ARES Stoner LMG gearbox improvement

[Grif 2200]

((Please suggest move if this is indeed in the wrong forum))

Good day all

I currently have an ARES Stoner MG-006 with, as far as I'm aware, stock internals. I currently run a 7.4v Li-Po. I'm looking at improving the ROF and generally making the insides more reliable, as I have no idea how much use it's seen before me (It came second hand). However, I am not handy in any sense of the word and never have taken a gearbox apart myself.

A techie who I used to have do repairs for me suggested an SHS 14 tooth steel piston and 16:1 gear set, as well as a high-torque or high-speed motor. I have read, however, it's best not to use a steel piston if using fully automatic fire, is this true?

What brands and particular parts should I keep an eye out for to improve the overall reliability of my gearbox, up the ROF, and if possible, quieten the thing down, or at least have it sound as remotely terrifying as the fully-geared up regulars at my usual site, rather than the frankly unhealthy stock sounds that come with out-of-the-box gearboxes? I assume I should upgrade the motor, piston and gears all around the same time, should anything else be overhauled simultaneously?

In particular, is it true with regard to the piston I should stick to pistons other than steel? Any gears that would be best, or is it just almost any? And the same with motors?
Did my previous go-to guy for repairs get it right or wrong with their suggestions?

Appreciate any advice you can give to a first-time DIY-er. I usually take it in for repairs and always planned on doing the same with any upgrades, but I'm hoping to start learning sometime, so why not start now!

Thanks in advance

[tackle]

Re: ARES Stoner LMG gearbox improvement

Hi, I know nothing about the stoners, but if it's current fps & rof is reasonable, I.e. realistic & site legal, then I'd leave it alone, "if it ain't broke don't fix it", I agree its good to learn to do these things for yourself but unless you change everything internally there's a chance that something you leave stock may then fail, either through previous wear or not coping with the new set up.
Plus sometimes you may lay out a lot of money with barely any discernable improvement.
IMHO
Mark

[Grif 2200]

Re: ARES Stoner LMG gearbox improvement

(what is essentially a bump)

If anyone else has some further advice, and I'll thank Mark for his input up there, would anyone suggest just stocking up on a few plastic pistons to replace? I've heard these are the most likely part to wear out in an LMG, and it's fair to say the handful of times I've run with it I've encountered some sort of piston issue.

Would any other support gunners out there have a word of advice? Is it best to just leave the internals as they are? I'm happy with how it runs, I'd like it to quieten down, but perhaps I'm getting the wrong end of the stick, I assumed it was a natural progression to get an out-of-the-box gun and gradually work on the internals and improve them all?

[mafu10]

Re: ARES Stoner LMG gearbox improvement

I didn't have a stoner but I did have an A&k m249 for years and years. All I did was fit a tight bore barrel, replace the hop nub and rubber and fit a MOSFET to stop it chewing through micro switches. The gearbox itself I left well alone and it was a proper work horse. It never broke down and I couldn't even begin to work out how many rounds I put through it.

As tackle said - if it ain't broke don't fix it. In my humble opinion you don't want a mad rate of fire on a support gun usually the generally crappy electric box mags won't be able to keep up if you run it too fast anyway. A support gun in my eyes should be able to lay down just a solid steady rate of sustained fire. A nice big battery that won't suffer from long sustained draining will do you good to cover that point as a starter. If I were to have ever gone in and messed about with my m249 gearbox it would have been to simply replace bits with stronger bits when the standard stuff broke, nothing fancy.

I don't know if i just got lucky with my reliability, but left pretty much alone the components just carried on chewing through the ammo, cheap and unsophisticated - not a lot to go wrong. It could be down the gearbox design, I don't know what is in the stoner but the 249 is a PGC style box, and there really isn't a lot too them when compared to other aeg boxes.

i'm not a great gun tech buddy, I know enough to get by. In answer to your piston question my philosophy has always been to stick a poly piston in - reason being that if the gearbox wants to eat itself I would rather it destoryed a £10 plastic piston than the more expensive to replace gears.

You will struggle to quieten it down, there's things like helical gears which will help, probably not worth the cost to reward though. A good shim job will help with noise and also efficiency, shimming is a dark art I have never mastered. A lot of noise tends to come from the motor too and there isn't much in the way of replacement motors that'll do anything to solve that. Support guns aren't meant to be quiet though, they are meant to be loud and intimidating.

If i were you I would leave it be, enjoy it, and cross the upgrading bridge when things start to die. If you haven't already then get yourself a decent battery. I had a 3300mah 7.4v 35c lipo in mine and it would happily pull off multiple 10 second bursts without showing any signs of slow down.

[Grif 2200]

Re: ARES Stoner LMG gearbox improvement

I appreciate the advice! Considering it's only ever been a piston issue so far (well, that and the box mag packing in) I guess it's just the piston I need to worry about. I'll assume that other than the odd piston replacement it's got a lot of life left in it, so I'll likely hold back with opening it up, despite how attractive shiny new parts look!
Thanks again!

[mafu10]

Re: ARES Stoner LMG gearbox improvement

If it's munching Pistons there's a reason for it because for a piston to wear down in a gearbox that is working as it should be takes a very long time generally speaking. So there must be something up that's causing it to wear out at such a rapid rate. Depending on the where abouts on your piston rack the failure is will give a good indication about what is causing it to happen.

Most piston munching problems are attribute to either very poor angle of engagement or pre engagement of the piston. There's not a lot you can do about the box mags, I had 3 different ones over my years of support gun ownership and they were all junk.