RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Has anyone fitted aftermarket steel gearboxes that they can recommend to an HL 2A6?

I am looking for Tamiya style speed, maybe fitting Graupner 7.2v Speed 400 motors, so should I go for 3:1 or 4:1 gears? I have heard of people running 540 motors, but has anyone else done this?

540 motors don’t fit. At least not without machining. Though they do run fine with a bigger 48p pinion, say 15tooth. You’ll have to re-drill the gearbox halves to make a 540 fit. ‘S a bit of a bother.

Speed 400’s run absolutely fine with the Taigen gearboxes, though only slightly faster than the stock HL motors. Their build quality is, however, superb.

To get my Leopard the scale speed it deserves (after all, a Leo can hit 80+ km/h on flat road with the war seals off the engine) I use the 3:1 steel Taigen gearboxes with multiplex long-can MB480pro RS 390 motors ( also known as “480” size) without the weak iron mantles ( ! ) The mantles are quite thick, unneeded, and will interfere when putting the gearboxes back in. Added bonus : more rpm. About 20000 instead of 17000.

https://www.lindinger.at/en/?sViewport= ... shed+motor

The Graupner speed 400 motors aren’t thàt fast. The 480’s however.. whooboy. You can even go further, and blow pàst Tamiya’s Leo by fitting these:

https://www.rctank.de/2-x-Taigen-390-25 ... -gearboxes

Remember to set the IBU, or Elmod, or whatever You use to at least 12 amps! These high-speed 390’s dó like their Amps!

They are atually meant for the 4:1 gearboxes, and would probably blow-up stock HL elecronics. They run fine on the more advanced controllers we usually run.

By the by, You’ll need a gear puller to get the pinions off of the ori HL motors.

And, if You want to go allout barmy, get an Elmod with external brushless ESC’s with two brushless high kv ( 2750kv or higher) brushless in-runner 400-type motors. More speed and torque than 540’s òr 550’s can muster. Or go fullout and use 12-pole 400-size outrunners in the 2200 to 2700kv-range. All the torque You’d ever want, although not as fast as inrunners. Needs new pinions drilled for 3,2mm though.

Be prepared to rip tracks, asplode sprockets and rip-out swing arms, though.. Worth it!! I left it at an experiment in a crummy Bulldog, and took the whole affair out, because I only had car esc’s, and no sound generator and turret servo’s and such.. makes for a somewhat boring tank. And all the asploded hardware? Mêh.. I have a box full of half-way broken Bulldogs from a boot-sale..

Taigen gearbox didn’t care, though. Still fine and sits comfy in my Leo.

I have 550 motors in my Bergpanzer 3 see here https://www.dklmrc.com/[DK]_Dual_550_mo ... 64952.aspx .If you fit these you will need to upgrade board and a big battery , I run mine with 3s lipo and IBU (change settings on the board) run time isn't great but it shifts along. But having said that this is the best gearbox https://www.dklmrc.com/product/pdsgb But will need a more expensive board to operate the gearbox.

regards pete

Ps Ian has one of these fitted in a leo

So you mean I can't keep the nylon gearboxes then? lol.

Interesting re the Graupner 400's, I thought they would be faster. I had some in a Bulldog donkeys years ago and it ran like a scalded cat. I am keen to avoid Lipo's, I like my tanks the shape they are.

This means finding the best brushed motors I can that will run off a TK22/24, Maybe the 480's? I've read horror stories of high amps doing nasty things to them, but I should be able to figure something out.

Edit : Just been chatting to the guy that fitted the 540's. Somehow they went straight in and he is running an RX18?? I need to get him to take some pics.

Another Edit : They aren't 540's they are the long can high revving motors, the ones with a picture of a train on, same as the red can motors...which seem to be £30 a pair...gulp!

Last Edit : Found a pair of them brand new in a drawer,

Ok, this was the cheapest way that I could turn a £60 Heng Long Leopard 2A6 into something presentable.

Clark TK22
Muzzle Flash.
High Revving Long Can Motors (the ones with the picture of a train on the side, probably the same as the red can ones).
Visiton 8 speaker

It still has the original nylon gearboxes and runs silky smooth. If they break then I'll buy some steel ones, but so far so good.

wibblywobbly wrote:So you mean I can't keep the nylon gearboxes then? lol.

Depends on the driving surface. Grass and other high-drag surfaces will make the clutches rattle like there’s no tomorrow, and finally the gears on the sprocket-shaft will split.

Tarmac, tiles and packed dirt? Pfft. I drove my plastic-geared Bulldog like mad on those surfaces. Gears didn’t give a peep. Not even when I tried to make the tank it’s own round little cellar in the packed dirt by incessantly super-spinning the thing.

Oh, and thing to remember: when hitting something with the barrel, the high speed will do all kinds of nasty things to the turret, as I found-out to my detriment. Well, long-live Stabilit-Express epoxy glue.....

I've absolutely no doubt that at some point the final drive cogs will split, but until then....lol. The advantage of Bulldogs and Leopards is flat track pads, so no resistance when turning, and as I am unlikely to drive this one on grass more than once a year, the gears may well last forever?

The clutches will, eventually, wear or break, but that can, indeed, take forever if one never drives on high-resistance undergrounds. The nylon bushings will wear before the gears.

Regularly lubricate them with PTFE spray for bicycles and they will last forever plùs become even more silent.

Thanks for the advice.

These are the different tracks