Ceramic balls for diff and thrust bearings
 

All,

This person below has been my source for ceramic balls over the past year at a basic cost of $1 per ball. All my experience applies to the XXX-S. The diffs are perfect with these grade 3 balls. He really has the good stuff.

My apologies if this is considered to be advertising; but, this was a most significant improvement for my XXX-S cars. Wish he had 1/8" balls for my 1/12th scale cars.

Whatever it is, the EP grease is great for thrust ball assemblies.

JRX-S Bill

(His e-mail follows)

Hi guys, update here for everyone waiting for balls. Both sizes (3/32 inch and 5/64 inch) are here and ready to ship. Orders that have been paid in advance will ship Monday. Orders that arrive via Paypal before Tuesday around noon will ship on Tuesday.

If the balls are for Losi and Mugen vehicles please be sure to note when ordering if you prefer to use 7 large or or 8 of the smaller (stock size) thrust balls. Apologies for the delay guys, as always feel free to email with questions.

Bill Riggins

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Purchase Information
Certified Grade 3 Ceramic Diff and Thrust Balls at Wholesale Prices

Prices:

• Silicon nitride (ceramic) grade three certified balls in diff and thrust sizes (3/32 and 5/64 inch, 2.4mm and 2mm) are available for $1 each regardless the quantity ordered (there is no minimum order).

• White EP (extreme pressure) thrust bearing grease is $2.50 per 6cc (large) syringe.

• Nine page Offroad Diff Primer detailing the tips & tricks pros use to build durable & consistent diffs can be emailed free on request (since it’s much more fun when we all finish at the races).


Shipping Cost:

• Domestic shipping with Delivery Confirmation for orders over $50.00 is free. If the total is less:

• Domestic first class shipping is $2.50. We’ve shipped thousands of balls with none lost by the USPS. If you are worried Delivery Confirmation can be added for $2.00 and I will cover any loss (much easier than waiting months to be reimbursed by the USPS).

• Other Options: Priority Mail is $3.85. Please note that First Class arrives just as fast as Priority Mail except around Christmas. Overnight shipping is also available at actual cost.

• Worldwide shipping (via USPS Global Priority Mail) is $6.00.


Things to Consider When Buying:


• Will these balls fit your vehicle?

• The large 3/32 (2.4mm) diff balls will fit these vehicles: Losi XXX-NT (all versions including RTR, team kit, and Drake Edition), Losi XXX-T (all versions), Losi XXT (all versions), Losi NXT (all versions), Losi GTX (all versions), Losi XXX (all versions), Losi XX (all versions including the BK1 and BK2), Losi XXX4 (all versions), Losi XX4 (all versions), Losi Street Weapon (all versions including IWC), Losi XXX-S (all versions), Associated RC10 (all versions, including GT, DS, Nitro DS), Associated T4 (all versions), Associated T3 (all versions), Associated T2 (all versions), Associated TC3 (all versions), Associated B4 (all versions), Associated B3 (all versions), Associated B2 (all versions), Duratrax Evader (all versions including ST, BX, GP, and EP), HPI RS4, Kyosho Ultima ST (all versions including GP Evolution Type R), Mugen MST1, Traxxas 4-Tec (all versions), Trinity Street Spec (all versions), XRay EVO2, Yokomo YR-4 M2 MR-4 BCS TC SD MD.

• The small 5/64 (2mm) thrust balls will fit these vehicles: Losi XXX-NT (all versions including RTR, team kit, and Drake Edition), Losi XXX-T (all versions), Losi XXT (all versions), Losi NXT (all versions), Losi GTX (all versions), Losi XXX (all versions), Losi XX (all versions including the BK1 and BK2), Losi XXX4 (all versions), Losi XX4 (all versions), Losi Street Weapon (all versions including IWC), Losi XXX-S (all versions), Associated RC10 (all versions, including GT, DS, Nitro DS), Associated T4 (all versions), Associated T3 (all versions), Associated T2 (all versions), Associated TC3 (all versions), Associated B4 (all versions), Associated B3 (all versions), Associated B2 (all versions), HPI RS4.

