captain america

iTrader: (12)

Hi Chris. Don't get too caught up by the Acer Racing rolling advertisement; lots of hype with the intent on selling expensive bearings to people who don't need 'em.

I know that Hudy makes some different grades of bearing grease. I may be wrong, but I think the grease decreases in viscosity when warm and acts more like oil, giving you the best of both worlds.

Honestly though, the absolutely minimal difference between greased and oiled bearings will likely be overridden by how well (or not well) your engine is tuned, your clutch setup, choice of tires, driving ability, etc, etc. Not really enough of a difference to justify the extra work unless you're in the same league as Drake/Truhe?Hara, etc.

Myself, I take the bearings out of the car, wipe them down carefully, degrease the outer and inner seat surface, spin them. If they feel notchy or loose, they go in the trash and are replaced by a perfectly good $1-2.00 bearing. That's the extent of my bearing cleaning & maintenance.

Joey Platinum

I use to have some Dixie Chopper zero turn mowers. They went through blade spindle bearings like crazy. I was buying replacement bearings that were from CHINA . I did not know the difference or that anything else was available. I went to a bearing distributor ...Miller Bearing thinking that since I had 4 of these mowers that had 6 bearings each,that i would probably be able to buy enough to buy them at wholesale. Well the mgr looked at the ones off from my machine and pointed out they were made in China. He pointed me in the right direction and sold me FAFNIR Brand bearings that were made in Germany and I swear to God I never replaced them again.I would get 50hrs. out of the China Bearings and sold the machines with probably 2000 hours on the Fafnir bearings ....... So ......I know bearing quality is definitely an issue.I think i will probably try the higher quality ceramics next time to see if they are worth it. I will tell you I will ot be cleaning and lubing any $1 bearings anytime soon.

Jflanzbaum

This is always a great topic to discuss as everyone has their own tricks and tips on cleaning and lubing bearings, so I'll throw my hat into the ring as well. After years of experience we understand that maintaining bearings is not something everyone wants to do, which is why we expanded the RC sizes that we offer in our 99 Cent RC Car Kit Program and our 99 Cent Bearing Store.

For those looking for high quality bearings that are maintenance free and lubed for the life of the bearing use our RC Car Bearing Search and check out green seal, ultra seal or ceramic hybrid sealed bearings. You will never have to clean or relube them, however you can still do so to extend the life even further. Or for zero friction, ABEC 7, non contact sealed bearings you can use our Orange Seal bearings. These do require maintenance but are supplied with either grease or oil and removable seals.

We never recommend using WD-40 as a lubricant on bearings as it is more of a cleaner or degreaser with minimal oiling and anti rust properties. It is too thin and dissipates too quickly to be an effective lubricant for RC bearings.

Brake cleaner or mineral spirits are better suited to cleaning out bearings. But Boca Bearings also supplies an RC bearing cleaner that does a great job at removing the remaining grease, oil or dirt from your used bearings. You can just submerge the bearings for 30 minutes or more, then either blow them dry with compressed air or allow them to drip dry on a cloth. If your seals or shields are removable and you want to be even more thorough, you can take them off before soaking. There is some good info on removing seals/shields on our RC engine bearing installation guide PDF download.

After you have cleaned the bearings we recommend using a bearing soak. Bearing soak fills in the pores, pits and gaps typically found in chrome or stainless steel and soaking bearings for 10-15 minutes will greatly reduce friction and extend the life of the bearing. I have also heard of some people boiling their bearings in motor oil before races. I imagine this has the same effect of impregnating the imperfections of the steel with a lubricant.

And finally you then need to apply some kind of heavy duty grease or light weight oil. This can be a point of much debate as lubricant also creates friction or drag, so many racers would prefer to use a super thin lube or no lube. And while ceramic hybrids can be run with out any lubricant at all it does reduce the life of that bearing, so a light drop of oil is usually recommended.

All moving parts should be coated with some kind of lubricant if you are seeking longevity, but if you are seeking the fastest bearing possible it is always going to be the one with little to no lubricant. The basic rule of thumb is the thinner the lubricant the more often the bearings need to be maintained with a cleaning, pre-soak and lubrication regiment.

We also developed an Ultra Dry Lube coating for the performance racing industry. Primarily used in full size go karts, midget cars, motorcycles, NASCAR and Formula 1 vehicles. This is a room temperature, high pressure spray that we apply direct to the bearings, or any metal substrate. Ultra Dry Lube allows you to run any metal part without the need for any grease or oil. Ultra Dry Lube also has twice the lubricity of graphite which makes this one of the most friction free lubricants out there. Treating ceramic hybrids with Ultra Dry Lube is the race winning combination although it can get expensive so we have not introduced it formally to RC as of yet.

Hope some of this helps. Please let me know if I can ever answer any questions.


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BOCA BEARING COMPANY
http://www.bocabearings.com
Toll free phone: (800) 332-3256
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Integra

iTrader: (8)

when i dealt with Boca...they Took care of me.

motomanpat

iTrader: (2)

I wipe all the dirt and such from my bearings and then I spray or squeeze Tri Flow on the bearings. I let them sit for a bit and spin them on a screwdriver and the palm of my hand. I wipe and squeeze the bearing and repeat until I am satisfied. If the bearing still feels gritty or seems worn it goes in the garbage. I have never had a bearing failure in two years so this method suits me finealthough a little labor intensive

SPARTAN300gt

everyone here has theyre own method all of which work effectively, i know your ona budget but shop around because your gonna get really tired of overhauling bearings along with the rest of your ride, me personally i dont have the time to rebuild them i just keep a bunch on hand just my.02c

Jaz240

iTrader: (52)

RPM's bearing blaster works pretty good, with Acers sin lube. Just blast away the dirt with the RPM thingy and some Nitro Blast, then sin lube, it soaks right through the seals

rc-mike

Has anyone used "The Greaser" to re grease their bearings? I have a homemade version that I use on my helicopters and it works great. You put the bearing in and push it down with the plunger and it pushes new grease in and the old dirty grease is pushed out. Any excess grease gets thrown out during the first few seconds of running. I know it will have a little more friction due to grease instead of oil but I am more interested in longevity than a tiny bit of speed. http://www.readyheli.com/The_Greaser...thegreaser.htm