ive decided to try an HPI Pinion again. It seemed to hold up before on my other motor and it was rarely changed... Lets see if it can handle the 1520!

Mine unscrewed once and got shreaded like butter lol. (2200 4S)

Yeah my RCM pinions(all older) did great. All my Novak ones have been great as well.

Hey Zack... how many packs have you gone though with the Novak pinions?

Hundreds of charges. They all get lost or fly off and get crunched before they have a chance to get too worn down. Other than that my ratio may change so much that they are no longer practical. But, I have never stopped using one because it worn out. I haven't had any new or new lightned RCM pinions but all my old and/or unlightned RCM pinions did the same way: which was exactly what they are supposed to do> wear slowly. I wish I had a 1520 but my 1515 is doing just fine.

Ok my result of an HPI Pinion

I met up with a few people to bash the trucks.
I put on a brand new 17t HPI pinion.
I ran two sets of lipos through it yesterday... I ran one set on grass and one set on dirt doing jumps.
Today i ran twice. So two sets of lipos.
But before i was halfway through my secondset today, i could hear a wierd noise as if the gears were not meshed correctly...

This was the case but because of extreme wear to the pinion.

It shredded after 4 sets of lipos!!!!!!!!!!!
This is terrible!!!!!

I think i am going to have to start using a plastic spur! I can not continue to change pinions every 5 runs. It is so much effort ripping the truck apart ever 3 days!!!! I just do not have the time!
The truck runs absolutely amazing, tearing the grass up wherever... But its taking its toll on the gears.

WHAT SHOULD I DO? Novak pinion and a plastic spur?

You definitly should try the punch control. Try it just for a few pack at 60-70%, maybe it will be OK for you, and it definitly would increase your pinions life ;)
Before changing the spur, try NOVAK pinion, with plastic spur you will break the spur every set of lipo :(

Ok... i will try that guy from HK Selling packs of 3 pinions...

BUT I WILL NOT LOWER MY PUNCH!!! i love having the immediate power! I still think a plastic delrin spur is what i need though!

I think you have to look at the people who are not having these problems. What are they doing that you are not?

Most of the people have not a 17lbs truck geared for 50mph :lol::lol::lol:

the hpi spur gear for the savage is very wide and durable. i was having problems with pinions wearing fast and i switched over to the plastic spur and haven't had any problems, even with the countless standing backflips and 0% punch control.

trust me, unless your mesh is bad, a plastic spur will hold up just fine.

Kcaz... im not doing anything wrong. I originally thought my motor plate or something was bent causing bad wear....
But the wear is even. The difference between me and others is that my truck actually gets full traction and does not wheelie easily as the motor is up front.
I have 0% Punch because i love having full power.
My truck at the moment weighs 14lbs and geared for 52mph on 6s. It pulls very very well. But the gears are really having a hard time.

I bought a plastic savage spur... i am just waiting for a the brass washer to be delivered as i completely forgot about it when buying the spur...

Plastic washer and novak is my next test... Hopefully it will hold up.

Eh - I do, and zero pinion problems. My secret.....dont have time to run them!!!

This is probably the punch line. Your at that fine line where something's gotta give. In you case, its been the pinions. If you do in fact find a pinion that's strong enough to not strip, you may end up with issues somewhere else. Shear strength is a factor of material strength and cross sectional area - I haven't gone back in the the threads to look - are you running mod1 or mod.8? You probably need to be in Mod1 if your not already.

I have a 1520 in an rc8t with no punch control and it's causing the screws on the spur to come loose. The first I noticed was when one of the screws came out far enough to scratch up the rcm motor mount:grrrrrr: So I put a dab of lock tight on the screws and refitted them. That hasn't fixed the problem so I was wondering if an alu diff cup would help?