torque so I could do stunts, flips, tackle tall grass sand and mud, do burn outs and wheelies etc. Assuming your running stock electronics on 3s I’d be looking around 13-15 tooth. That will get you that torque while still keeping the car fast enough for fun. That set up (15t) should keep you around 50mph which is usually plenty of speed for bashing in the manner described.

  • @charlesferguson7220
    @charlesferguson7220 Жыл бұрын

    I have a kraton 8s with xl2 and 800kv motor and 39th spur with 30 pinion gear is that a good set up for speed and power.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    10 ай бұрын

    I don’t own an 8s Kraton so can’t say for sure. How you want to drive and what ur looking to do (stunts or speed) is also part of the equation. The nice thing about gearing is you get to play around and find what you like to match your driving style, doesn’t matter what others think. Others I know who do drive 8s Kratons like a ratio set like you have (with 800Kv) so it’s definitely not something I’d say “oh man, that’s extreme” one way or the other. Some of them are even closer to 1:1 in fact as they wanted a little more speed.

  • @cliffcampbell8827
    @cliffcampbell88276 ай бұрын

    So a pinion gear with a 48 pitch is compatible with a spur gear with a 0.5288 module?

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    6 ай бұрын

    Yes, 48 pitch is .5288 module. They are one and the same. 48 pitch is used by a number of manufacturers for 1/10 scale vehicles. (And is sometimes referred to as .5 mod…but almost always 48p). Unfortunately .6 mod is also utilized by some manufacturers and those are not compatible with 48 pitch ( .5 mod). They ( .6mod and 48p) look almost identical as they are close but they will not mesh. The only two pitch/mod combinations which are different but yet compatible are 32p and .8 mod.

  • @reneledz
    @reneledz2 ай бұрын

    I have a Arma Mojave 4s so can I run a 17t to my spur gear? It comes with a 16t right now.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    2 ай бұрын

    Of course. Go for it. But whether thats the right gearing or makes sense is up to what you are trying to do.

  • @NewLifeeight
    @NewLifeeight Жыл бұрын

    Where did you get that gear holder box at ?

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Was a demmel tool cutting bit box. I wedged a small piece of pre-finished wood in it and then shot finish nails into the wood to slide the pinions on. Nails are shot in just far enough for the head to end just beneath the plastic lid so no gears can slide off when you rotate the box around.

  • @robertmontano8026
    @robertmontano8026 Жыл бұрын

    How about 0.5mod and 48dp are the compatible, I know they are close but I struggle to find 0.5mod pinions for tamiya df03

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Wish I could tell you definitely but I can’t. Never owned a .5 mod car. However, I have 48 pitch gear cars and I was incorrectly shipped a pinion that I thought was .5 but could never confirm. It was a weird shop in china from AliExpress. That shredded in about 2 runs ( not instantly) but like I said, I never could confirm the true pitch/mod of that gear. Could have just been a crap gear. However, I can confirm .6 mod will last about 10 seconds mixed with 48 pitch. Been there and done that. Those are about 5.7 apart in pitch. .8 and 32 pitch are just .25 apart. So 48 pitch and .5 mod fall almost right in between what I know works and what I know doesn’t (These two are at 2.8 pitch difference). multiplying the difference between 32p and .8 mod by 11x I’d guess they won’t do well, knowing that doubling that agin means instant destruction of the gears. Are you in the states? Amain has some RR .5 mod gears on the site and hobby-town USA also carries .5 in stock at many stores.

  • @robertmontano8026

    @robertmontano8026

    Жыл бұрын

    @@milehighspeedrc8412 firstly thanks for the details reply, much appreciated 🙏🏼, just as I though, I had heard stories of 48dp chewing through spur gears pretty quick that are 0.5mod, unfortunately I’m in Sydney/Australia so I might look for something online(which I guesss could be hit/miss) anyway, love your channel, keep it up 🤟🏼

  • @lanyburnett7966
    @lanyburnett79667 ай бұрын

    So why would someone use a pinion gear that has more teeth than another? (Or vise versa). For example, my xmaxx comes with 18 tooth pinion stock. Why would someone drop to 15, or increase to 20?

