robinson racing pinions. buyer beware

hi all, just thought i would share some of my expereience with a product.
so i got these pinions from robinson racing in a bulk pack of even pinions. i think it was 18-26t or somthing, $13 i think from tower. anyway, you can see the 26t and the 24t pinion below. I was running these on my Blitz ese and nothing extreme here. Just a 10.5t brushless and regular driving. mesh set correctly. The 26t has way more run time on it that the 24t. but it took half the amount of time for the 24 to look like this and then eventually strip my spur.
My suggestion is to not buy the bulk pack of pionions if you can help it. Just stick with the "absolute" pinions from robinson, or another brand of your liking altogether.

Is the material of those steel?  What material is the spur?  Any photos of the spur gear(s) that these were mated with?

yes these are steel ones although i don't beleive the are the case hardened ones like the "absolute" pinions from robinson, or the regular traxxas steel ones for that matter. these look like aluminum when new, but they are steel. if you look closely you can see a little surface rust on each of them.
as for the spur.. there really isn't much to look at. picture a blitz SPUR with 50% of the teeth stripped off. ;D yeah. it's like that.
anyway here is the link, i see now that they are listing them a more of a trial set before upgrading to a hardened steel or al. pinion. still.. seems weak to me. ???
http://www.robinsonracing.com/catalog/48pitchpinion.html#six

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/cPath/1_24_253_1867/products_id/33739/n/Robinson-Racing-Six-Pack-48P-Even-Pinion-Pack-161820222426T

Thats a bummer for you. Those pinions aren't meant to be ran for any extended amount of time. They are just for setup purposes. I have a set that I have used many times as they are intended and they are in new condition still. Pretty much put one on and run for a couple minutes to check your set up then remove and replace with your chosen "good" gear. They are a great tuning aid to have in your box when setting up a new ride. And it keeps you from having $30 worth of good gears sitting wasted in your stuff. Losi makes a real nice line of 48p pinions if you are sour on Robinson also. If you want to save some money and get a pack of some decent quality gears look for the gear set for the electrix cars. They are still made by horizon (same as Losi) but you get a whole set for less than 1 Robinson. I have ran them on a few different things and they are holding well still

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/cPath/1_25_1546_1547/products_id/177149/n/Electrix-RC-Pinion-Gear-Set-5?utm_source=Google-Base&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Product-Feeds&source=google_ext

highland,
yes thanks, you are right on all points. I am only now seeing that they are more of a "test set" after reading the webpage. I did not know that (thanks Tower  ) But it isn't a major bummer. I am just out about $8 worth of pinions and $4-5 for a spur. Not too bad really. Just trying to let others know so they don't end up making the same mistake. still they should at least lable the # of teeth on each pinion if they are intended as a test/tune set only.
i am running the absolute version from robinson now, and have a few traxxas as spares and other # tooth alternatives. Would be interested in hearing impressions on the traxxas pinions. They look like they have been though a case hardening process like the Robinson and the Losi.
i have seen the electrix set.. diggin the price point on the electrix stuff  ;D in fact i am running some of the bearings they sell on the blitz. they are the 8 pack for the wheel hubs $6 i think. anyway. none of the electrix gears in the set are what i needed.. good idea tho. was thinking the same thing.

Ya know I cant say I have ever had a problem with any of my Traxxas pinions. Toasted uncountable spur gears over the years but no pinions. That goes for their plated and the hardened ones. If I have a choice I don't run plated ones of any brand though. I had a first gen blitz with the wobbly spur/slipper assembly and went through a lot of spurs on that thing. Does the newer ese parts hold tighter and run true? I know this was on place they said they were addressing with the new kit. Also looking back over my post I may have sounded like I was being a dick and hope you didn't take it that way lol. Sometime I write things not realizing how it may be perceived by someone over the web. Another member pointed this out for me :-*

funny... ;D doode, your overthinking it. No, no dickiness perceived or detected. ;D but it is nice of you to be so thoughtful.  I too have this problem, with posting some time..  you know..Just trying to get the thoughts out there with out much thought of how it might sounds.

it's all good now. It was just a learning experience for me with these pinions. Wish Tower, and A main for that matter, would put that in the item descrip. I am not running any coated ones, just the hardened (case hardened to be exact) gears from traxxas and Robinson (absolute). as for the Spur/slipper on the ESE. yes i can say without question: it is quality. the whole slipper setup is much better than my E-firestorm, which my guess is, is much like the one you describe. just everything... the slipper disks, the spur the, the backing plates, all quality. when i got my firestorm i was expecting to to look like the ESE. i was dissapointed in the cheese factor. I am looking to upgrade the firestorm to ESE spec. eventually.
Best,
D