Power Wheels Pinion for #3 gearbox

thingiverse

After upgrading an old 12-volt Power Wheels ride-on toy with more powerful motors, it rapidly destroyed the original pinion gears. They use standard 540- and 550-size motors common in RC vehicles, but the pitch and tooth depth on the #3-style gearbox found in older models are not compatible with commonly available pinion gears. Therefore, I created a replacement based on pictures and measurements taken from the damaged gears. Printed in PLA, light sanding was necessary for a snug fit with the retaining clip, and the gear fits and runs smoothly in the gearbox. Pinion v3.5 has a slightly oversized center bore adjusted to better match motor shafts when printed on a consumer FDM printer. I've added the Pinion v3 model which has more precise dimensions (but may be slightly challenging to install onto a motor). UPDATE: Conducted testing with two sets of PLA pinions. On a 12-volt Power Wheels upgraded with Traxxas Titan 550 Marine motors, one pinion fails after 10-15 minutes of hard/abusive driving (aka donuts and 180's), primarily due to the shock of having full power suddenly applied, and the second pinion fails in another 10 minutes or so under increased strain of propelling the vehicle entirely on one motor. Running at 6 volts with the Titan 550's (similar speed/power to a stock 12-volt Power Wheels) shows no sign of failing any time soon. I'm having several sets professionally printed in additional materials for durability testing and to determine if the limitation is my printer.