PM is the mechanic's best friend.
PM keeps you going when the other guy is going "What the &%#?"
PM keeps you in the fight longer than your enemy and helps you to survive and even win.
PM keeps the cost of the hobby down.
PM makes it more fun and lowers your aggravation level.
PM or "Mantienance Halts" are crucial to any mechanized or armored offensive. Just read a book written by a tanker or talk to Bill Campbell (AKA Pattoncommander).

PM is.... Preventative Maintenance

Did you check the gas, coolant and oil in your vehicle before driving to the battlefield? Why not do so for your tank?

If you do your part at the workbench at home your tank will do its part on the battlefield for you. At the recent tank Extravaganza I frequenlty reminded the rookies of their ABCs... always be charging... (Batteries and TXs) since they were so busy and trying to keep up with the action. I saw many guys making repairs which is quite common since we may have dozens of battles each day. I helped one rookie fix a bad gearbox and took another M4 home from another tanker to rebuild the TUs for him. Neither tanker had any lubricants on the gearboxes. These are wear items and are metal on metal moving parts! One was very well coated in dirt from the field. This will speed the rate at which the TU becomes a worn-out mess. TU lubrication is never mentioned anywhere in the Tamiya tank building manuals, except for the Leo which is a sealed component that you build for yourself. Even HL lubes their gearboxes from the factory. So should you. I know one tanker who has worn our more than 15 gearboxes (no names please guys) in the past few years. [>:]

The stock Tamiya gearboxes in my Panther lasted me for 4 trouble-free years of IR tank battles. Then I lost forward one gearbox in Texas last fall. I up-greded to Impact TUs and hope they do just as well. These too are coated in oil for the shafts and grease for the gears. They are also sealed off from the outside by foam blocks around the out-put shafts and covers over the top of the TU from the tip of the lower hull. I remove them for a thorough disassembly and cleaning once a year. After each battle-weekend I clean out the excess or dirty grease with Q-tips and re-lube with light oil then grease the gear faces. I use a fine quality light machine oil (Never WD-40) like Prolong or Singer sewing machine oil on the shafts and bearings. Then a thicker grease on the gear faces. I use white lithium spray since it penetrates well. I then fabricate a cover over the TUs and seal them off from the the rest of the tank. I use both sealed bearings and bushing on my idlers and road wheels. These are also lubed with plastic friendly grease. Your tank will roll easier from the reduced friction and the results will be a faster tank and longer battery duration. My elevation & rotation only get a drop of lube but my recoil units get a good deal more and are frequently cleaned. A dab of Permatex anti-seize compound should be used on some fasteners and always on your drive sprockets. In the pix you can see the accumulation of dirt around the hull by the out-put shafts attracted by the oils. But none is found on the inside of the hull. Sorry for some of the fuzzy pix.

Here are some pix from when I up-graded to better motors. You can also see the trick I use for setting-up the gear lash. I feed a strip of quality paper between the pinion and the first gear to provide a precise amount of clearance before tightening the motor mounts.

As usual, I welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing your ideas. Bob