Gazzalene 171 Posted October 25, 2019 Right,going to start the build of my XV 01 Lancia tomorrow. I have a couple of questions. Kit comes with 2 tubes of grease, Moly and Ceramic. Looks like Ceramic on gears and moly on drive shafts only. I have seen a YT vid where the guy mentions "dreaded grey sludge" caused by Tamiya grease. Any tips on this please? should I but after market. Also the kit uses the same "damper" oil for the shocks AND difs,thought diffs should be fairly stiff, front more so???? Again should I buy different,if so what grade please. I am going to LHS tomorrow to see if they stock any servo savers,rather than the kit one,while there I can buy grease and oil if needed. Sorry for basic questions but new to this. Had a Sand scorcher,rough rider and grasshopper in that order many many years ago. Either the Tamiya manual has got smaller OR my eyes are worse? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markbt73 5316 Posted October 25, 2019 First off, welcome back! Second, these things require very little lubrication. Leave the dogbones and axles dry, as well as any moving suspension/steering parts, even inf the manual tells you to grease them. All if does is attract dirt and grit and wear things out faster. As for the gears, I would leave the pinion/spur gear dry as well. I did this as an experiment with my MF-01X, and the pinion gear still looks like new after a year of use. A tiny tiny dab of ceramic grease on all the plastic-to-plastic gears is all you need, and that should do for the life of the car, actually. As for the diffs, build them according to the manual. (XV-01 has fillable diffs? I didn't know that.) Tuning diffs for stiffness using fluid is more or less a waste of time unless you're racing competitively and trying to solve a specific handling problem. Build it stock first, drive it that way, and later, if you want to make a change, go for it. But if you start messing with stuff from the start, you won't have any idea what the "baseline" is. Have fun, good luck, and post some photos... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
taffer 948 Posted October 25, 2019 Just to balance out the above advice, I always use Tamiya anti wear grease on shafts and gearbox joints, however after approx. 5 hours or so I make sure they are cleaned off and re-applied with no visible wear after 100+ hours, only needs a tiny amount....In the past i found using a MSC wears out joints more especially when slamming into reverse while going forward. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gazzalene 171 Posted October 25, 2019 Thanks guys, good points from both of you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
guggles 79 Posted October 25, 2019 gear diffs filled with gear oil feel lovely and smooth however Once the fluid starts to leak out because the seals have started to go bad is another story haha. I would put the gear oil in the diffs because it really is quite nice and takes a while for them to start to leak. I suppose it all depends on how much enjoyment you get out of maintenance. Grease will last for a very long time. Never heard of or seen in person this grey sludge you speak of. Do you have a link for that? I would wager that is cause by mixing of different brands or types. Tamiya AW grease is nice, looks almost like anti-seize for cars. I wonder if it has any lead in it too. The standard molly black grease is also great for metal parts it seems to be thicker than AW so I use it on parts where it wont slow down the car. One last thing to mention is the kit tamiya pinions wear down fairly fast compared to steel. Is this the same on the XV01? You might want to look at sourcing a steel replacement pinon if this is the case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
taffer 948 Posted October 25, 2019 I think the grey sludge is referring to grease mixed with the kit aluminium pinion. that's what I've seen from old buggies bought as projects Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
