Is there a quick and dirty way to get the proper pinion/spur mesh on mod 1.5 gears? I tried the usual "piece of paper" spacer way, but it seems like the mesh is too tight even when I double the paper. Maybe a 3x5 card?
BTW, wrenching on a Baja is tough work on old muscles! My wrists hurt.
The old school way is still the best. A piece of paper should give you the right gap. If you just do not like the feel of it, then try the 3X5 card and see how it feels. If you make it too loose it will make a lot of noise and the gears will eat each other fairly quick. I would make sure that both gears turn freely before mating them. You may have something binding up on your drivetrain.
Do you have the CC conversion or something? As the baja has a fixed gear mesh. Either way,it's very common that baja spurs need to wear in to finally have the right mesh.it may seem a bit tight now but it'll loosen up after a few runs.
To be honest now I go by the feel of it. As soon as I feel that there is just enough movement I tighten it down. Works pretty good for me. Mod 1 and Mod .08 are pretty easy, anything smaller is kind of hard. I would imagine the Mod 1.5 would be pretty easy to do by feel.
A trick I've learned for setting mesh of any size gear is to push them together all the way and then back off until there is a visibly noticeable amount of play. Of course this is not an exact method but it has worked for me so far!
^That. There should just be a tiny bit of slack so that the spur can rock back & forth slightly against the spur- rotate the spur gear and check it isnt tight or too loose through a full rotation.
And to add, if you are running metal on metal gears you can set the mesh by sound. If it is loud it is likely too tight, so add some space till it quiets down a bit. My only metal on metal gear setup is on an lst, and the tdr racing mount makes it real easy to dial the clearance in or out.