Love for the Bearings

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Steve B in Vegas

+11mm Kyosho Hubs on the Mojave.
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Location
Las Vegas
Arrma RC's
  1. Mojave EXB
  2. Senton 3s
So in our lovely desert climate, the fine dust really does a number on bearings, and my passion for racing around wet soccer fields doesn't help. Even with the sealed bearings, they are still showing drag much sooner than I would like. So I have been experimenting with a cleaning technique. Works better on the standard bearings than the sealed F Eddie bearings.

So I start with wiping down the bearings after a dirty run. Then I toss them into a small wire basket. Into my ultrasonic cleaner with 1 part Simple Green to 2 parts distilled water. Run with heat for 30 min. Remove and toss into plastic strainer and blow them out with an air hose. This takes a bit of time to do right. I end up holding each bearing in the middle and getting it spinning with the nozzle and hit the sides.

From there I drop them into a plastic container with Lock Ease. This is a graphite suspension. Let them sit for 10 min, and during that time shake them around a bit. After that I pluck them out with forceps and drop them on another wire basket to drip dry. After 15 min, I wipe off the remaining and reinstall them into the car.

So far I have about a 80% success rate. Some bearings are damaged inside and the steel balls no longer spin freely, and they can't be salvaged.

I have three full sets of factory bearings and 2 full sets of FE bearings, so as they tighten up from use, I just toss them into a plastic container until I have a good number to clean.

I have tried to remove the plastic cover on the FE bearings, but I destroy half of them so I stopped messing with that.

Anyhow, figured it might be of some interest to you guys.

s

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That’s way to much work after a bash. My solution is don’t clean your car. I never clean my car and every bearing on my car is caked with greasy dirt and it prevents any water sand dirt to get into my bearings
2 years and still run my stock bearings I also drive it in the snow
 
You need to remove the rubber seals. I see you didn’t.
I clean bearings in my ultrasonic cleaner too. I fill cleaner with water remove seals from bearings and put a few ounces of solvent into a glass and put the glass into my cleaner. 20 min later remove everything and spin dry all bearings and pack with red and tacky. Good for a long time.
 
You need to remove the rubber seals. I see you didn’t.
I clean bearings in my ultrasonic cleaner too. I fill cleaner with water remove seals from bearings and put a few ounces of solvent into a glass and put the glass into my cleaner. 20 min later remove everything and spin dry all bearings and pack with red and tacky. Good for a long time.
I gotta work a bit more at not damaging the seals when I remove them. I might see if I can find replacement source of seals and order them in bulk.
 
I gotta work a bit more at not damaging the seals when I remove them. I might see if I can find replacement source of seals and order them in bulk.
That would be awesome.
 
Is it possible to pack the bearings with grease to minimise ingress?
 
Is it possible to pack the bearings with grease to minimise ingress?
I always do. Only ones I don’t is motor bearings. Any of the other bearings it doesn’t hurt them.
I use a good pick to pop the seals. Exacto knife works too.
ordering replacement seals? Good luck with that. The exact sizes bearings from different manufacturers have different seal sizes.
 
That would be awesome.
I will chase it down.
I always do. Only ones I don’t is motor bearings. Any of the other bearings it doesn’t hurt them.
I use a good pick to pop the seals. Exacto knife works too.
ordering replacement seals? Good luck with that. The exact sizes bearings from different manufacturers have different seal sizes.
For sure, but I will hide behind my corporate engineering mask and see if my suppliers can dream something up. If they are coming out of China in bulk, it can be found.
 
A pack of 10 bearings is under $10 cad us it worth it?
It's not about the cost for me, it's about the details. I'm not a fan of throwing things away just because I didn't want to service it. I also detest paper plates, and I'm that guy with his personal coffee cup at starbucks. Maybe I'm just wired wrong. I also work in a machine shop, so tools and getting into details is a culture for us.
 
It's not about the cost for me, it's about the details. I'm not a fan of throwing things away just because I didn't want to service it. I also detest paper plates, and I'm that guy with his personal coffee cup at starbucks. Maybe I'm just wired wrong. I also work in a machine shop, so tools and getting into details is a culture for us.
Oh don’t get me wrong I get it! I find pleasure in cleaning up a bearing and repacking it. I’ll squeeze all of the life I can out if it. Too bad there wasn’t a “trick” to removing the seals. That would solve our problems.
 
Yeh i cover my diff bearings in thick marine grease to mitigate water and debris ingress. It does also attract a lot of dust, but I presume its only on the surface and not making its way into the bearings.

Is there any value in using industrial bearings? I’m thinking of ordering some SKF/FAG/NTN sealed bearings for key applications like the drive shafts/diffs, and wheel hubs. Haven’t really seen anyone use industrial bearings in their Arrma yet, but i haven’t been here long :p
 
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