  • @durrellglenn6545
    @durrellglenn6545 Жыл бұрын

    HI I GOT A TRAXXAS RALLY CAR 4WD THE 28T PINION GEAR AND A 76T SPUR GEAR BUT THE MOTOR IT GET WAY TOO HOT IS IT THE WRONG GEARING SETUP FOR THE TOP SPEED LONG DISTANCE.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Lot of things can create heat so its hard to say but definitely gearing is always a good place to look. However, 28t pinion against a 76t spur on the surface doesn’t sound too bad. (Depending on a lot of other factors like size of motor, kva, pack voltage, surface your driving, how you drive etc….). That’s near 3:1 so it doesn’t jump out as a gearing problem knowing nothing else. Typically with motor heat your issues come from 3 main concepts: 1. Too much load on motor which it cant overcome (gearing, drive train, weight, driving surface, gear mesh, motor size). 2. Is it receiving too much voltage from the pack even at reduced load: Miss matched pack or esc to the motor, too much time at full throttle, too high kv for the pack. 3. Mechanical issue with the motor (bad bearings, damaged wiring, damage to the can, bad windings.

  • @davidalcaraz6003
    @davidalcaraz6003 Жыл бұрын

    Where do you buy your gears?

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Mostly local hobby shop as shipping costs about as much as the gears. If im ordering parts for other things sometimes ill add a gear or two in there. Amain, tower hobbies, mostly if its online. I find traxxas actually has pretty decent gears for cheap. Robinson racing gears are usually some of the best and are worth the extra money for higher quality cars.

  • @Bigbopperairguns
    @Bigbopperairguns10 ай бұрын

    I just wanna know what will give me. The fastest speed run with a traxxas Rustler 6s with a Poseidon 1512 5mm rustler. What pinion and spur will give me the fastes Result and it has to fit on the hot racing transmission transmission set up

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    10 ай бұрын

    Well as noted there a few different factors that play in and only you can be responsible to the damage of your electronics from over doing things but in general: the closer you can bring the ratios near one to one the faster you will go. As video notes: you may also overheat, you may trigger your esc to shut down, they may not fit, you might cook your electronics or you may not have enough room to accelerate to that full potential. I dont own a rustler but looks like basic info says it comes with a 54t spur, and can take a 17t pinion for speed (on their literature) which means thats safe operating top range but there is cushion there usually so you can probably go a couple teeth higher yet like 19/54. but we all know speed runs are done going well past any manufacture recommendations so if you want to take risks you would push the pinion count up as high as will fit and if you really want to push it take the spur down to 44 or 46 and keep bringing the pinion count up. Again, beyond 17/54 you are on your own in terms of damage and risk to your vehicles electronics.

  • @savagerc5752
    @savagerc5752 Жыл бұрын

    Im trying to figure out how to gear for larger tires.

  • @milehighspeedrc8412

    @milehighspeedrc8412

    Жыл бұрын

    Larger tires are more weight, more drag, more grip. Thus, lower gearing is used to give more torque and more power to move them without heating up your electronics. The larger diameter will give you more speed per rotation, so gearing down will not necessarily be a loss in speed as the tire size will make up for some/all of the speed loss from gearing down.

  • @savagerc5752

    @savagerc5752

    Жыл бұрын

    @@milehighspeedrc8412 I figured it out

  • @lf5133
    @lf51335 ай бұрын

    Some great information here but trying to hear over the music was a less than pleasant experience. Like trying to have a conversation with the radio volume up to loud. I don’t know why KZreadrs do this.

  • @archerash6695
    @archerash66954 ай бұрын

    Music is to loud.

  • @edgardorosario1780
    @edgardorosario1780 Жыл бұрын

    No se olle

  • @tyshiddejuremanbey1313
    @tyshiddejuremanbey1313 Жыл бұрын

    🤦🏿!!!

  • @glaanon4225
    @glaanon42253 ай бұрын

    Absolutely wrong, they do not mess correctly!

  • @joseywilds3133
    @joseywilds3133 Жыл бұрын

    Wish y’all could just make a video without music while you talk!

  • @Portapottypossum

    @Portapottypossum

    7 ай бұрын

    Love the music

  • @jamess3159

    @jamess3159

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@Portapottypossum the music is absolutely trash.

  • @killthebuddha5034
    @killthebuddha5034 Жыл бұрын

    ditch the gay background music