Service your bearings

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I just use general purpose greese. Oil tend to attract dirt more than grease does at least around here anyway. And that is basically what bearings like Boca, Avid, Fast Eddy and Jim's have in them.
 
What do you all use for lubricant? I was hoping to find something at a local hardware store that would work.

High performance white lithium grease. not a fan of mineral based oil/grease.

33828
 
Yeah my sealed bearings regardless of brand are loaded with dirt after some bashes i just pop the seals off throw it in a old coke bottle with brake cleaner and give a good shake then blow off with air compressor and regrease or you can just buy a new set seems they don't last long they don't ever seal 100%especially on tiny bearings like these
 
Going to have to take a close look at all installed bearings now, after recent wet and muddy runs.
This is another reason why I am not a fan of running my RC's through wet and muddy conditions. Just far more maintenance and wear and tear on my RC's than it's worth for me.

I'll admit though I only clean my bearings once or twice, after that I simply replace. I'm to lazy to really take care of them and for as cheap as Fast Eddy sells them it's far more quicker for me to just install a new set.
 
There is not a chance in hell I am cleaning bearings. A whole pack is $20. I'll drink more than that in beer in the time it takes me to swap them out, much less try to 'clean' them...
If you buy a cheap ultrasonic cleaner, cleaning bearings is a breeze. A little grit isn't the end of a bearing, just a sign that they need some lovin'. Good idea to have two sets per truck, so you can clean one, while using the other. I removed the stock when they were almost brand new, so I can throw those in when cleaning my sealed Fast Eddy's. If they're throw away items for you, I'll send you my address, and I'll pay the shipping. I'll take whatever you have. ?
 
If you buy a cheap ultrasonic cleaner, cleaning bearings is a breeze.

I disagree. They aren't meant to be cleaned, aren't meant to be disassembled. I saw guys doing the same thing years ago on skateboards...and eventually they realized it wasn't worth the time and effort..and an RC car is a LOT more time and work to swap bearings.

But hey- we are all different. I throw stuff out all the time because it isn't worth it to me to make an Ebay or Craigslist ad, deal with people, much less go to a post office.
 
Whether they are meant to be or not, once you peal that seal off and clean it, odds are, the seal is worn anyway and now it's stretched/poked at and won't seal that well anyway, so why bother. It's just going to get gritty/dirty even faster and the the time/effort it took to get to the bearing, take it apart, clean it, oil it, put it back together... not something I do, that's for sure. When they feel bad, I toss them. I'll usually just put a drop of oil on them to lube them periodically, but once they start getting slop, they are garbage.

I don't run in sand/dirt hardly at all though, so my bearings usually just wear out. Or, they get rusty from hitting it with the hose or bashing in snow. Then I'll lube them.

I keep a box full of bearings that I know I'll go through. Diffs, axles, clutch bell sized are mostly what I keep on hand. Just ends up being a lot of bearings when you have more than one or two trucks. I have 8 trucks, 5 completely different models. My box has a lot of bearings in it. lol!

I just ordered 10 of the 10x19x5 for my stampede center bearing as I have an aftermarket brace in it that uses larger than stock. Luckily, they included 2 bearings with the brace and I found it after scrounging around. Now that I'm on 3S... that's a new size I need to keep on hand.

At a buck a bearing, I probably have $200 worth of spare bearings. Makes my stomach hurt a little to think of all the money I have sitting in my spare parts boxes... but, the pain subsides when I find the spare part on hand when I break a truck on Saturday that I can fix and get back out again Sunday. ;)
 
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