• If your vehicle is not listed above check the manual. If it uses 3/32 inch (2.4MM) and 5/64 inch (2mm) balls these are a direct replacement.


• With the Losi and Mugen thrust bearings you have a choice when it comes to ball size. Seven 3/32 inch balls or eight 5/64 inch balls can be used (most use seven of the larger 3/32 balls to reduce wear).

• The last item to consider is most racers pickup two sets of thrust balls to use with each set of diff balls (since the thrust bearing carries about twice the load the diff bearing does the thrust balls wear about twice as fast regardless what type balls are used).

Payment Information:

• Paypal: We have a personal account with Paypal so you can pay from your PayPal balance, from a Paypal eCheck, from a bank account that has been linked to your Paypal account, etc. Payment funded with a debit or credit card is not available. The Paypal address to make the transfer to is: [email protected].

• You can also pay with a USPS money order mailed to the address below.

•Important: Please include the number of large balls/small balls/grease syringes being ordered when mailing payment.

• Contact Information:

Email: [email protected]
EBay ID: salesbox (100% positive feedback, 500+ trades)
Mailing Address: Bill Riggins, 1646 Fieldgreen Overlook, Stone Mountain, GA 30088

Feel free to email with any questions!

Thanks for the recommendation Bill. Didn't know you posted until a couple of folks ordering mentioned where they read about the bearings. If anyone has questions regardng ceramic bearings post them here or email & I'll try to help.

Also just posted the info below on another thread which is a little stale, so thought I'd repost it here so those considering ceramic bearings would have more complete info:

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Our little buyer's group has been purchasing ceramic diff/thrust bearings from a manufacturer for about five years now. We have tested eleven of the major brands of ball bearings. I'm posting since what we've found via testing directly contradicts some of the info posted above.

Quality ceramic bearings can perform better (much better) than the best carbide. The problem is that even the very best quality ceramic balls (for our use that would be grade three silicon nitride) can also perform worse -- much much worse -- than carbide. The durability can & does vary radically even when ordering the exact same grade balls.

There is generally very little difference from lot to lot when producing carbide or chrome balls. Ceramic balls are produced in smaller lots & there can be HUGE differences in ceramic balls from one manufacturing lot to the next. All lots are not tested for hardness or durability, in fact generally very few are. This is why R/C racers usually love or hate ceramic bearings. If they get balls from a good batch they are amazingly durable, and if they get balls from a bad batch they can at worst "powderize", which means they disintegrate during use as SRW141 mentions above.

When we asked the manufacturer's response was that a bad batch "is not a rare occurrence". This is consistent with what we found by testing: Seven of the of eleven samples we tested (all were grade 3 SiNi) were more durable than carbide. Four were not, and two of those failed completely (disintegrated) during testing so I'd imagine it is a fairly common occurrence. The only way we've found to insure consistently excellent durability is to buy balls from "certified" lots (where that specific manufacturing run has been tested). The problem is very few ball lots are ever certified since only the USAF, NASA, and a few other buyers require certification (most distributors don't even know what a certified lot is). We need certified balls to race since our little vehicles really put the bearings to the test (especially thrust bearings). NONE of the balls sold for R/C use (by Boca/Acer/IRS/etc) are certified. This is why, even when ordering the best quality, the durability of the bearings varies significantly in R/C. This is also why most experienced racers and all of the pros I know only use ceramic balls from certified lots, or they stick with carbide. And this is why our little buyer's group has been going to the trouble to buy certified balls from the same manufacturer for the past five years or so. We've never had a ball fail & it is simply amazing how long they stay smooth.

We only buy two sizes, as we've found a consistent source for for 3/32 & 5/64 inch size ball bearings (the two we use most in diff & thrust bearings) but there is no consistent source that we been able to find for sealed bearings built exclusively with certified balls. When they are available in the sizes we use they are way up in the stratos in price (around fifteen bucks a bearing) so racers would be better off buying low cost/high quality standard sealed bearings from avidrc.com or rc4less.com.