Fray Car Tuning
By Tim Leppert
Stock Gears

Here we go with the stock gear stuff.

We will need:
The RT gearplate disassembly tool
The RT gear press
Some 1000 grit sand paper
Your Dremmel with the wire wheel (don't forget your safety glasses)
Some Lapping compound (Simichrome, Novus#2 or Mothers will work.)
A center punch and small hammer.
A hobby size "C" clamp, or a micrometer.
ALL of your brass gears.

To start off, line up all of you 14 tooth gears next to each other. You will notice that they do not look the same, we want to look for the gears that have the deep tooth valley and skinny teeth.
Set these aside.

Next we want to do the same thing with the driven gears. These are the 24 tooth gears that have the small hole. These are not as easy to separate, but do your best.
As an aside, if you still have some of the gearplates that say "patent applied for", keep these 14s and 24 drivens separate. They are usually better quality than later gears.

Next thing is get all of your idlers. Guard them with you life. I don't even let my wife know were I keep my idler stash. They are VERY important to a smooth geartrain.

Now we are supposed to be building a Fray car. so a word about rules.
The pinion must be 9 tooth.
The idler may not be a hollow back. I know it's stock, but that's the ruling.
Also, there is a ruling regarding the outside diameter of the gears. I can't tell you what it is or when they will tech.
Some of the techniques I will share will alter the OD of the gears, so you can make up you own mind if you want to follow them.

I will tell you now that the rulings I have seen made were not what I deem to be in the bounds of fair play. To have folks traveling THOUSANDS of miles and spending MONTHS to practice and prepare, then to spring an unwritten rule on them is a deal breaker for this writer. I will not return until this stops or something is written in the rules.

Next Installment: Assembling the Drive Train
Previous Installment: Drive Train