Issue with SDS MK4n drive & steering pinion gears

Technical
,
1

We ordered four MK4n kits in July of 2024. We received them months after, and after recently assembling them, we found that our drive & steering pinion gears were all 14T; according to the SDS’s assembly guide, we should install the ‘included’ 16T gears. None of our kits came with 16T gears.

SDS provides a parts list on their website that details all of the included parts. We purchased MK4ns for the Neo Vortex motors, with the new L2+ gearing. We received two 14T 8mm-bore pinion gears, and a 50T hex-bore gear for the drive. In their documentation (including their website) they specify a 16T mating with a 50T for the MK4ns instead. When we compared our MK4is with our new MK4ns, the 4is had two 14T, meaning the geometry of the new MK4ns has been changed to accommodate 16T gears. Hence, our 14T causes backlash within the system.

Has anybody else had this problem with the included pinion gears on their MK4ns?
Would anybody be able to check the tooth counts on their motors’ pinion gears, and check if they are 16T, to confirm our suspicion?

2

Not an answer to this specific thing, but make sure that if you are combining MK4i’s with MK4n’s you will need to get the gear adapter kit to change them to L2+ gearing to match the MK4n’s gearing.

3

We had a similar issue with our MK4ns for regular NEOs, so we just emailed SDS support, and they got us the pinions we needed.