Anyone having problems with tan bevel gear in recent sets?

[grego18f]

I thought I was crazy 

Thank you for pointing it out! In my case, I observed that the tan 20t double bevel gear has more friction when put next to a beam than the old grey one... 

I didn't notice the different tooth design in the 20t clutch gear... I think I will use my old gears as much as possible in gearboxes...

[Rudivdk]

I had this issue VERY noticeably in the 42075 Fist Responder set where I just could not get the engine running smoothly. It made a hell of a rattling noise and the vehicle wasn't able to roll on after being pushed, just too much friction. Tracked it down to the tan bevel gears (more precise, the straight mesh between a 20t and a 12t bevel gear) in the driveline.

Haven´t noticed this while MOCcing though, although I have bought some sets newer than 42075 with tan bevel gears in them, so either I am lucky in picking my tan gears or this shape issue is not the case for every new gear that is produced (are parts of the same type produced with more than 1 mold or even in more than 1 single factory? It could be that 1 mold is flawed, not the actual partdesign...)

[legolijntje]

15 minutes ago, Rudivdk said:

or this shape issue is not the case for every new gear that is produced (are parts of the same type produced with more than 1 mold or even in more than 1 single factory? It could be that 1 mold is flawed, not the actual partdesign...)

Yes, this is what I'm thinking too. The old design is clearly somehow better than the new design that's for sure, but within the new design I seem to have pretty good gears and awfully bad gears (the ones I got with 42082). Seems to be a combination of a little worse design with an even worse production run or something.

I sent a message about it to Lego yesterday, I'm curious if they have to say anything about it. Though, to be honest I don't expect much more than a standard customer-service speech and *maybe* the option to replace the gears I got with my set for new ones (which is not the point of my message at all). Ah well, we'll see.

[weavil]

I just happen to think, are the sets/parts your testing/using from the same factory?  Cause they have a few factories to spread out the work load. Like did they send some of the old molds to #2 and #3 and make new ones for the original factory?

Not sure if it was mentioned, but the quality of the plastic could be an issue or the mold is wearing quicker then thought causing parts to be out of shape of sorts.

[Lipko]

I guess they are manufactured in Hungary. I can only praise Hungarian manufacturing quality...

[legolijntje]

11 hours ago, weavil said:

I just happen to think, are the sets/parts your testing/using from the same factory?  Cause they have a few factories to spread out the work load. Like did they send some of the old molds to #2 and #3 and make new ones for the original factory?

Not sure if it was mentioned, but the quality of the plastic could be an issue or the mold is wearing quicker then thought causing parts to be out of shape of sorts.

Parts in sets are combined from all factories right? There's no way to know which factory a specific part came from as far as I know.

[johnnym]

In light of this thread I checked my unused 20z bevel gears and found that you can even feel the rattling when holding one gear between thumb and pointer finger and roll the other one around it. The interesting thing is, that I could only feel that rattling, when both gears have different axle hole "types" - i.e. left hand left gear type and right hand right gear type as shown in:

... if both gears are of the same type, they don't rattle when rolled around each other. This corresponds with the situation when one gear is a 12z bevel gear, the right axle hole type gears rattle much more than the left axle hole type gears. So maybe another way to differentiate the good ones from the bad ones before assembly.

IIUC there should also be 20z bevel gears with right axle hole type that work smoothly (when meshed?), but I didn't find one not in use that works smoothly with the ones having the left axle hole type. Here I've always referred to @Zerobricks picture.

I also wonder if there are 12z bevel gears available that "match" the new 20z bevel gears? So far I didn't find one out of the ones I have available though.

[weavil]

On 10/6/2019 at 11:41 PM, weavil said:

Not sure if it was mentioned, but the quality of the plastic could be an issue or .....

I took a few pics of a couple12 tooth bevel gears I had. The old one is on the left and the newer is on the right.

The left is darker and the right looks like not enough color was added and/or different compound, mold, or process.

[sirslayer]

Well, I've said this before and a few users didn't like what I said. Either, they're different grades of Lego technics or sugar cane elements are starting to come in!!  I believe the different grades are learning process till all are using the same molds and process.. I believe sugar cane based is coming in soon and it should fix the quality issues .. and also has anyone tried to use the 20 t black color gears and did it have any gears skipping or improper fit??  I've been using the black colored gears for as while and have not noticed any performance issues..

Edited October 9, 2019 by sirslayer

[johnnym]

2 hours ago, weavil said:

I took a few pics of a couple12 tooth bevel gears I had. The old one is on the left and the newer is on the right.

