How do you clean your RC?

[cdogster]

I use a leaf blower. Does the same thing.

This is the RC car life hack of the century.

Which one is better?

I found this other WD-40 version "WD-40 Specialist Protective White Lithium Grease Spray" and it sounds great for spraying on the bearings and joints.

https://www.amazon.com/WD-40-Specia...se/dp/B00631GUJ0/ref=sr_1_8?tag=freeplefav-20

Thoughts? Thank you kindly for your opinion.

 

[jkflow]

The lithium grease will attract dirt and for bearings it's too thin. It will work but will require more frequent maintenance.
WD40 is ok on plastic parts but will ruin bearings and electronics quickly.

 

[cdogster]

Is the "WD-40 Specialist Water Resistant Silicone Lubricant" the best recommendation then for spraying on the ball bearings and joints?

 

[jkflow]

No, actually 'nothing' is better than WD40. Literally nothing. Stay away from spraying stuff from the outside. That goes for any product.
Oil/grease your bearing by removing the shields or order new bearings.

Joints do not need lubrication just an occasional cleaning and right adjustment.

 

[cdogster]

Oh then I was confused, thank you for that.

After just 1 bashing session, I am not going to remove the shields but I want to clean the dirt and stuff that collects on the outside. What should I do?

 

[SrC]

Just lightly wipe the bearing's outer surface. But Leaving them alone is better IMHO. A little dirt on them is fine. The seals are there to keep the muck out.
Rigs don't have to be perfectly clean. If you clean them with soaps and hose, they all rust out , bearings and all. Then they drive like crap and you will find yourself replacing parts more often. When I do a rebuild, I remove all electrics and then lay into it with soap ( simple green and water). They will be getting all new bearings anyway. I prefer not to be lazy and soap and hose my rigs after bashing. A wipe down with SG on a rag is all that is needed. A leaf blower is always in my car to blow off the heavy dust. Good enough. Compressed air at home is ok also. Just don't hit the BB's hard, it blows dirt past the BB seals, then the BB's will brick faster from dirt ingress.

 

[jkflow]

Start reading at the beginning of this thread.

 

[Rich Duperbash]

No, actually 'nothing' is better than WD40. Literally nothing. Stay away from spraying stuff from the outside. That goes for any product.
Oil/grease your bearing by removing the shields or order new bearings.

Joints do not need lubrication just an occasional cleaning and right adjustment.

WD-40 is excellent for manual cleaning of metal parts (axels..etc) and water displacement as originally designed, not lubrication. On that note, I bash year round including mud bashing. WD-40 Silicone Spray is a savior for this. After a Simple Green wash down and thorough rinse and dry, I spray all my bearings with it and then run my truck briefly. (Spraying a dirty truck will push crud into bearings no question.) My bearings get oiled during deep cleans and teardowns and diff services or as needed. Everyone has methods for maintaining their rigs. There's no one right way to maintain them though. What matters is not neglecting them.

 

[Warby]

WD-40 is excellent for manual cleaning of metal parts (axels..etc) and water displacement as originally designed, not lubrication. On that note, I bash year round including mud bashing. WD-40 Silicone Spray is a savior for this. After a Simple Green wash down and thorough rinse and dry, I spray all my bearings with it and then run my truck briefly. (Spraying a dirty truck will push crud into bearings no question.) My bearings get oiled during deep cleans and teardowns and diff services or as needed. Everyone has methods for maintaining their rigs. There's no one right way to maintain them though. What matters is not neglecting them.

Yes that's the combination I use.

 

[cdogster]

WD-40 is excellent for manual cleaning of metal parts (axels..etc) and water displacement as originally designed, not lubrication. On that note, I bash year round including mud bashing. WD-40 Silicone Spray is a savior for this. After a Simple Green wash down and thorough rinse and dry, I spray all my bearings with it and then run my truck briefly. (Spraying a dirty truck will push crud into bearings no question.) My bearings get oiled during deep cleans and teardowns and diff services or as needed. Everyone has methods for maintaining their rigs. There's no one right way to maintain them though. What matters is not neglecting them.

This is the exact approach that I think seems best and which I will follow. Thanks!

 

[Joeyp42090]

I literally started by giving my Big Rock a shower. I have one of those hose extension showerheads, and rinsed it off. works pretty well until the Wife finds tire tracks in the tub.

That's how I clean mine too git er done!!

 

[GRC]

I turn it upside down and shake it.

 

[LyrickCZE]

Sorry if it was mentioned before, didn't read all 15 pages - any experience with GT85?
Ive been using it to spray the car and moving parts after the cleaning with water-air-brushes.
Should I be worried it will have similar effects as WD40 and ruin my bearings?
Got the recommendation from LHS.
Also for the grease I use Repsol Grasa Litica mp2 for pretty much everything inluding bearings.
Thank you for any input.

