BLBncsu

What does everybody recommend for basic maintenance and as a good tune-up to do. I have an rs4 3ss, stock right now, and I have now gone through about 2 gallons worth of gas through it. What do you all suggest to do to keep it running great (or better) such as greasing diffs, clutches, engine maint., etc.... These ideas can apply to any car, just figuring out what everybody does to their cars at what intervals. Thanks all!

Josh222

Well every once and awhile i take my SS apart and clean it, put new grease in the diff, clean the bearings, replace worn plastic parts, like arms after they get old looking and scratched up. I take my engine apart and clean it. just little stuff

napalm_Fire

actually, cleaning and maintaining it is fun too, I drove mine into a flower bed the first time I could drive it @ full throttle, lol.... dirt everywhere, I took the engine off, but not apart. It was fun to re-assemble

Josh222

ya it gives you something to do

Mo_

Also try the HPI Nitro cleaner...it's magic! removes grease and dirt just from spraying from the high pressurized can and leave to dry or wipe if you want...gives you a new car look every time... I got it here for $10 ... I think it\ll be less in the states.

Keep running and have fun

B.T.D.T.

After the day of running you car, you should clean it before you put it away. A brush, compressed air, denatured alcohol or Nitro cleaner (Most costly and easiest).

I basically use my air compressor only. If its all oily, I spray the denatured alcohol first then dry it off with compressed air.

Bearings should be cleaned and lubed every now and then. I didn't have time. Clutch bearing is the most important bearing to maintain. It has the highest rpm and is hottest one. All bearings are important to clean and lube.

Slacker

I have a Rustler, but I usually drive it on the street, and when I'm done for the day, I put take out the glow plug and put 2 drops of after-run oil on top of the piston, then turn the flywheel a couple of times to work the oil in to prevent rust and for lubrication for the next time I go to run it. Also, if I'm not going to drive it the very next day, I completely drain the tank and try to fire the engine again to burn all the fuel in the lines and engine to prevent any left-over gas in the engine from getting all gunky and ruining the engine. After I drive it on dirt or it just starts getting too much street grime all over it, I completely take it apart (EVERYTHING) and clean everything off, then put it all back together; this is about a 2-3 day job, depending on how thorough you do and what else you're doing that day, but it's worth it. Then, every once in a while, I check everything for broken, cracked, or damaged parts (usually when I take it apart and clean it) and replace parts as necessary. Also, I've learned that doing donuts on asphalt really eats up tires pretty quick, so replace those when they get worn, too. I like taking the car apart, too; like Josh222 said, it gives you something to do, plus it makes your car look like new again. Well, have fun!

gosha

B.T.D.T., what do you use for cleaning and lube barings?
Are not they sealed?

B.T.D.T.

My FT NTC3 has seal bearings. I was told that you have to remove the seals first. I plan to buy the bearing blaster to force out the old oil. (I will have to read the instructions first.)
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEV92&P=0

This car was purchase in August. I have not much run time on this car. I have used less than half a gallon.

The old days, I cleaned my electric car bearings by dipping it into cleaning solution, shake dry and lube. I don't remember what it was. I think it was a motor bath cleaner. It was used to clean the electric motors. I also used motor cleaner spray, I guess it's now also called Nitro Blast.

I figure the item above is the best way to go. It forces out all the old lube to give you a clean start to relube.

As stated, I do not have the bearing blaster yet. In the past when I cleaned any bearings, don't force too much air thru them or they will burn up if spinning too long without lube.

I used this oil
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKC43
or you can use any bearing oil
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXJY55&P=ML

Asmodi

When I clean mine, it really depends on the running conditions and how long I ran it for, but to put it in some sort of organized way I can come up with the following; given that this is running your car thru maybe 4-6 tanks, averaging 4-5 days of running a week <--although this would be extreme in some cases


Pre-Run

Inspect all electric gear
Inspect all running gear
Inspect all susp/chassis gear

Daily After Running :

Run engine completely out of gas
Glow Plug inspection
After Run oil
Clean Air Filter
Blow Off/ Clean Off exhaust oil and any other residues
Blow off moisture/mud/ dirt all large deposits
Inspect for Broken parts

2x Weekly
Inspect/ Clean/ Re-Lube Clutch Bearings
Inspect/ Clean/ Re-Lube Hub Bearings
Thorough Cleaning of chassis and suspension