[...]

The left is darker and the right looks like not enough color was added and/or different compound, mold, or process.

But is there a mechanical difference between those two examples? BTW, I only tested with my double-bevel 12z gears so far.

[weavil]

14 hours ago, johnnym said:

But is there a mechanical difference between those two examples? BTW, I only tested with my double-bevel 12z gears so far.

Function is the same, but not form. The right one is a little transparent and has a slight recess around the axle hole. The left one is a little proud around the axle hole.

[Zerobricks]

Any response from Lego regarding this rather big issue?

[Maaboo the Witch]

Just now, Zerobricks said:

Any response from Lego regarding this rather big issue?

Nope, they're too busy rebuilding the world...

[legolijntje]

21 minutes ago, Zerobricks said:

Any response from Lego regarding this rather big issue?

Oh, yeah, I did get a response. As I expected, I got a standard customer-service reply stating that they don't know of any issues and that the gear shouldn't cause any problems. Nevertheless, they did send me a set of new gears for my set (42082) which will arrive soon. They also said that if the issue persists, I can always send a video or something.

I did reply with a link to this topic, but I haven't had any response on that yet. I received their first message on wednesday and I replied on wednesday. So, I think there's still a chance they'd reply again, but I'm beginning to doubt a bit. I invite anyone else having noticeable problems (I mean, to be fair, it's still plastic toys) with the gear to write to Lego too. The more people, the more chance they might take a serious look at it instead of just sending back standard responses.

[Andman]

On 10/14/2019 at 6:58 PM, Zerobricks said:

Any response from Lego regarding this rather big issue?

I contacted them today. I was asked for quality codes of the affected sets, which can be found on the box somewhere close to the barcode or Lego logo. Sounds they started investigating the impact.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Andman
Typo

[Andman]

I send them the quality codes and replacement of the affected bevel gears is on the way.

[johnnym]

On 10/29/2019 at 10:14 AM, Andman said:

I send them the quality codes and replacement of the affected bevel gears is on the way.

@Andman: I seem to remember that you wrote in another thread, that you got replacement gears shipped from LEGO. Say, did the replacements work better than the ones that came with your sets?

[Andman]

On 1/15/2020 at 9:18 PM, johnnym said:

@Andman: I seem to remember that you wrote in another thread, that you got replacement gears shipped from LEGO. Say, did the replacements work better than the ones that came with your sets?

Better than the ones i complained about, but still not as good like these old grey bevel gears I have.

[Maaboo the Witch]

My copy of 42099 came with the softer, more "jelly-like" 24-tooth tan gears, so I think TLG may have been listening to our complaints...

[johnnym]

2 hours ago, Andman said:

Better than the ones i complained about, but still not as good like these old grey bevel gears I have.

@Andman: Thanks for clarification. Though it's sad to hear that they can't provide gears that work as well as the old ones.

I have another question: Did you notice any differences on the replacement gears compared to the bad ones? I mean, e.g. visible differences in the axle hole, thickness, etc.

1 hour ago, Maaboo35 said:

My copy of 42099 came with the softer, more "jelly-like" 24-tooth tan gears, so I think TLG may have been listening to our complaints...

@Maaboo35: As you speak of tan gears, I assume you mean 20-tooth gears? But "jelly-like" - never saw such. Can you leave a mark in them with your finger nails or what?

[Maaboo the Witch]

1 hour ago, johnnym said:

 

@Maaboo35: As you speak of tan gears, I assume you mean 20-tooth gears? But "jelly-like" - never saw such. Can you leave a mark in them with your finger nails or what?

Yeah, the thick 20-tooth gear. The gears don't look solid; rather, they have a shiny, slightly translucent look to them.

[johnnym]

30 minutes ago, Maaboo35 said:

Yeah, the thick 20-tooth gear. The gears don't look solid; rather, they have a shiny, slightly translucent look to them.

@Maaboo35: Ok, I have to check on mine.

[Andman]

20 hours ago, johnnym said:

I have another question: Did you notice any differences on the replacement gears compared to the bad ones? I mean, e.g. visible differences in the axle hole, thickness, etc.

It's hardly visible, 10ths of a millimetre. I'll have a closer look soon.

[Urbal]

Had recently the same issue with 20T gear in both 42099 and 42110 sets. What is the way to replace them?

[Andman]

2 hours ago, Urbal said:

Had recently the same issue with 20T gear in both 42099 and 42110 sets. What is the way to replace them?

Contact Lego support. They'll help you.