pic: Quick-Change Chassis 2

[Ari423]

Originally Posted by Kevin Thorp

Yes, I assumed our pit crew chief was joking. He loves to build & repair stuff, but he knows broken bots don't win.

Worm gearboxes are not as "forgiving" as traditional spur gear drives, but we've had 3 years of failure-free use out of these Nordex drives. Interesting development: We can now back drive some of the older units a bit.

I don't know if we'll use these gearboxes in 2017. Depends on the game & what strategy the team decides on.

Great discussion points here on CD!

I'd be interested to know what size/kind of wheels you have used with the worm gearboxes and haven't had an issue with backdriving. Especially in 2014, which was basically one big pushing match in many regionals, I am surprised you haven't run into issues with the gearboxes breaking.

Also, the fact that some of your older gearboxes became backdriveable worries me. That means that either your worms or worm gears (or both) are wearing to the point that they have changed shape. I can only imagine that that means the gearboxes are less efficient. I wouldn't be surprised if this effects auto modes as the gearboxes wear throughout the season.