How do you keep your bearings alive?

[Typhon]

The track i run on is a very loamy dirt track. The problem is its next to a river that periodically floods and dumps alot of sand on the track. My stock bearings in my typhon went out really fast so i replaced them with sealed AVID bearings. I hear these were some of the best but after a few runs all my wheel bearings were crunchy and had sand in them. I cleaned them out where i found a little factory grease left. Typically speaking bearings need to be packed with grease but i tried using some drylube instead in hope that it wont attract sand. Curious if anyone else has tried this or can share their bearing maintenance tips or proper care that i should be doing. Thanks guys for your help and info.

 

[lonee]

That will be difficult...
Normally you can´t get better bearings than rubber sealed. You're sand must be very small that it can reach the inner area of the bearing.
I clean up my Nero after "mud racing" and wipe dirt and dust away from the bearing seal.
Afterwards I use Ballistol, a weapon oil to maintain them. Just a small drop and turning.

 

[Typhon]

That will be difficult...
Normally you can´t get better bearings than rubber sealed. You're sand must be very small that it can reach the inner area of the bearing.
I clean up my Nero after "mud racing" and wipe dirt and dust away from the bearing seal.
Afterwards I use Ballistol, a weapon oil to maintain them. Just a small drop and turning.

Ive heard of ballistol but im a rem oil or frog lube kinda guy but thats a different hobby on another note i use break parts cleaner to clear the gunk off my bearings. Normally the sand gets cleared from the track pretty fast but 3-4 times a year they redesign the track too which stirs up more sand. The sand is pretty fine. Its obnoxious to say the least. Thanks for the tip

 

[WoodiE]

@Typhon you could try cleaning them using the RPM bearing blaster, be sure to lube the bearings after cleaning them.

 

[Dustin Mustangs]

Ive heard of ballistol but im a rem oil or frog lube kinda guy but thats a different hobby on another note i use break parts cleaner to clear the gunk off my bearings. Normally the sand gets cleared from the track pretty fast but 3-4 times a year they redesign the track too which stirs up more sand. The sand is pretty fine. Its obnoxious to say the least. Thanks for the tip

Brake cleaner is way too aggressive to use on bearings! I spray mine with a silicone based aerosol lube. It blasts out the gunk and lubes them at the same time. I don't even take apart shielded bearings to do it. Just kept blasting them until they are smooth and no more gunk is coming out.

Sounds like you have already figured this out, but the stock bearings are garbage and not really even worth the effort of maintenance.

 

[Typhon]

Brake cleaner is way too aggressive to use on bearings! I spray mine with a silicone based aerosol lube. It blasts out the gunk and lubes them at the same time. I don't even take apart shielded bearings to do it. Just kept blasting them until they are smooth and no more gunk is coming out.

Sounds like you have already figured this out, but the stock bearings are garbage and not really even worth the effort of maintenance.

Oh its harsh but

Brake cleaner is way too aggressive to use on bearings! I spray mine with a silicone based aerosol lube. It blasts out the gunk and lubes them at the same time. I don't even take apart shielded bearings to do it. Just kept blasting them until they are smooth and no more gunk is coming out.

Sounds like you have already figured this out, but the stock bearings are garbage and not really even worth the effort of maintenance.

I use brake parts cleaner because it washes the gunk out really well without harming the metal. Obviously i don't have the rubber seals in place when i do it. It gets all the burnt residue whether being oil or grease out. Then i lube them up of course. I definitely need to try something else. Ive used bicycle chain lube and 3 n 1 dry lube (same thing) not real smooth action like id hope. Pb blaster silicone spray and 3 n 1 oil. Nothing feels as good as grease to me.

@Typhon you could try cleaning them using the RPM bearing blaster, be sure to lube the bearings after cleaning them.

Ill definitely look into some, thanks!

 

[Slyhall]

Since we've got some options for weapons lube, how about CLP. I've got some at home and will try that since it's cleans and lubricates. I've sprayed some Rem oil on some parts but not specifically for the bearings

 

[Dark_RC_Corpses]

On the brake cleaner thing I am an industrial mechanic we use brake cleaner to clean lots of stuff. Here's why we don't use it on bearing surfaces we can't readily get access to, brake cleaner leaves a small film on the surface when lube is reintroduced it does not do its job effectively unless you can wipe that film off the bearing surface. Hope this offers a little insight from someone who works with bearings, lube products, and cleaners. A quick drying spray that leaves no residue would be the best bet. At work and home I usually just replace questionable bearings.

