dc2 man

my car in question FG |ELCON BEETLE PRO

This thread is more so pointed towards the "maxed out" RC machines such as my own.reason being the weight and power of the machine and the stress placed on the wheel bearings.
if any of you can get the max load specs on the fg standard wheel bearings i would be very intrested to find out,in fact any info would be great on them.

basicly,i changed my wheel bearings maybe 3gallons ago and i was surprised the other evening to notice one wheel was grossly mis-aligned,so i made all possible adjustments to my elcon xl a-arms to align the wheel as much as possible to make it point forward as straight as possible and as to avoid negative castor/camber also,but it didnt seem to do the job. on the elcon a-arms they feature a unique hinged outer addition to the a-arm which is secures on with nuts and bolts,this idea also allows you to alter the position of the hub via moving forward/back the arm end on the hinge once loose.

so i stripped apart the wheel hub assembly and assoicated parts such as brake calipers and discs top balljoint/ wheel square & balldrive axle only to be confronted with a destroyed bearing.(normal i know and this happens,BUT not a bearing this new) this bearing was just 2 gallons old the most and i use wd40 to keep parts lubed after sandy conditions.

i think some of these bearings arent up to holding the weight of this machine.

these are the bearings i use either of the following,and are good,but maybe i need better..





so now i must look in to this.

-barcelona-

You say you use WD40 on the bearings... This will wash all of the grease out of them.. That is your problem I reckon.

WD40 is a water displacer NOT a lubricant.

slawhammer

DC: Dan my man..You need to listen to ole slawhammer here....You spend hundred's of dollars on your Rc Car's for
Quality..Right.....Hey man..buy some good quality bearings..not the 99 cent one's....
1..Good quality bearings...2...good Quality grease...yeah grease...3 buy a bearing packer......
Now I know this is a lot of work..but I personaly repack my bearings after 1 gal or 1 liter of fuel.....I have yet to have any
bearing problems....That is all my bearings..not just the wheel bearings......you will have longer life from the bearings
and more run time with less hassle.......Just my opinion on this....WD-40 is a No No..for bearings.......You do as you like....
But remember ....Dan I have never given you any wrong information in the Hobby.....Slawhammer

dc2 man

number one,i dont use wd40 on the inside of bearing i use it on the inner race where the bearing meets the axle to keep nice and supple,thankfully im not dumb enough to wash out the greese with it as that is obvious. (my bearings are sealed) the faces can be removed but too much bother and they come loose then after time.

number 2 these bearings i have shown are top shelf,least that is what i thought.

my opinion slaw is thats a lot of work you do with them,i myself wouldt go to that bother,but hey if it works for you.

what bearings do you reccommend slaw?

good to hear from you roger,hope all is well

-barcelona-

You should not use WD40 any where bearings whether sealed or not. Its viscosity allows it to get in and wash the grease out.



Ask me how I know......

BTW I was a motor vehicle mechanic for the past 25 years.

dc2 man

good point. sure im working around autos all my life myself,my own...

and point taken!

cheers

Apache-

Even when you use the WD40 which i also would not recommend the bearings should last longer.

My best gues is you have not mounted the distance bushing (elcon part 18405) between the bearings.
When this is not there you will simply crush the wheel bearings when tigthening your wheel.

dc2 man

no apache i do have them there,i remember i had trouble trying to sit them between the new bearings correct before i installed them.

im still thinking they dont like to much weight.

something i never really thought about much in the hobby.

Plague

You are linking to some bearings with "FG stock no".
Those bearing are some of the worst on the market. They never last very long [:@]

Go get some SKF bearings instead, they cost around the same but the quality is A LOT better
(SKF is the company who makes them)

bentley marshall

dan you need to buy rubber sealed bearings and they will last longer in sand that you run in
the ones you have been using are only shelded they wont stop the sand geting in to the grease and grinding them away
i replace all my bearings with rubber sealed ones and i dont have a problem