Big Rock Help! Noob cleaning the internals of my car for the first time!

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Uz3r

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Arrma RC's
  1. BigRock 4x4
Hi All, I broke my BRCC chassis after meeting a concrete gutter at high speed. I’ve got the replacement chassis but in the midst of the re-build process I’ve gotten some dirt/sand in the gearbox enclosure and on/around the exterior of the diff case set and input/output drive gears - how can I clean out of any dirt/sand that’s in this area?

Generally - for dirt and grime that can’t be air blasted or wiped off easily - how do you guys clean these lubricated areas like gears/shocks/bearings before re-greasing/re-oiling?

Sorry for the noob questions!

Edit: attached photos of the units that have sand/dirt in them
 

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If you have sand inside the diff housing, you probably need to replace the bearings and maybe the towers with the chassis. Shouldn’t be anything getting in there. Figure out how it got in there and fix that part.

As for cleaning, I like using brake cleaner because I have bunch of it on hand. You could also use isopropyl alcohol too. Get all parts nice and clean, then make sure to use some oils on metal parts to prevent rust. A light coating will do. Most use WD40 as a way to prevent rust.

When assembling the diffs, use the weight of your choice, but stock is 10k. Outside the diff cup gets white lithium grease from the factory, but any grease here is fine. You don’t need a lot. I usually use brake pad grease, again because I have it on hand.
 
Step one, take everything apart. Everything. If you can get one of those flat tackle trays about the size of a sheet of paper with a whole bunch of small compartments, these are great for maintenance days. Put the screws and small parts from each step into one small square compartment. For the next disassembly step, put the next set of screws and small parts in the next square. This way you can keep everything straight. Also if you need to pause or move your maintenance location, just close the tackle tray, and no screws will get lost or mixed up.

2- get a bowl of warm water with dish soap, and an old toothbrush. Scrub everything.

3 - stuff with thick grease will laugh at the dish soap, take them outside and clean with WD40, brake cleaner, diesel, naphtha, something strong.

4 - for bearings, head to youtube, lots of good vids on how to clean them. Watch 2-3 before you start.
4b- I like to buy a full set of new bearings to have on hand for maintenance days. As I work through the car, I will swap the old bearings for the new bearings, and set the old bearings aside to clean later. This helps the rebuild move along a lot quicker, because sometimes cleaning the bearings can take a while and be a bit of a pain. Also, if you have a full set of bearings, it will probably come with the small bearings for the steering bellcranks. This would be a good time to get those installed also. After you're done with the truck, come back and clean all the old bearings. The ones that you can save, oil and put back into your spare parts bin. This way you will have bearings ready to go the next time you need one. The stock bearings are not bad, they just die quickly when they get dirty. If you can keep them clean, they are fine.

5- start reassembling everything. Now would be a good time to have an exploded diagram that shows which screws go where and how all the different parts go together. Relube the stuff that needs a Lube as you go, but don't get a lot of grease in places where it is not needed. It will only attract sand and dirt.



I'll add this vid. Most of it is pointless now (Mega mods) but at 3:45 I show how to take the axle off the diff.
 
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Hi All, I broke my BRCC chassis after meeting a concrete gutter at high speed. I’ve got the replacement chassis but in the midst of the re-build process I’ve gotten some dirt/sand in the gearbox enclosure and on/around the exterior of the diff case set and input/output drive gears - how can I clean out of any dirt/sand that’s in this area?

Generally - for dirt and grime that can’t be air blasted or wiped off easily - how do you guys clean these lubricated areas like gears/shocks/bearings before re-greasing/re-oiling?

Sorry for the noob questions!

Edit: attached photos of the units that have sand/dirt in them
I use carb cleaner. It can eat through different plastics and electronics tho so be carefull not to just hose the rig down down.
 