Weekly

Inspect/ Clean/ Re-Lube all Bearings
Inspect/ Disassemble/ Clean/ Lube/ Re-assemble Engine/ Gearboxes/ tranny
Inspect/ Clean/ Suspension and components

Bi-Monthly/ Monthly

Inspect/ Disassemble/ Clean/ Lube/ Re-assemble ENTIRE Car and components

Now again this would be the extreme runners list, shouhld you run your car once a week you can obviously add some time in between these checks, but if you run your car this often or more then I think this would be a good guidline if not the minumum, at races I usually go thru most of this between heats

BLBncsu

How do you all clean/lube bearings if they are fully sealed? I can't imagine that much junk could get into the sealed bearings and from what i remember from my classes, bearings are typically designed for infinite life (at least much longer than we own our cars).
What type of grease or how do you maintain your diff's?
One last one, how do you know when your clutch is going out, mine has started to make some bad sounding metallic sounds, not sure if its a clutch or one-way bearing or gears or what?
Keep the ideas coming guys!

Josh222

i just use some rubbing alchahol one them.

I use heavy duty CVD greace for real cars in my diffs, over 3gallons through and no signs of wear

If your clutch is gona you will know, it will rev and bearly move

that noise could be the gear mesh

BLBncsu

Would some white lithuim grease work well for the diffs or not?
Not sure here, but would the rubbing alcohol perhaps degrade/breakdown the grease already inside the sealed bearings or not?
Anything you all do about the one-way bearing? Oh yeah, when replacing the clutch go with a stock one or upgrade to a racing one?
Thanks for all the good advice so far!!

Josh222

go with the racing clutch

BLBncsu

Thanks a ton for the help Josh. I'm still lost on how and what type of oil people put into their diffs (and why). Do they fill the whole diff with oil and it doesn't leak out any, does it not attack the plastic and weaken/eat it up??? If so what type of oil do they use and where do they get it from, does it change up the handling much? Thanks

Asmodi

If they are sealed diffs you can use weighted oils in them to affect the "action" of the diffs, however if they are ball diffs like those on the NTC3s or even the T-Maxx, or any of the like I generally use a high stick, silicon based grease such as :

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LX2765&P=7

as for the weighted oils you have alot of choices, and as the oil weight goes up the more "grease" like they are:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...EARCH=ofna+oil

As for the bearings I use this :

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEV92&P=7

and a high pressure cleaning solution either a nitro spray, or being as I cant get any over here, I use Gunk-Out Carb Cleaner and then blast with WD-40, dry them then reoil with Trinity Bearing Lube, as for being sealed yes they are, and even Im suprised how much gunk comes out of them, when you first do it you will blow out the factory grease which is very heavy and gives alot of friction, when you relube you will notice the difference when you use a fine bearing oil.

BLBncsu

I believe they are sealed diffs, how do you tell. when i assembled them they have the typical pinion gear with the 2 spider gears on either side and then get "closed" into a plastic diff housing/carrier. How does the oil affect the diff action and handling of the car exactly? thanks all!!!

Josh222

no they aren't sealed, oil will leak out, i used some heavy duty CVD gear for a real car/truck and there is no sighns of wear after Gallons

B.T.D.T.

In sealed diffs with heavy oil or using heavy grease in non seal diff, the diff will almost act like a LSD (Limited Slip Diff) on a real car. Both wheels will try to pull the car.

It depends on the road conditions you as driving on. If you need it.

Josh222

you could just buy the diff spring kit

Asmodi

Sealed diffs generally have some sort of rubber seals, therefore sealing the fluid in them, most 1/8 buggies, and 1/8 on-Road cars have sealed diffs, additionally some of the monster trucks have "real" sealed diffs.

There are many explanations online and in these forums explaining how the different weight oils effect the action of the diffs and the handling of the car


Here is the REVO diff, true sealed diff: Blue represents the seals

Josh222

the diff on the rs4 3 is almost sealed, if you made a gasket for where the main gear goes on it should hold some oil in it

PoweredByNitro

how much grease should you put in the diffs??

type-R-mad

a took my rear diff off and the whole rear end and a took the diff apart and locked it for drifting purposes then cleaned it and re greased it [8D] ma cars out of action the now as a cant get it running [] lol a think a glowplug change is needed, anyway a clean it about twice a week if a use it or no , gives me summit to do lol and it aint great wen its dirty and could lead to performance problems

and a gotta agree the hpi car cleaner is great