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Jonathon Gillham

How long do kit motors last?

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I have a TT02B which has seen many (many) hours of use and recently it has been slow and the motor is hot. Its standard bar bearings and been run on grass all its life. I expect the motor is worn out, what are the obvious ways to tell? And how long should they last?

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Are you using the typical stock 540 silvercan? I don't know what the newer motors are like, but I'm still running two of the originals in my Grasshopper and Hornet with no discernable decrease in power. The one in the GH is pretty thrashed too... one of the mounting holes is nearly stripped and the can is all bent up. I'm pretty sure the previous owner raced it like that--it was set up for a lexan body when I got it. But it's hard to say. It could be that your battery has finally given up, or some other issue altogether (wrong ESC profile, dying ESC, something went bad in the driveline or suspension, etc.)

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Slow and hot with loss of power means worn out.   Also horrible noises are to be expected.   

Time to replace it.

Generally the stock motors are incredibly durable but hard running on grass or in dirty gritty or dusty conditions can stress them prematurely.

I’ve burned up several in those conditions while others run in better conditions have lasted many many years without issue.

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If I remember correctly, 4 hours?  That's why I lube the motor axle every chance I get.   

That's for race purposes. After only a few hours, the bushings get worn out, the commutator wobbles, and you don't get that factory-fresh RPM anymore.  There was a Japanese racer, Yuichiro Takaya, who talked about it few years ago.  I can't find his video. But I found a diagram he drew.  (says nothing about longevity in this diagram though)

For bashing, it's going to last a lot longer. Not because the RPM doesn't fall, but because when you are bashing, you don't measure your lap time as often.  

Two things I would check.  One is play in the axle.  If the bushing in the motor allows some obvious play, it's no good.  The other is using a flashlight (a 'torch' for proper English) to see how much the brushes are worn.  If you have a new silver can, you can compare I'd say new ones are about 6mm tall.  If it's half way down, it's not so good.   

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I've got a silvercan that's lasted for about 4 years of use and it's still kicking. But then again I've killed one in about 10 minutes thanks to 4s lipo and some deep mud. I've found that sealed can motors can last awhile if they are not overstressed/overheated, and if basic maintenance is performed. I pretty much do what @Juggular does, but I spray the entire can out with motor cleaner whenever I take it out of the car as well. Some nicer sealed-can motors are now being built with bearings, and I'd expect them to last a little longer as well.  

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They don’t make them like they used too, I have had a couple of brand new ones just pop hooking them up to a 3 cell,  then let the magic smoke out,others run for ages on a 3 cell, 

It seems ones from the 80”s seemed to last considerably longer, or is that just perception?
 

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50 minutes ago, Snappy1 said:

They don’t make them like they used too, I have had a couple of brand new ones just pop hooking them up to a 3 cell,  then let the magic smoke out,others run for ages on a 3 cell, 

It seems ones from the 80”s seemed to last considerably longer, or is that just perception?
 

I agree with this, I don't think the new motors have the lifespan of the older ones. But in saying that, I wasn't using Lipo and fancy escs back then either. And I cannot say whether or not I was driving them more or less now. But I go through a few of the cheaper brushed motors (silvercan/torque tuned/sport tuned etc).

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This is a torque tuned and must've done well over 100 hours, I'd hate to guess. The batteries bought at the same time gave up a year ago. Put a sport tuned in today and it performed as expected on a storage charged lipo. Also checked the bearings and they're all fine too, so it was the motor. Guess its about 100 hours on a not-abused  torque tuned?

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Not quite sure if there is actually silver cans in the Agrios TXT2 kit as i can see som sticker on there (but it is not Torque, they are intalled and did not mind to read sticker before i put them in) but since Agrios have two of them i believe it is pretty safte to run on 11 Volt 3S Lipo 4200 mah?. Just found a very good price on a set and from the sound off it those 2 motors really need more power (running on nimh at the moment). 

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