pic: Gear Drive Concept

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by AustinH

3.5" Colsons, though I'm also toying with 3.25 Versa DT's.

What were your impressions on gear drive this year?

It worked great for us, our drive system was zero maintenance all season. Aside from the bit of gunk we had to clean off after our last event, the gears still looked brand new, no chipping or anything.

Our system used 50t gears on the wheels and idlers which allowed us to mount the gearbox either direct drive or to an idler without having to modify any ratios (we did end up using direct drive though). The spacing between the gears also worked nicely this way and it guaranteed virtually every part was interchangeable so it meant we didn't need to bring as many spares to events (though it turned out we didn't end up needing any spares at all).

We used 4in VexPro Traction wheels in a 1.5in wide configuration with traction tread. We mounted the wheels on a 32 foot arc pattern, which gave a good offset for basically zero-scrub turning, but also helped in pushing matches by keeping partial contact on the other wheels.