@legomaniac said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"I didn’t know 2x4 bricks could have so many holes!"

The holiest of bricks :D "

Yes - it sits on the altar in church.

@Maxbricks14: It IS the altar in church...he's also the Brute Squad...:)

Had a friend that had some of these; and was fascinated by them, especially after Technics came out...where the gears were sort of inverted ('vintage' gears have studs, Tech's have holes...)

Loved this set, along with 800-1 and 801-1. Finally motorising the likes of roundabouts and windmills didn't rely on tyreless wheels and elastic bands!

A metal axle, that's interesting.

@Arnoldos said:
"A metal axle, that's interesting."

There’s also a thin metal piece within the gear itself (under the central red piece seen on the yellow gear) that grips the plastic cross axle. I guess this was before they realised different dimples etc could create the friction/grip required. This is one of my first sets (ie, not inherited from my brothers) but was soon superceded with the more technical Technic, so not used a lot. I can only imagine that frequent inserting of axles would quickly wear them down!

Is it just me or is the yellow gear in the product image absolutely filthy?

Much harder to swallow than a vitamin supplement. Better get one hell of a glass of water ready

Top Gears

@Arnoldos said:
"A metal axle, that's interesting."

I was wondering what it was for, until I realised it could be inserted into a gear, and then into a motor. I am guessing the old blue motor did not have an axle hole yet.

@rslotb said:
" @Arnoldos said:
"A metal axle, that's interesting."

I was wondering what it was for, until I realised it could be inserted into a gear, and then into a motor. I am guessing the old blue motor did not have an axle hole yet. "

Correct - see it in action in set 800-1 . They also fitted the old white (or black) 2x4 wheel bearing brick too.

I had one of these as a child, and I still have it in original box and everything. I often used these gears in combination with Technic, as they are much more durable and can withstand higher torque.

@brick_r said:
" @Maxbricks14: It IS the altar in church...he's also the Brute Squad...:)

Had a friend that had some of these; and was fascinated by them, especially after Technics came out...where the gears were sort of inverted ('vintage' gears have studs, Tech's have holes...) "

The picture clearly shows the vintage gears have holes too

@namekuji said:
" @Loerwyn said:
"Is it just me or is the yellow gear in the product image absolutely filthy?"

It was the 70s."

If you look closer at the real box, there is something strange there anyways - like some color layer got lost during processing the yellow area.

Also those axles look like they are regular white, the real ones were color "Natue" (BL's Milky White, no color additive addied) making them slightly translucent.

It's also funny how this set was inserted into larger sets (complete with the numbered box) that were explicitly not value packs or similar.

Ah, the proto gears. Come 1977 lego really created a smoother ride when they shifted gears. What a turnaround on their interlocking building system! The techniques you could do!

I haven't seen these in a while and I now remember how much the new splat gears reminded me of these when they came out in 2019.

@JavaBrix said:
"
54 years later, those same axles are still in production, just using a different color of plastic. Not many companies of any kind produce continuously compatible parts for that long."

In my experience these early milky white axles can be slightly thicker than technic-era axles and can be difficult to use with everything sometimes. But they work fine on these gears. This size discrepancy was not always the case, so maybe they didn't settle on a specific size tolerance yet?

I thought that metal axle was a bullet for a second.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @MCLegoboy said:
"Be sure to take at least one gear a day to keep everything functioning smoothly. Keep your system healthy, don't let those gears grind, and remember to take on a full stomach with plenty of water."

The fact that I was beaten to this joke really grinds my gears. I guess I need to take my 802."

Perhaps, RMotD Frenchie and his fate a la flambe has put me into a certain mindset.

Nevertheless, I find grinding gears to be an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. Reminds me of a song from a departed soul...

Grinding gears is natural
Grinding gears is good
Not everybody does it
But, everybody should!

Hmm I wonder if I might have tossed one of those metal parts not knowing what it was.

As mentioned the metal pin on the connector axles was one of the most useful parts so that you could use the gears on the numerous old bricks and motor that had the hole for the wheels with metal axle, as this set only had 5 Technic bricks for 9 gears!

This also meant you didn't need to use the brush as would stay in on its own, but why only 2 which would be lost in the first day!

This was soon discontinued as worried about liability from kids swallowing, and the motor was redesigned to also include a hole for the axle to go all the way through.

I think I have this one, bought in my kids years.
Or the 801, I cannot remember, that wringled piece of paper rings a bell.
My "old lego stuff" box contains the blue and yellow gears.