Shenanigans

My Feedback: (12)

What type of lube (if any) do people here use for their gearbox? Ihave searched the forums and found many suggestions from wd40 to tranny grease, to black grease. I drive a B-4 with a Velineon3500 electronic set-up...Im in the process of upgrading my parts (Ishould have gotten the factory team, but...) and I realized I didnt lube my gearbox at all. The instructions does not state lubing the gears aside from the transmission lube in the ball differential. Ihave noticed recently a grinding noise when I take off at full throttle, and have loosened up the slipper quite a bit, but maybe the lack of lube in my gearbox could cause this?

I figured while Im installing all my new parts, Id open the gearbox and lube it right...just wanted to get suggestions of what folks here use.

Thanks

genitor

Grinding or clicking sounds usually suggest that something stripped.

Shenanigans

My Feedback: (12)

The noise only sounds at initial full throttle from standing position, then fades away shortly after.  Iv only had the car for 3 or so months and havent driven it much due to the ridiculous winter we had here in the armpit of America.

stealth si

could be ur idler gear stripped, mine had that same sound due to an over tightened slipper

Shenanigans

My Feedback: (12)

I tend to think your right...the slipper is too tight....when I first started running it, I never had the sound because I had the clutch loosened a bit, but decided to tighten it at some point to see if I could get some wheelies   thought I had loosened it back up, but its possible I didnt loosen it as much as I thought.

but.....back to the grease question....do I use the tranny grease for the rest of the gearbox?  or is there an alternative I can purchase from a store that works better?

stealth si

i use a little black grease and seems to work fine, loosen that slipper and u should be good to go

Shenanigans

My Feedback: (12)

Thats my dilema, Iv read in other threads that you should absolutely not use black grease on the gears because it will harden and cog the gears......

stealth si

that could be true if you use an excessive amount, i use a very small amount..i haven't had a problem yet i would say wd-40 would work to because of no friction though

Shenanigans

My Feedback: (12)

WD-40 was a suggestion made by a member in the "official rc10b4 thread", but no one agreed or disagreed with it.  It sounds good to me, but with as much money that gets poured into rc's these days I want to be sure before I fill the gearbox with anything that might be damaging.

stealth si

wd40 is fine, couple drops..

Eman77

I can't speak to the B4 specifically, nor for racing applications where you're maximizing your speed, minimizing tranny grease slowing things down, but....

I use white automotive grease found in a big tube for a few $$ at Sears. I use this in my E-Savage transmission, and some gearboxes here and there on some of my other buggies. I mean, if I have "Tamiya grease" that comes with the kits, and the instructions call for that, I use it. But if I'm all out of Tamiya grease, and/or the instructions don't say, and I have that white stuff lying around, I have at it.

ImpalaPolicePack

same here, i use a tube of all purpose white grease and put just a small amount on the transmission gears just so they dont run dry

i also tryed putting white grease in diffs but its too thin, diffs unlock all the time

FairTax4me

AE says use black grease in their stealth transmissions. A tube is like $3 and will last you 2 years or more.

edit: $2.39, might be $3 at your LHS.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LX2880&P=7

MCSRacing

My Feedback: (2)

other than in the diff its self the associated tranny should be built dry .... i greased one once because i thought it might be better and i lost the idler gear after 2 weekends of racing, i have yet to blow a trans that i built dry .. i run some fairly hot brushless setup's 4.5 and up, and never a problem .....

Shenanigans

My Feedback: (12)

OK, so I dont feel so ignorant now that I built mine dry as well.  Thanks for the responses guys.

gelbschnee

it's good to build your tranny dry the first time, run a few dozen times, then rebuild and clean it out really well. this will kind of break in your gears, and you can get rid of any small particles that have come off. after you clean it out, apply a medium amount (coat around all 3 gears just until they are black, you dont want them to be totally covered in grease). this will offer adequate lubrication without adding friction. If you want to go the extra mile fill your diff with some 10k weight fluid, thats what i have used, or you could try lighter/heavier fluid to meet your needs. enjoy.

Chris_RC

The gridning sound is coming from a loose diff, not the transmission. Grease the thrust bearings with AE black grease and diff balls with AE stealth grease, keep the gears dry.

Shenanigans

My Feedback: (12)

Thx again for the the suggestions...I just remembered, when I built the differential I lost a differential ball on the floor when it rolled off my desk...I looked for about 30 minutes for the damned thing but gave up....so my differential is 1 differential ball short of a full deck.  Guess I should add that to my list of items to get before I start putting all my other parts on

samguan

I use HPI heavy duty green grease. I have also used the black grease and have not found any problems

Link119

My Feedback: (1)

Ive had the accelerating grinding noise and when i opened the tranny i saw a stripped idler.
As for lube use anything thats dry unless you have a solid metal tranny.
for a metal top gear and the rest of it plastic dont use any grease thats wet and dont overload.
For a metal top and idler just make sure you dont use anything that is wet  and make sure that the whole gear is covered.
For all metal dont use anything that majorly softens plastic because it will soften your case.