Improving drivetrain effeciency

[somedudeandanrc]

Hello everyone, lately I've been trying to squeeze the most out of my bashing rc, well I bashed this winter, so it's in bad shape. I went through my entire rc, rebuilt the motor, all bearings, replaced my steering bearings, all gears, even a snapped aluminum shaft driving the 4wd.

Anyways I can turn my entire drivetrain with my fingers (Without the motor attached of course.)

So my questions, what does everyone use to lubricate gears? I was hoping for something that will not crud up the gearbox or make any type of friction or even protection on the gears, I just want them teeth to slide right into each other.

Right now I'm using a thin air tool oil, it's the best I've used so far, and I have 2 gearboxes on my rc, that is why I'm concerned about this. I put about 2 drops in the rear gearbox (larger) and one drop in the front (smaller.)

Also, I'm using standard metal shielded bearings, they seem to perform fine, no problems with them, I also lubed my universal joints, what should I use to lube those and should I clean the universal joints with anything before relubing them, like penetrating oil or mineral spirits?

The only thing I did not replace was my ball cups, never saw too much wear on those, they seem pretty snug, the only ball cups I have on my chassis is upper arms and tie rods.

Here's a pic of my rc.

Thanks for any advice, Derek
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff101/somedudeandacomp/LPIC0001-4.jpg
someone stole my rims!!! :P

[ElectricThunder]

For metal on metal gears, I use molybdenum grease (good for that type of application). For plastic gears, I use tamiya's anti-wear grease, and it works wonderfully for my Tamiyas and other RCs with all plastic drive trains (my Vendetta ST for example).

For bearings I think trinity had some bearing lube or something; my bearings are rubber sealed and relatively new, so I haven't really cleaned them out. Every so often I'll make sure to dust them off, but I've yet to dunk them in mineral spirits or anything that would get rid if the internal lubricant, so I can't say for sure what'll work best (I don't even remember what I used on my T3's bearings). I would imagine WD-40 should work quite well though if you clean all the excess up.

[somedudeandanrc]

well, when I said mineral spirits I meant to get rid of dirt from inside the cvd... you know, get the dirty gritty grease out and put new stuff in. I'm just going by theory, I don't know if it would be good for them or not.

I'll try that anti-wear grease, is it very thick or is it like kind of thin like petrolium jelly?

Yeah, I don't mess with my bearings until they feel just a bit rough, then I dunk them and relube them, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, I guess I might be waiting too long, but I'de rather not risk reducing their life, I have no way of knowing if a bearing I treated went bad because of stress or because I messed with it. I do although put lube around the seals to kind of relube them.

I do know one thing, at 1 volt to the motor my drivetrain axles (not including wheels) turn at 120 rpm, never had them turning this freely, never was a big deal because I've always bashed it so hard, didn't think to perfect everything.

Tomorrow I'm making that aluminum rollcage lower by cutting some stock off the back, I don't like it moving the center of gravity higher and I'de like to reduce the weight by an ounce or so.

If there was a racing class for me, I'de be in it, but there however isn't.

Regards, Derek

[ElectricThunder]

It's inbetween. It's gooey enough to adhere to gears, but not near as thick to cause undue friction (you can look for it at tower to see what's in it; maybe that'll help- tamiya includes a small package of it in their kits, or at least in the TT-01, and you can buy tubes of it as well). Molybdenum is a little thicker though, and in my all steel transmission, it works very well.

[rccardude04]

If they're plastic gears, I'm not sure why you're lubricating them. It just causes more drag.
-Eric

[somedudeandanrc]

If they're plastic gears, I'm not sure why you're lubricating them. It just causes more drag.
-Eric

I do have plastic gears. But if you overlube them, it will cause drag. You have to consider there still is friction on the gears, and they need to slip in and out of each other under high torque.

I think from what you said about the thickness about the grease I might stick with the thin oil I have, it coats all the gears, and any uneeded just drips out of the bottom. Beleive it or not with how thin it is, it actually leaves a small coating and it really gets on everything, you don't have to oil every gear, just one and it will get there (even if the teeth are not directly interacting each other.) Not mention it's cheap, 3 dollars for 20oz.

I'm not really into "protecting my gears" they've done fine with almost no lube for a while, just trying to reduce friction, having a tl01 I have a lot of drivetrain friction, a total of 8 gears including the pinion.

I will use that grease though for my cvd's if it is recommended.

[ElectricThunder]

If they're plastic gears, I'm not sure why you're lubricating them. It just causes more drag.
-Eric

Only if you use super thick grease and too much of it at that. There's a reason Tamiya includes their anti-wear grease in some of their kits, so that has to mean something.