When my wife goes to sleep, I put my whole rig in the dishwasher, with body and all, I press sanitize cycle and voila. It looks like brand new in 45 minutes. Even the tires come out looking brand spanking new!
Make sure to put it on the bottom rack if it is really dirty.
Make sure to remove the Lipo or you might have a problem. Those Lipos could fail sometimes.
NOT
 
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Completely disassemble and clean with simple green and a nylon toothbrush. Rinse with clean warm water and blow each part off with compressed air. Dry and inspect each part then reassemble
View attachment 43968
Simple green is your friend. Compressor is a plus. Speeds things up. No real short cuts for doing a good job.
After doing this a few times, I guaranty you will not need the manual to rebuild it. Great muscle memory when doing a tear down cleaning. And failure points and worn parts become more obvious. Mr. Duke I commend you.
 
Simple green is your friend. Compressor is a plus. Speeds things up. No real short cuts for doing a good job.
After doing this a few times, I guaranty you will not need the manual to rebuild it. Great muscle memory when doing a tear down cleaning. And failure points and worn parts become more obvious. Mr. Duke I commend you.
I do this every few months with each of my Arrmas, or about every 20-30 packs. It takes a few days to get it all done but it's as close to a brand new rig as you can get when's is all completed. I'll also just go ahead and replace all the bearings whether they need it or not while I've got everything apart.
 
Thanks all. For clarity - it’s my fault the dirt/sand got in there when I was replacing the chassis - the diff housing seal is fine.

Completely disassemble and clean with simple green and a nylon toothbrush. Rinse with clean warm water and blow each part off with compressed air. Dry and inspect each part then reassemble

Thanks - this is what I will do!
 
I'll chime in, I got a specific fuel gallon which I leave open for a day to tone it down on fumes, and then mix it w about an ounce of two stroke oil, synthetic. I dip all plastics, gears, bearings, (NO rubber o-rings or they will swell), leave em dipped for about half hour and then scrub w an old toothbrush. If there is a enclosed container, (I only do this sometimes), I grab a bunch of bbs and shake it all up, the bbs hit on the surfaces and cleans quick. I personally don't use brake cleaner as it tends to leave a white stain in plastics. The gasoline smell if I let the gasoline go "old" by letting it air out.

Later some dish soap and hot water, throw in Awesome from Dollar Tree, amazing stuff.

*the above is my method, does not mean its the one and only for the task at hand.*
---
 
If you have sand inside the diff housing, you probably need to replace the bearings and maybe the towers with the chassis. Shouldn’t be anything getting in there. Figure out how it got in there and fix that part.

As for cleaning, I like using brake cleaner because I have bunch of it on hand. You could also use isopropyl alcohol too. Get all parts nice and clean, then make sure to use some oils on metal parts to prevent rust. A light coating will do. Most use WD40 as a way to prevent rust.

When assembling the diffs, use the weight of your choice, but stock is 10k. Outside the diff cup gets white lithium grease from the factory, but any grease here is fine. You don’t need a lot. I usually use brake pad grease, again because I have it on hand.
One thing about using the wd-40 is that it collects a lot of dirt and it's actually a degreaser instead of a lubricant. I use this wd-40 brand of dry lubes and it does not attract dirt, grime etc. I would recommend it for certain things. Not instead of grease though. Use it in the areas you can't have dirt getting into! Hope this helps someone.
 

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One thing about using the wd-40 is that it collects a lot of dirt and it's actually a degreaser instead of a lubricant. I use this wd-40 brand of dry lubes and it does not attract dirt, grime etc. I would recommend it for certain things. Not instead of grease though. Use it in the areas you can't have dirt getting into! Hope this helps someone.

I’ve been using WD40’s Silicone Spray instead and that seems to be going well
 
You don't need some crazy strong solvents, Simple Green is cheap, easily available, non-toxic, and works totally fine. Those driveshafts look pretty greasy, more importantly see if something is leaking and fix it if it is.
 
You don't need some crazy strong solvents, Simple Green is cheap, easily available, non-toxic, and works totally fine. Those driveshafts look pretty greasy, more importantly see if something is leaking and fix it if it is.

Agreed. Simple green is great (which I later used to clean the drive shafts). I use the simple green to clean and silicone spray to lubricate in between full tear down cleans.
 
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