Mojave Mojave rust problem

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Mysil

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I bought a Mojave 2 weeks ago, and was happily bashing it around a gravel pit. I read that the car was water proof/safe (just don't use it as a submarine) so I didn't think twice when it skimmed through a small puddle.
Now the car is riddled with rust. And one of the rear hubs melted because of a stuck bearing. Is this a common problem?
I've never owned an RC car that have rusted after 1 week of use.
How screwed am I?

Link is my video of the damage on the car as I found it

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I bought a Mojave 2 weeks ago, and was happily bashing it around a gravel pit. I read that the car was water proof/safe (just don't use it as a submarine) so I didn't think twice when it skimmed through a small puddle.
Now the car is riddled with rust. And one of the rear hubs melted because of a stuck bearing. Is this a common problem?
I've never owned an RC car that have rusted after 1 week of use.
How screwed am I?

Link is my video of the damage on the car as I found it

View attachment 92323View attachment 92324
You can remove most of the rust with WD40 but it will take a lot of work. I would recommend doing that before you run the car again otherwise you might end up damaging more. In general I would recommend to clean the car as fast as possible after a wet bash :)
 
Skimmed? You sure about that? ???.. that thing was soaked, through and through, then was left to sit in its filthy wetness.. every bearing in that truck I would bet is smoked...

Pull all the electronics and dose that thing with wd40 and start wiping.. it's not gonna be pretty but it will remove/mask some of the rust..

Replace all bearings throughout the whole rig..?
 
Sorry to say it, but that is poor maintenance - make more effort with your investment! RCs and anything else that has steel components should never be left to rust. You should either use an air compressor, fan heater or even a hair dryer to blow out and evaporate the water when you're done

Once everything is dry, I would advise to use WD40, then use either silicone lubricant or PTFE dry spray at all the moving parts. If you wanted to do a thorough job you can re-grease the bearings after a few runs, particularly if they are wet runs

Your best bet now is a bearing kit from FastEddy's Bearings or Jim's Bearings and to do a full rebuild of the Mojave, replacing or upgrading any parts that need it. It becomes part of the fun when wrenching and getting to know the innards anyway. Take it as an opportunity to dig in ?
 
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This is neglect TBH. Sure, you can get it wet. But you can’t just put it away like that. You need to maintain your rig before and after each run. I spray mine down with silicone oil and then dry it off with compressed air. You will want to replace all your bearings with rubber shielded bearings. Also replace all damaged items.
 
Yea that seems like the problem. Which is what kinda surprised me. It's been a few years since my last RC car, but there were no problems with running that one in the snow and letting it dry on the bathroom floor afterwards. No rust.

Your best bet now is a bearing kit from FastEddy's Bearings or Jim's Bearings and to do a full rebuild of the Mojave, replacing or upgrading any parts that need it
Is there a kit for the car available or do I need to check all dimensions? And most important. Do they ship to Norway ^^
Melted hub I could have saved if I had checked properly if all wheels were turning easily before sending it. Which I am kicking myself for not doing right now
 
Yea that seems like the problem. Which is what kinda surprised me. It's been a few years since my last RC car, but there were no problems with running that one in the snow and letting it dry on the bathroom floor afterwards. No rust.


Is there a kit for the car available or do I need to check all dimensions? And most important. Do they ship to Norway ^^
Melted hub I could have saved if I had checked properly if all wheels were turning easily before sending it. Which I am kicking myself for not doing right now
This would happen to any RC, although the 6s line uses a lot of steel which can be prone to rusting

The standard rubber sealed bearing kits from both of these brands will replace every bearing in the Mojave including the steering post bushings. They don't include the two bearings for the motor. Jim's Bearings offer the option to include motor bearings on their website. I got a Jim's Bearings kit from Custom RC Upgrades, a small retailer based in the UK which might ship to Norway. Considering you might run in snow and water a lot, you could benefit from a stainless steel kit:

https://customrcupgrades.com/product/arrma-6s-stainless-steel-bearings-kit-jims-bearings/
 
Rust is common if you don’t hit it with air / heat right away. I typically flow air at it hard then stick a fan in front the rig. Or put it in the sun too
 
Thank you for the feedback. I'll try to rub the parts that are rusted with some wd40. I sprayed it down earlier.
I bought a set of stainless steel bearings from jim's bearings. Hopefully they arrive soon and I hope nothing else is ruined. Time to dig into the car I suppose
 
I have the same amount of rust but nothing on the bearings. Not gonna lie I didn't know it would rust since it did say water proof so i imagined it had some sort of coating. That is until I tried to install the Tbone racing mud guards only to find out almost all the screws are rusty and need lubricant to move easily, and almost all the axels have rust on them lol. Thanks for the thread though, lots of good responses here!
 
I clean mine with a garden hose every time i run it. And i don't have rust like that. Clean water does not cause rust the same way filthy water does.where i live they salt the roads in the winter so anytime i drive on that salty slush i clean it with fresh water right away. I never dry mine off. I replaced all my bearing after 8 months of ownership and 90% of my bearings were still in great shape. It all depends what kind of water your getting on it.
 
It is waterproof but not rust proof. You have untreated steel and it will corrode quickly.
What you are seeing though is surface rust and only looks ugly, it won't do any major damage. Clean it and dry it immediately and this won't be an issue. If you run in snow/water you must keep a close eye on the bearings.
Avoid water like the plague or dry it off immediately after a run and you should be ok. Water will carry dirt into the motor bearings and seep into the epoxy of the ESC and ultimately damage those as well. You've already experienced what happens to the other bearings, the motor is next.
 
No rust ever here either. I literally hose down the entire rig down after a bash followed by drenching her in wd40. Hit her w the air gun and a wipe down. Then I’ll hit the important parts w silicon spray
 
After a bash, I spray my whole car down in green works multi purpose cleaner and let it soak for a few mins and spray another layer and let it soak. After that I hose the whole car down and use a high powered leaf blower to dry the car off. No rust issues here unless I don’t have time to dry the car with leaf blower.
 
This happened to my XMaxx & Maxx (sorry) couple winters ago after running in snow. I blowed the snow off & dried them best I could thinking that was good enough. Either replaced or popped off seals & regreased bearings in both. Now using wd40 before any wet running & popping in another battery after blowing them off and put truck on stand and run about 1/2 throttle for a few minutes. This seems to dry the insides of bearings which the air don't get to. Didn't have any problems last winter
 
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