When do you clean Bearings?

[skom25 2179]

Hi,

As in Topic: when do you clean Bearings?

Of course, the best answer is "I do not clean them, just replace". It is totally fine and I did the same with cars like DT-02/03, which need if I remember correctly, 16 Bearings of the same type. No issue here. I bought pack for few $ and replaced them.

However, I am during rebuild of XV-01 which uses many different Bearings, so I just cannot buy them in Bulk, because it will be a fortune. Some of them are also quite expensive, because of not very common size.

In that case, I need to decide what to do and here I need your advice.

Some of them definitely need proper cleaning. I will soak them in petrol, then in WD-40 and oil at the end. On the other hand, some of them are just bit dirty, some dust here and there. They feel smooth.

This is the place I need to decide. Is it better to...

1. Clean them from outside and leave, because factory grease is better than oil

2. Go through whole cleaning process, because it is better to have clean oil than even bit dirty grease.

XV-01 is light nightmare to work and I really need to think twice, before I do anything.

 

[CoolHands 949]

I’d maybe use white spirit and a toothbrush with the bearings in a tray to clean the metal shielded ones. The rubber shielded ones I think I’d only clean the exterior eg with just the wd40, not submerge in petrol or white spirit.

[Andreas W 2507]

I go for method 1 and that goes first and foremost for the bearings in the hubs. 

 

I don't strip down my cars other when it's necessary or when I upgrade. My M-05 got stripped down for the first time since I built it in 2022 not so long ago. After loads and loads of postal racing it was more or less as new on the inside. Only a slight coloring on the spur from the steel pinion. They were both swapped anyway for taller gearing.

 

The same goes for the XV-01. It was like new inside when I opened it to do the NN-4 upgrade and change the diffoils. I just cleaned off the grease inside the gearboxes and applied a small amount of leftover Kyosho grease from my Tomahawk. 

 

I try to use rubber sealed bearings where they are exposed, either on the outdrives and/or the hubs on cars that get ran in dirt and grime. On the inside I use metal shielded. That has until now worked out well.

[skom25 2179]

@Andreas W my plan was not to rebuild it now, but Diffs made such a mess, that I will just clean everything.

I also have quite a lot of upgrades, which also require to strip down car.

At the end, I decided to do full cleaning process. It is quite quick job.

[Howards 641]

Personally I’d only deep clean them if they have got wet. 
 

will wipe the exterior down but I’d just run them until they pop. The bearings in the gearboxes should last forever, it’s the bearings in the hubs that will fail eventually.