General Maintenance
07-06-2018, 02:50 AM
#1
Thread Starter
General Maintenance
Like title of thread suggests, general maintenance is a must. When you want to keep your RC running at top notch performance, you gotta get your hands dirty, and explore/examine the little parts that make your RC run. Neglect your RC, and you could have bigger problems down the road. And if that "road" is a dirt "road", then it is even more important to keep up with your RC platform.
A lot of manuals (some, but not all) will give a suggested schedule to go by. Great stuff in the manuals. Read them.
A lot of manuals (some, but not all) will give a suggested schedule to go by. Great stuff in the manuals. Read them.
07-06-2018, 01:29 PM
#2
Thread Starter
I like my dirt.
That shock oil is only after 15 runs. I use to change my shock oil after 10 runs, but half the time the oil would still be almost clear. It does not matter how good you think your shocks are, those little dirt/dust particles will find their way into the oil
. Believe me, I've tried all kinds of o-ring durometers on new, and old shocks shafts. I thought about going back to shock socks, but the mesh type only do so much. I could water the track down, but that would be a pain for only a couple of runs in the evening after work.
My regular time to check/clean/relube/replace my bearings was after 20 runs. Doing so, I would find more blown bearings after 20 rough runs because of (again) dust, so I cut my bearing maintenance timeframe down to 15 runs. Now I just clean, and relube everything after 15 packs of use. Everybody's maintenance schedule will vary depending on conditions of the terrain being run on.
If I went to a nice indoor facility (with damp clay/carpet) once, maybe twice a week to practice, and race, I could keep my RCs clean. I don't like to travel once I get home from work. I guess I'm a homebody. I'm lucky I have a track outside my backdoor to use every night if I feel like it. If I have to do more rebuilding of shocks, and trannys...that's the price I pay for real dirt entertainment.
That shock oil is only after 15 runs. I use to change my shock oil after 10 runs, but half the time the oil would still be almost clear. It does not matter how good you think your shocks are, those little dirt/dust particles will find their way into the oil
. Believe me, I've tried all kinds of o-ring durometers on new, and old shocks shafts. I thought about going back to shock socks, but the mesh type only do so much. I could water the track down, but that would be a pain for only a couple of runs in the evening after work. My regular time to check/clean/relube/replace my bearings was after 20 runs. Doing so, I would find more blown bearings after 20 rough runs because of (again) dust, so I cut my bearing maintenance timeframe down to 15 runs. Now I just clean, and relube everything after 15 packs of use. Everybody's maintenance schedule will vary depending on conditions of the terrain being run on.
If I went to a nice indoor facility (with damp clay/carpet) once, maybe twice a week to practice, and race, I could keep my RCs clean. I don't like to travel once I get home from work. I guess I'm a homebody. I'm lucky I have a track outside my backdoor to use every night if I feel like it. If I have to do more rebuilding of shocks, and trannys...that's the price I pay for real dirt entertainment.
07-09-2018, 12:42 PM
#3
Good advice Rusty! Picture is worth a thousand words. Man! That shock fluid is NASTY. Yep gotta change that stuff. Diff fluids too.
Hey, you ever take a magnifying glass and look closely at your shock shafts? Great way to see just how worn, or worn out, they are. I actually detected a slight taper on some along with a lot of signs of wear. They got replaced, and got new seals. And guess what? They stopped leaking! 😉.
And yep, those bearings. At least the rubber sealed ones can be cleaned and relubed when necessary.
Hey, you ever take a magnifying glass and look closely at your shock shafts? Great way to see just how worn, or worn out, they are. I actually detected a slight taper on some along with a lot of signs of wear. They got replaced, and got new seals. And guess what? They stopped leaking! 😉.
And yep, those bearings. At least the rubber sealed ones can be cleaned and relubed when necessary.
