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Got my rigs nice and wet...what's the proceedure aftewards?

CoolRunning

Rock Crawler
Joined
Jan 3, 2017
Messages
521
Location
DownUnner
We took our Bomber and SCX10 down to the creek and naturally drove them in so the lights were underwater etc and then went for a trail run to get all the water out of the wheels. Trucks were running fine afterwards as we have factory waterproof ESC's and servos and brushed motors.

I've read a number of things you should do after this type of event...

Firstly, flush out the motor with clean water, then use 'contact/motor' cleaner (is the new fancy WD-40 contact cleaner ok to use as I saw it at my local hardware store) and finally blow out the motor.

Hmm...got home and had to cook dinner as it was dark and we were basically driving around in the black with the truck lights so no flush out...

Didn't use contact cleaner as I don't currently have any...

I don't think one of those cans of compressed air is very cost effective as they are expensive or have flammable stuff in them and I don't have a compressor...

So...should I make a habit of putting the truck under clean water afterwards...buying the contact cleaner...and purchase a cheap compressor?

What do you do if you're away as it would be rare to cart a compressor around with you?

How often do you then pull the truck apart? I've used lots of marine grease in the diffs and transmissions.

I have an entire new set of rubber sealed bearings to go into the trucks as they might rust up a bit after a few dunks and I'm hoping the rubber sealed bearings will last a while longer.

Also, how do you stop your screws rusting? Do you coat them or oil them?

Any info would be fantastic!
 
I'm lazy so I often put mine away without any cleanup or maintenance.

When I'm not being lazy I spray certain things with silicone lubricant. Most of my screws won't rust because I try to build everything with stainless steel screws.
 
So no motor spray or monkeying around? How long do your motors and bearings last with the low maintenance method? Much difference if you went the whole hog?

I can definitely get a can of WD40 contact cleaner spray but the blowing out of the motor bit is tricky. I'll grab some silicone lube spray as well.
 
I soak my SC trucks all the time, snow, mud, skimming big puddles and I just spray the accessible bearings with WD-40 and lean the chassis against a fan to dry and the only issues I've had is when I took them to the ocean and let them sit for a couple months. They both needed all new bearings and one motor was seized, but my LHS rebuilt it for me and I haven't run in salt water since:)


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So no motor spray or monkeying around? How long do your motors and bearings last with the low maintenance method? Much difference if you went the whole hog?

I can definitely get a can of WD40 contact cleaner spray but the blowing out of the motor bit is tricky. I'll grab some silicone lube spray as well.
I'm horrible with maintenance. I build my trucks and run them, hard, until they break. Only then do I work on them. I don't strip my trucks down and replace bearings, clean, re-grease, or anything like that unless I have a breakage or upgrade that requires extensive disassembly. I've been lucky in that I've never seized a bearing. I do replace them when I'm working on the truck and I see they are starting to look or feel rough.

I don't do anything to my motors. They do offer motor cleaning spray like this:
TowerHobbies.com | Duratrax Power Shot Motor Spray 12 oz
 
I don't do anything some is either. I do try to drive in clean water at the end to clean it up. It's usually a ling drive home and it's easier to clean before it's caked on. Once it's home, it goes on the shelf or the bench for repairs if it's broken. I do check the wheel bearings once in a while and I put dry lube on my drive shafts.

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My little monster (Yeti) get the hole list: snow, mud, water, gravel ......
My procedure is:
1. Clean it under the shower with clear water and let it dry
2. After drying it depends, if it goes for a few days in the shelf i use wd40 on all exposed metal parts incl. the screws which are exposed otherwise i do nothing special.

After a year i did an teardown. No major issues found"thumbsup", only a mix of dirt in the trans and diffs:mrgreen: (cleaned it up regreased it solved) and on the left rear axle a little rust (nothing wd40 couldn't solve).

All my electronics are waterproofed 8) and for the exposed little fan on the esc i use also wd40 regulary still working and if not who cares replacement is cheap and easy;-)
 
Living in a west coast rainforest zone, the trucks get wet every time we go out. Silicone spray only delayed the rust. I avoid the solvent/kerosene-based cleaners and penetrants and use a non-conductive rust preventive, either Corrosion-X or an equivalent such as Fluid film. I use it sparingly (I don't need it on the plastic, or me, or my car), but try to keep a film of it over every exposed bit of metal. This has kept the rust away over the last winter.

Automotive | Fluid Film
 
Most of mine are solid performers even after many trips to the coast (salt water). If the drivetrain is locked up from rust, I either hit it with penetrating oil or 6s. Sometimes both are needed. "thumbsup"
 
I recently got my Bomber and was wondering about the maintenance process. I like running through streams and puddles and hitting muddy patches, dirt, anything in the way.

I must say, I'm surprised how many of you don't really do much to your rigs after hitting the wet stuff...but I'm also equally amazed how few problems you have had.

I think I'll get some lubricant spray for bearings and things, but mostly I guess it's a tough little truck and doesn't absolutely need any special treatment.
 
Cheers guys!

I got some contact cleaner motor spray and have hit the motors after a deep dip and surprisingly, nothing has come out. Not even dirty looking solvent cleaner surprisingly after a few months regular use.

I got some silicone lube and sprayed all the moving areas afterwards. I use WD40 to blast out the driveshafts as they get full of junk and it seems to stop them clicking (the pins seem ok after a pull down).

I found two really gritty wheel bearings on the SCX10 after 7 months of driving and a few ruined gearbox bearings. The Bomber with the same running has zero issues. The gearbox was in perfect condition. I think SCX10 WB driveshafts kind of seize up and hammer the bearings into oblivion really quickly where the WB HD seem to slide perfectly even after months of driving. The WB seem to click and destroy pins too where the HD's are fine and take lots of grunt to boot. Can't wait to replace the SCX10 driveshafts and wish the WB HD driveshafts weren't so expensive to replace them with. MIPs seem too heavy for our usage and I can then just stock up on one set of parts.

I think I'll just do basic maintenance unless we fully dunk the trucks.
 
It sounds like you took care of it"thumbsup"

I've gotten away from using too much lube/grease or I mean I still use it but I make sure to wipe it down afterwards so it doesn't trap more dirt next time out.

I noticed that WD-40 doesn't hang around long on plastic parts too but by wiping it over the screw heads/allen etc. it can keep them from rusting.

On my Axial rig I ran it in the wet, was too lazy to dry it off with a towel or rag afterwards to get the moisture on the surface off and the next day every single bolt and screw head on the underside of the frame was rusted.

I have taken the driveshafts off and dogbones in the front etc. since they are easy enough to get too but I havn't had to disassemble an axle fully yet.

I noticed that taking the wheels off can make things easier and the RC easier to handle because you can hold it closer and get in the suspension parts with a rag etc. Plus then you can clean the wheels.

In general I am constantly surprised at the amount of debris that gets trapped in these RC! Have a good weekend CoolRunning!

One trick I noticed is that if you disconnect the driveshafts from either end of your truck you can free spin the front or rear end and actually tell how they are doing. In general they should spin easily when not connected to the motor/transmission. I don't do that a lot but its good to know that the motor isn't under excess load, keeping everything clean and free spinning will keep temperatures down.
 
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if i took a rig out of the shelf i use teflon spray before driving on the moving metal parts.
teflon spray dries and don't attract dirt aso.

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