How much grease on diff gears…

[Golden 169]

On metal diff/bevel gears I use AW grease - and absolutely cake it on (based on car applications….). When I watch relatively well-respected you tubers, they seem to apply aw grease sparingly - and in some instances, even very lightly and with a paint brush….  Am I over doing it - and any downsides in doing so???  Just feels wrong not ensuring the bevel gears are very well coated. 
 

Grateful for some education on the point… I use cera grease on plastic gears, and again, cover them in the stuff. 
 

Many thanks!

[alvinlwh 5895]

I tried using AW grease, 1/3 the contents of a 3g tube. The effects disappeared after about 3 runs. I am now trying out diff putty instead. 

[Willy iine 18805]

I only use the kit grease on bevel gears.  I just put a dab on each bevel gear and assemble the diff, I do not pack it with grease as there is no need.

Same goes for the other gears in the gear box.  I apply grease lightly enough to coat the surface, no more.

 

 

[Golden 169]

Thanks for the replies. I thought it would reduce wear (although I now think this is a non-point, as the cars get very light use, if at all(!) - and have brushed super stocks with Nimh cells rather than lipo) - and would help with traction too. I suspect the gears throw off a lot of the grease so per comments above, I suspect the initial effect is soon lost unless packed with a putty, or have a sealed and oil filled diff, like on the xv-01?

So - no detrimental effects of having over done the grease? And no point in cleaning some of the excess off? Looks like it’s just a waste of a pricey product, rather than needing to clean them up to help the diffs work properly (have I over tightened them with too much aw grease….)

Many thanks!

[DeadMeat666 1675]

I personally don't put too much AW grease in diffs; most of it will be flung off anyway. As for greasing other parts, I use minimal cera grease on plastic gears, since they're made of pretty slippery plastic to begin with, and a little more moly grease on metal gears, but again not too much. External parts (outdrives, dogbones, universals, etc) I don't grease at all to be honest; I feel the dust that the grease will attract will do more damage than the grease is supposed to be preventing with lubrication, if that makes any sense.

I've ran my monster TT02B hard in very sandy/dusty conditions at least 20 times with no ill effects on the external drivetrain so far.

[Golden 169]

Thanks for the above - accords with my recent thoughts as I started to research it a bit more. And (for what it’s worth!) completely agree with not greasing external parts/dog bones etc. they just fill with grit and it makes a grinding paste. All down to how much you run vs how much you maintain on that front I suppose.
 

i think I’ll use aw grease SPARINGLY on metal bevel gears and cera grease sparingly on plastic gears. Thanks for the feedback. 

[alvinlwh 5895]

4 hours ago, Golden said:

initial effect is soon lost unless packed with a putty, 

So - no detrimental effects of having over done the grease? And no point in cleaning some of the excess off? 

Even putty seems to "melt" after a while but I just put them in and never had a run yet so unsure about that. 

I never bother to clean the AW off, seems like a waste of time as they were in for a reason for the first place, so even if they get fling off, they still makes the inside somewhat sticky. 

Yes, AW grease seems expensive and a waste of time. Some forums mention copper grease or some kind of anti seize grease as a replacement. I intend to get some to try and will completely fill the diff for that experiment although be warned, when I asked that question here, there are some "do not use anything except from Tamiya, anything else are not plastic safe" type of advice. So use at your own risk.

However in another forum, someone actually sent AW and some automotive copper/AS grease off to a lab and the test results is they are effectively the same. There are many real world products that are repackaged into smaller packages and then sold at massively inflated prices for "model uses", it is just finding the right one to use as a substitute.