I have a 35cc 2stroke engine in my rc and it has all metal gears in the gearbox. Do I need to lubricate it? My local hobby shop said that I didn’t need to. I highly doubt that because my previous gears stripped

All metal gears? I would certainly lubricate it and make sure the mesh is set correctly. It's good to see that they're covered.

I like to use lubricants that have very high film / surface tension strength on metal gears. Chainsaw bar lubricant is excellent as it sticks to metal like crazy. You'll be able to see it "string" after applying it to the gear and rotating. Normal oils or lubricants will likely get flung out from centrifugal force in a short amount of time.

Dry lubricants would be better for a spur gear setup as it won’t attract dirt like a sticky oil would. Save the bar oil for the air filter and use graphite or a spray on fast drying dry lubricant. That is, if the manufacturer recommends it.

I haven’t tried dry lubricant spray but that sounds promising. How well does it hold onto spinning surfaces?

Ok thanks for the answers. I’ll try using dry lube

Originally Posted by ScientificMethod

I haven’t tried dry lubricant spray but that sounds promising. How well does it hold onto spinning surfaces?

I’m not a fan of WD40 products, but they have a dry lube that seems to work okay. It sprays on wet and dries quickly. My favorite dry lubricant was a product made by Borden called Slide All. The Borden brand was discontinued, but Elmers now has their name on it. The old stuff had Teflon in it (which causes cancer I guess) and it worked slick. Not sure how the new stuff is if it’s the same recipe or not, but it’s the same premise as the WD40 dry lubricant. You could also dry silicone lubricant too. That stuff doesn’t leave much residue either.

I am intrigued by the use of dry lubes for all our rc stuff - I never thought they'd have a dry-lube film. I found this that is supposed to "bond instantly to metal, rubber, plastic and most substrates to form a dirt repelling barrier..). I ordered a can to try. Thanks for the tip Qwksport!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Originally Posted by ScientificMethod

I am intrigued by the use of dry lubes for all our rc stuff - I never thought they'd have a dry-lube film. I found this that is supposed to "bond instantly to metal, rubber, plastic and most substrates to form a dirt repelling barrier..). I ordered a can to try. Thanks for the tip Qwksport!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Graphite is fantastic for bushings, but not great for bearings I’ve found. Oil is much better for bearings. If you run steel spur gears, then the graphite or the slide-all/WD40 dry lubes will work fine for lubricating the teeth. (Only If the mesh is correct and the gears aren’t overly worn, that is.