[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Can anyone confirm, via math, that the steel teeth would have been strong enough to prevent total tooth failure? At the time this happened, we had to move fast to fix it for our first event:

For our tilt motor we ran a BAG -> 100:1 VP -> 20T/40T reduction and kept stripping the teeth on the 20T. This was because of the cantilever on the VP - the shaft would flex just enough to cause a LOT of stress on the teeth, and they'd strip. By the time this happened VEX was out of 20T gears, so we swapped to belts. We also added a plate on the other side of the cantilever with bearings to support it.

We're running WCP gearboxes with an extra 18->36T sprocket reduction (non direct-drive) and they have been flawless this season with no signs of wear on the sprockets. So I don't know that aluminum vs steel is the issue.

Gears versus sprockets are apples and oranges comparisons - you can't draw conclusions about material choice for one by looking at the other. Sprocket load is shared by several teeth at once, while gear loads are borne by just a few teeth at a time. Chain also dampens some degree of shock load, to an extent.