How often do you replace motor bearings?

[Nicochau]

I feel like I've had little luck lately and had to replace bearings on motors after just 2 to 3 months of use. On the other hand, I do drive in a very dusty environment and am considering changing my bash-racing spot because of the required extensive maintenance.

I'm amazed by the number of people who never opened their motor (and probably never checked temps either).

How often do you change bearings in a motor?

Do you do your maintenance incrementally? Or do you rather do a full rebuild?

 

[Billl DeLong]

I almost never replace the bearings in my motors, though I bought a bearing puller from Muchmore, I think I've only used it once in the past year.... I use compressed air to keep my motor bearings clean after every run.

 

[RustyUs]

I knew when it was time to change the motor bearings in my 2.0 buggy when an awful noise started to happen, and temps started to rise. A motor shaft that is able to be moved up, and down just a tic...that is always sign to have a closer look. It all depends on the quality put into the motor, and definitely ones running conditions. All of my no-name, or lower budget motor bearings fail in a short time frame. And just like that, after changing motor bearings on a lower budget motor, the time frame between blown bearings is much, much longer.

 

[Nicochau]

I knew when it was time to change the motor bearings in my 2.0 buggy when an awful noise started to happen, and temps started to rise. A motor shaft that is able to be moved up, and down just a tic...that is always sign to have a closer look. It all depends on the quality put into the motor, and definitely ones running conditions. All of my no-name, or lower budget motor bearings fail in a short time frame. And just like that, after changing motor bearings on a lower budget motor, the time frame between blown bearings is much, much longer.

I have experienced the same situation. That's helpful thanks!

 

[RustyUs]

I feel like I've had little luck lately and had to replace bearings on motors after just 2 to 3 months of use. On the other hand, I do drive in a very dusty environment and am considering changing my bash-racing spot because of the required extensive maintenance.

I'm amazed by the number of people who never opened their motor (and probably never checked temps either).

How often do you change bearings in a motor?

Do you do your maintenance incrementally? Or do you rather do a full rebuild?

I know what you mean about dust. When my RCs come into some of the corners, on the backyard track, the tires grab handfuls of dirt/dust and is thrown onto the hubs/spindles/diff outdrive bearings. Over the past 10 years, I've gone through changes to my RC's maintenance schedules. As the number of RCs grew, so did the cost of upkeep. Tossing crunchy bearings... I was going through, somewhere near, 144 bearings a year. I needed to change something. Going from cleaning the bearings and shocks on my RCs once a month (approx. 25 runs on each RC), I'm currently at the point where I do shock/bearing cleanings every 12 runs. Is it worth it? For me, it is. I have not tracked my bearing cost in the past year, but I know it's less than $24 for all my RCs combined.

It's the price I pay for enjoying radio controlled off-road toys outside my backdoor.

 

[Nicochau]

I know what you mean about dust. When my RCs come into some of the corners, on the backyard track, the tires grab handfuls of dirt/dust and is thrown onto the hubs/spindles/diff outdrive bearings. Over the past 10 years, I've gone through changes to my RC's maintenance schedules. As the number of RCs grew, so did the cost of upkeep. Tossing crunchy bearings... I was going through, somewhere near, 144 bearings a year. I needed to change something. Going from cleaning the bearings and shocks on my RCs once a month (approx. 25 runs on each RC), I'm currently at the point where I do shock/bearing cleanings every 12 runs. Is it worth it? For me, it is. I have not tracked my bearing cost in the past year, but I know it's less than $24 for all my RCs combined.

It's the price I pay for enjoying radio controlled off-road toys outside my backdoor.

I am tracking the maintenance schedules in a much tighter way now. Also decided for extreme standardization of my collection in order to save on parts and spares.
Currently running one brand (Tekno) and one scale (1/8th). Will keep it this way and see how things go.

I’m amazed by the larger collections, I just don’t know how ppl keep up with maintenance. Either way, 1/ they don’t run their rigs or 2/ they run them till they brake and never fix them.

I’m also going for a less troublesome running spot. Want to give myself some bearing maintenance vacations. ?

