Anyways, after the bash session, came the tear down and inspection:
I owe an apology to someone- seems that the steel idler did indeed eat into the aluminium output gear. Its not as bad as it looks though, seems like its just worn down one half roughly of each tooth's face, creating a little burr along the edges. Reluctantly then, I've decided to swap over the idler for one of the rc4wd items- I'll open up the tranny again after a few more runs and see how it looks.
Pebble dashed lower A-arms. I could put some dirt guards over them like some guys are doing on their buggies and truggies, but Im not really bothered as such- battle scars are sexy
I even opened up the rear diff for an inspection, and was happy to see zero wear on the ring & pinion gears. The only slight wear to report is on the output shafts- the hole for driveshaft yolk retaining screw pin has been slightly elongated into an oval shape. Not a big issue really, and its better that the metal has a bit of stretch to it rather than sheering unexpectedly- it may snap one day, but it wont be for a while, and is easily replaced.
I also fixed the slipper- a few bits of sandpaper super glued to the spur and onto the slipper plates creates alot of friction that will be hard to budge- I'll have to test that theory though.
Beyond that, the Gmaxx will live to fight another day.
