I think even hardened pinions will get chewed... depending on the horsepower and type of abuse dished out, they may last a long time. But they will wear... even the hardened clutch bells wear out in a nitro car. My 8ightT has worn the bell pretty bad in only a handful of race weekends this summer. It's usable still, but not looking good. If mikes' new hardened gears last as long as a clutchbell (a whole season) with a stock steel spur, then that's not bad.
If I had a Mugen I might do that. In fact, there is a new car that I really want to convert and I'm assuming it has Mugen style diffs. If it does, I will probably try the new hardened gears on it so I can just run the stock spur.
Running a plastic spur eliminates this almost entirely though. A cheap steel pinion will last a very long time and a hardened might last a lifetime. And the kysoho spur lasts a long time too, esp considering it's $5
Jammin CRT MM/Neu 1515 1700kv
Losi 8IGHT MM/Neu 1512 1900kv
Kyosho 777
T4 MM 5700
B4 LRP
XX4 MM 7700
old losi xxcr, MM4600 4s lipo 70mph+
When Chris (Arct1c) first told me about the Mugen mount, I was a little embarassed and confused that it didn't work(thought I had just become an honorary member of the Jacka$$ club), but then I looked at the pictures he sent - looked like a long buggy with a big spur gear. I am glad we figured it out, though - I thought I was gonna have to redesign the mount (I was pretty happy with the design and how they came out).
I made the mount to accomodate my range of hardened pinions (should accomodate a range of about 12-14 pinion options on the stock 46 tooth spur).
And for the record, Dustin - my gears are harder than the average hardened steel clutch bell. Most standard clutch bells use low carbon steel and case harden it - I do this for the emaxx idler gears, which last a very long time. The new hardened pinions have a higher carbon steel and are through hardened - I would be shocked it they didn't last a few seasons to be honest.
The hard case on your average clutch is perhaps .015" - .02" thick. Once this is gone, the wear accelerates quickly, and the deeper into this material you go, the "softer" it is. My new hardened pinion gears are hard all the way through - the wear won't accelerate in time, so they may outlast the spur gear in all reality - especially the larger ones.