 

[RedRingerSpore]

I know what you mean about dust. When my RCs come into some of the corners, on the backyard track, the tires grab handfuls of dirt/dust and is thrown onto the hubs/spindles/diff outdrive bearings. Over the past 10 years, I've gone through changes to my RC's maintenance schedules. As the number of RCs grew, so did the cost of upkeep. Tossing crunchy bearings... I was going through, somewhere near, 144 bearings a year. I needed to change something. Going from cleaning the bearings and shocks on my RCs once a month (approx. 25 runs on each RC), I'm currently at the point where I do shock/bearing cleanings every 12 runs. Is it worth it? For me, it is. I have not tracked my bearing cost in the past year, but I know it's less than $24 for all my RCs combined.

It's the price I pay for enjoying radio controlled off-road toys outside my backdoor.

Do you mean, by cleaning your bearings less often they are lasting longer? or did you just start driving in a cleaner environment?

I protect my motor bearings as best as possible. i place a piece of duct tape over the circular bearing hole on the back end of the motor can, and on the shaft end i cut a very thin, flat and round piece of tire foam(the cheap black foam, not proline lol) with a small slit cut in the middle, and slide it over my motor shaft and pinch-mount it betwen the motor and motor mount. smear some grease on the exposed surface of the foam, this will act as a dust filter. now the only way dust can get in is thru the sensor port and around the seams of the motor can.

Personally, i dont like to touch any of my bearings for fear of pushing the caked-on dust into them; i dont service them until they fail. In the motor bearings' case, i replace them at the first sign of imperfection/increased motor temps. Ive been running my et48 with fasteddy rubber sealed ceramics for 6 months in very dusty contitions with no failures yet, including motor.

My dad has been cleaning all of his bearings every 1-2 months tho, no failures there either. So idk.

I used to spray all my bearings with wd-40 after every run, mostly because i ran in wet conditions and i wanted to try to repel any water before storage. but i concluded that i was flushing too much dirt to the inside of the bearings- either that or i was failing to flush the water out, and 1/4 of the bearings would fail within 1 month. I stopped running in wet conditions, and ive had no bearings fail in 6 months.

What ive learned in the past 2 years about bearing life (throughout the car) is that rotating mass is everything for bearing life. never oversize any part of your car, especially the tires. the drivetrain and the bearings in which it rides was only designed for what the manufacturer intended. oversizing your tire diameter or width by even 1/2" will half the life of all of your bearings. similar consequences should be expected when installing bigger/aluminum diffs and metal spur gear... rotating mass increases.

I did all of my "learning" on a piece of junk rtr traxxas. these teknos are superior in every way.

 

[RustyUs]

When I used to race, and only had a couple of RCs to take care of, I would use lightweight oil after ripping out any rubber seals. Times have changed, and me being strictly a basher nowadays, nature dictates the moisture of the off-road dirt track I run on.

I clean/relube bearings more often in order for them to last longer. I do bearing cleaning/relube every 12 runs, and I use grease in my rubber shielded/sealed bearings. I do get a bit lazy with some things and may only take out my motor bearings every 24 runs for clean/relube, but will definitely add a drop of oil every 12 runs.

My thinking, on using grease instead of oil, is the grease clings to surfaces longer, and the grease that gets pushed to the outer edges of the seals collects dust...acting as another barrier. Maybe I'm full of it, but that's my thinking ? .

I just have not got there yet, but I'm also thinking about switching to rubber sealed bearings for my motors...especially my 1/8 scale motor that sees the most dirt being kicked up.

 

[Billl DeLong]

I almost never replace the bearings in my motors, though I bought a bearing puller from Muchmore, I think I've only used it once in the past year.... I use compressed air to keep my motor bearings clean after every run.

*** UPDATE ***

I've got over a year experience with the latest release of 1/8 HobbyWing motors and I've found that the bearings they provide are very low quality. In the past I would typically get a couple years of racing on a motor without ever removing a bearing once. I'm lucky to get 6 months out of a G3 motor lately!

I've been tracking all parts I replace on my cars in my race log over the past year and the first G3 motor lasted 27 race days before failure and the next motor lasted only 17 race days!