 

[Speed/267]

 

[SrC]

Sorry if it was mentioned before, didn't read all 15 pages - any experience with GT85?
Ive been using it to spray the car and moving parts after the cleaning with water-air-brushes.
Should I be worried it will have similar effects as WD40 and ruin my bearings?
Got the recommendation from LHS.
Also for the grease I use Repsol Grasa Litica mp2 for pretty much everything inluding bearings.
Thank you for any input.
View attachment 166585

GT85 is just a boutique do it all spray identical to WD40. Because it IS an owned WD40 product in disguise. Does it all, just not best at any one thing. And it costs more than WD40. Not that I am a fan of WD40. Its a solvent . GT85 Claims to have PTFE. How much is in there? PTFE is a marketting gimmeck alot of the time. easy to toss this around. But how much is really in the product and what benefit does it have as a solvent and water displacer. Like it is gold if the product includes it. Think about it for a second, a water displacer and solvent that has PTFE (Teflon).???? Marketting at its best. A very questionable product IMHO. All WD40 products have a horrible stink. Sure i have WD40 around like everyone does. So I have experience with it. Great to displace moisture on an old school car engine distributor cap and points. It's intended purpose 70 years ago. Or as a metal cleaner. I just don't like the residue it leaves behind. It's not a lubricant. Not even close.
https://gt85.co.uk/

 

[LyrickCZE]

GT85 is just a boutique do it all spray identical to WD40. Because it IS an owned WD40 product in disguise. Does it all, just not best at any one thing. And it costs more than WD40. Not that I am a fan of WD40. Its a solvent . GT85 Claims to have PTFE. How much is in there? PTFE is a marketting gimmeck alot of the time. easy to toss this around. But how much is really in the product and what benefit does it have as a solvent and water displacer. Like it is gold if the product includes it. Think about it for a second, a water displacer and solvent that has PTFE (Teflon).???? Marketting at its best. A very questionable product IMHO. All WD40 products have a horrible stink. Sure i have WD40 around like everyone does. So I have experience with it. Great to displace moisture on an old school car engine distributor cap and points. It's intended purpose 70 years ago. Or as a metal cleaner. I just don't like the residue it leaves behind. It's not a lubricant. Not even close.
https://gt85.co.uk/

Thank you sir for your valuable input! Maybe I need to change the LHS because YES it was pretty expensive and YES i don't feel its working too well. There is ONE thing its great at tho, it smells SO GOOD. And I mean really good. So good it makes my girlfriend horny. That may be one thing to consider : D

Anyways, we (me and my son) are not afraid of mud and rain, so I need to setup up proper workflow for worst case scenario.
Im picking up this SimpleGreen tomorrow.

My plan was to clean it with SimpleGreen and then running water or maybe just air compressor.
If anything shows signs of rust then submerge it into Citrid Acid.
Eventually spray the uglyness away with brake cleaner and finally use Repsol grasa litica mp 2 to lube EVERYTHING. Gears, bearings, balls,...

Will this count as a good care of my Mojave EXB?

 

[SrC]

Just be easy with the water. BB's and the diffs and motor may hate you!!! SG is fine. Air compressor ok. I usually tear down my rig into sub components and do a nice cleaning and get it pristine. Not often. I don't mind a slightly dirty rig. It will run just fine. Just me. My rigs only get pristine when I do tear downs right down to the BB's. I clean and lube my BB's separately at this juncture. I'll use an Ultrasonic Cleaner after removing the BB seals, then rinse well, completly dry and re-lube. I do this usually one time in a BB's life and always have extra new BB's on hand.

 

[aahwhatever2]

I have seen a couple threads and even get emails asking this question, how do you clean your RC? So I thought I'd share how I clean all of my RC's, plus others can share their methods as well.

How to clean your RC

How I have always cleaned my RC's have been to use a 50/50 mixture of water and Simple Green in a spray bottle.

Spray the RC down and let sit for a minute or two then either wipe down with clean cloth or air blast dry with an air compressor. Spray again on any stubborn spots and use an old toothbrush on any hard to reach areas.

Optionally, you can use WD40 on the RC after it's been cleaned to give it more of a shine if you prefer.

How to clean your RC bearings

When cleaning bearings I will remove the bearings from the RC and place inside an RPM Bearing Blaster then spray brake cleaner into the bearings to clean them followed by a light application of very light oil, such as this 3 in 1 oil.

If you really want to get serious about cleaning, pick up a Ultrasonic cleaner like this one which you'll be able to easily fit all of your bearings as well as many other RC parts. The ultrasonic cleaner will do magic in getting pretty much anything clean. But remember, if cleaning bearings with the ultrasonic cleaner to oil them afterwords.

That's it, now you should have an RC that's clean and ready to go get dirty again. What methods do you guys use?

Woodie,
Your link to the ultrasonic cleaner doesn’t seem to work…

 

[WoodiE]

Woodie,
Your link to the ultrasonic cleaner doesn’t seem to work…

Thanks for the heads up. I've fixed it.

 

[SrC]

I've been using this one. The basic model. Has heat also which breaks down grease much faster. I usually fill it with Hot hot water first and then the heat setting keeps it hot. I always do a rinse cycle with plain water. Depending how dirty they are I run for 15 min intervals examine them and do additional cycles as needed. Some BB's just wont clean up, are too worn and sloppy after a cleaning and need to be tossed. Always have spare complete BB sets on hand. Then BB's need to be completely dry using a Brake cleaner evaporating solvent and air compressor or similar. Then lube. Drop of Oil ( for on-road rigs) or fill with ONLY 1/3 grease( off-road), no more. Always remove both seals before cleaning. If BB has them. If just cleaning stock metal Shielded leave as is and clean.
Good luck.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LGT2K9Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1