 

[Exceeded]

are arrma bearings metal shielded? It's a pity of it is because I removed them after one run. thought it aint shielded read on RCDriver that it is, only after I had bought new bearings and I just installed FastEddy rubber shielded bearings on my Typhon.

 

[Typhon]

are arrma bearings metal shielded? It's a pity of it is because I removed them after one run. thought it aint shielded read on RCDriver that it is, only after I had bought new bearings and I just installed FastEddy rubber shielded bearings on my Typhon.

Theirs no rubber within the stock bearings. The only so called shield is metal but it freely allows dirt in. My stock ones were destroyed after just a few runs on the track.

 

[Exceeded]

O

Theirs no rubber within the stock bearings. The only so called shield is metal but it freely allows dirt in. My stock ones were destroyed after just a few runs on the track.

oh boy! Am I Glad that I bought rubber shielded bearings from fasteddy. Changed everything except for the front n rear differentials as I changed the steering posts bushings with bearings before and I am that lazy to remove the front plate for the front and rear differential dogbones 2 each so total 4 for the rubber ones. But, the centre differential and outdrives as well as the hubs I changed them all. I thought that I had wasted money for the rubber ones as it was after I purchased them ,had I read that its metal shielded and u cleared my doubts on the metal ones as cleaning after dirt runs is a chore even with wd40's dry lube it still gets dirt stuck in them.

 

[Typhon]

O

oh boy! Am I Glad that I bought rubber shielded bearings from fasteddy. Changed everything except for the front n rear differentials as I changed the steering posts bushings with bearings before and I am that lazy to remove the front plate for the front and rear differential dogbones 2 each so total 4 for the rubber ones. But, the centre differential and outdrives as well as the hubs I changed them all. I thought that I had wasted money for the rubber ones as it was after I purchased them ,had I read that its metal shielded and u cleared my doubts on the metal ones as cleaning after dirt runs is a chore even with wd40's dry lube it still gets dirt stuck in them.

Ya you did exactly what i did excwpt i tried avid bearings. I found out how bad they were after one of the stock bearings grenaded on the dogbone side of my front diff. I played hell trying to remove it. 50% of my squeeks disappeared with the fresh bearings too!

 

[Jerry-rigged]

Yeah, Sand is never good. If you run in sand, you will always be chasing crunchy bearings. Get the rubber sealed ones so you can easily pop the seals and blast them out, and do it often. For re-oiling, I use various bike 'wet' chain lubes (currently using 'Purple Extreme"). I tried dry lubes years ago, and just killed a lot of bearings with it.

 

[Exceeded]

Yeah, Sand is never good. If you run in sand, you will always be chasing crunchy bearings. Get the rubber sealed ones so you can easily pop the seals and blast them out, and do it often. For re-oiling, I use various bike 'wet' chain lubes (currently using 'Purple Extreme"). I tried dry lubes years ago, and just killed a lot of bearings with it.

wow good to know bro.. thank you for sharing your first hand experience with all of us

 

[HeavyBag]

Oh its harsh but

I use brake parts cleaner because it washes the gunk out really well without harming the metal. Obviously i don't have the rubber seals in place when i do it. It gets all the burnt residue whether being oil or grease out. Then i lube them up of course. I definitely need to try something else. Ive used bicycle chain lube and 3 n 1 dry lube (same thing) not real smooth action like id hope. Pb blaster silicone spray and 3 n 1 oil. Nothing feels as good as grease to me.


Ill definitely look into some, thanks!

Amen, brother.

I get the best performance/durability out of my bearings by repacking them with grease ??. Every twelve runs I clean/relube my bearings (that are exposed to the elements) on every off-road RC that I have. I was going through 130-ish bearings/year ($144/year bearing expense) while cleaning and relubing with a thin bearing oil ?. When repacking my cleaned bearings with grease, my yearly bearing expense has dropped nearly 86% since that awful year where it seemed I was replacing a bearing everyday.

Is it worth the time and effort? For me it is, undoubtedly, worth it. I'm sure not everyone's maintenance schedule is, or needs to be the same. It all depends on how many RCs you have; where, and how much you run your RCs. Do I like cleaning and relubing bearings? Nope, but it's therapeutic to some extent (that's what I try and tell myself anyways ?). I currently have seven daily runner RCs that mainly get tossed around in a dusty environment. If I didn't clean and relube my bearings, I'm sure I'd be spending well over $200 a year in bearings.