I have learned that many people recommend replacing the stock bearings immediately with ceramic bearings and that seems to do the trick for them, though I haven't heard how often they replace/clean their motor bearings.

VRP just released a special support which will fit most brands of cars though it's not clear if it will fit TEKNO yet:
https://www.visionracingproducts.com/Hobby-Wing-Motor-Bearing-Support-VRP4050.htm

I will try to update my findings as I test both ceramic bearing upgrades and the bearing support on my HB platform:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4192321-BUILD-REVIEW-HB-Racing-E819RS

As my HobbyWing electronics fail over time, I will probably switch brands to see if someone else can provide a product that outlasts HobbyWing.

 

[Nicochau]

*** UPDATE ***

I've got over a year experience with the latest release of 1/8 HobbyWing motors and I've found that the bearings they provide are very low quality. In the past I would typically get a couple years of racing on a motor without ever removing a bearing once. I'm lucky to get 6 months out of a G3 motor lately!

I've been tracking all parts I replace on my cars in my race log over the past year and the first G3 motor lasted 27 race days before failure and the next motor lasted only 17 race days!

I have learned that many people recommend replacing the stock bearings immediately with ceramic bearings and that seems to do the trick for them, though I haven't heard how often they replace/clean their motor bearings.

VRP just released a special support which will fit most brands of cars though it's not clear if it will fit TEKNO yet:
https://www.visionracingproducts.com/Hobby-Wing-Motor-Bearing-Support-VRP4050.htm

I will try to update my findings as I test both ceramic bearing upgrades and the bearing support on my HB platform:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4192321-BUILD-REVIEW-HB-Racing-E819RS

As my HobbyWing electronics fail over time, I will probably switch brands to see if someone else can provide a product that outlasts HobbyWing.

I’m intrigued by the ceramic bearings for motors. Thanks for keeping us posted Bill!

 

[RC_User]

I too have found that the cheap motor bearings get dirty much faster.
In my case, Tekin motors come with very high quality Japanese NMB brand bearings. The best I've seen.
They are very expensive relatively, so I thought I'd be smart and replace some old ones with no-name $1 each rubber shielded bearings - that'll keep the dirt out I thought. The front bearing was gritty in about a month just racing weekly (outdoor dusty). I put new Tekin NMBs back in and it's been smooth for 2 months. Even though they're metal shielded, the NMBs keep out dirt much better than cheap rubber shields. Unfortunately Tekin/NMB bearings are very expensive, around $20/set and not in stock in many places in the 10th scale size, not even Amain.com for some reason... and Tekin uses an uncommon size bearing on one end of the current 1/10 motors so options are almost none. I'm probably not going to buy Tekin 10th scale motors anymore due to this annoyance with their one odd bearing size but it is nice that they provide a very high quality bearing with the motors.

I have a hobbywing motor on the shelf but i've only used it a few runs so I can't speak about the bearing. I can't say I'm surprised they'd go cheap on bearings though - hobbywing used to be a cheap inexpensive brand, i couldn't see them using high quality bearings when bearings are abundantly cheap, especially in China. It would be interesting to see how long an NMB bearing lasted in your hobbywing motor. In my experience the dust really contributes to short bearing life.
I never clean bearings either - I've tried - if they're already gritty, the races are scarred up and they'll never spin smoothly again even if you can manage to get all of the dirt out. I think the key is to try to KEEP them clean somehow, but the tedious work of removing a motor bearing and take it apart to clean it when it isn't noticeably dirty is not on my list of things to do. Everywhere else on a car i just replace it with a $1 bearing, but I'm no longer going to do that on motors after seeing such poor rubber shield performance, at least not on dirt tracks. I should be able to get a full season out of a set of good motor bearings so that's worth the $2x.00 cost IMO.

Last last season I replaced the bearings in my vta motor with AXON ceramic bearings from amain (which cost less than Tekin non-ceramic bearings) just because I was looking for every possible performance edge I could find. Hard to say if it is worth it but I feel all of the little things can add up. The thing I'm unsure about is that supposedly ceramic bearings need periodic oiling, but as far as how much or how often is not clear to me.