tips for water bound brushed crawlers

[going2fast]

I run a traxxas 21t and a sv3 esc on 3 s
I go in,threw, and under water and mud every time a go out.
silt mud and god knows what els pass threw that poor little titan each time ..and my buddy runs the same set up in his scx10 in the same conditions ... we used to go threw those little motors every 4 runs or so ..brushes would break,cans would lock up.. bushings would warp or get to hot and just break .. ect... but that has stopped and this is why


spray electrical cleaner and wd40... before ,during and after every run ..10-15 runs now with no problem and not much slower than when they were brand new motors. and still flawless at a crawl .

just one little "pshhh pshhh" of each in the can and bushings and boom .. if we go threw real muddy area or a lot of silt..when it comes out the other side .. pshhh pshhh ..and boom no worries

try it out and tell me what ya think ..also worked great on my buddies pro4 when it got clogged ..
make sure its safe for electrical prod.. only because that means it wont peel the paint off your body or anodized parts unlike brake cleaners and carb cleaners .

[Master Basher]

water displacement formula 40

[going2fast]

by itself its not as affective .. but with the cleaner ...woo boy

[theTman]

doesn't WD-40 attract dirt to stick to stuff? I used to use it on my bike chains as a kid until I knew better. WD-40 gets rid of water great, but is a grit magnet.

[Cordwood]

If you're spraying the motor with motor spray after the wd40, you're probably fine as its washing the wd40 off. But then what is the wd40 really doing. Something like wd40 on the comm will just gunk it up. You need a cleaner that dries.

[Norton]

You would also need to re-oil the bearings after a motor flush.

[Hotrodvw]

On an odd note:
I hit a bit of water last weekend with my brushed motor. Saturday I put a drop or two of oil on both bushings in the motor. Nothing weird, just a bit of extra protection every now and again. I hit some more water yesterday when I went out for a bit. At a certain RPM, the motor squealed like it had a dry bushing. Huh? I thought that was ironic since I just oiled them. I'll yank it out and go thru it, but if oil and a good cleaning won't fix it, nothing will LOL

[Dad,Canyoufix?]

Crc Qd electronic cleaner. Found at walmart/advanced autoparts/oriely/autozone. DONT USE BRAKE CLEANER. Some chemicals, as good as they can be for preserving and protecting mechanical joints and parts, actually corrode other metals such as copper and zinc. A lot of which is what your brushes are made of. Check out the back of anything you use before you dump it in your motor or use it to clean your esc.

Btw, headlight light bulb grease works great for preserving switches and if you haven't taken steps to enhance your esc's water resistance, Plasti dip and so on, a little light bulb grease helps keep the moisture off the circuit board.

OPENING YOUR ESC WILL VOID MANUFACTURE'S WARRANTY, USE TIPS AT YOUR OWN RISK(ALL ELECTRIC TIPS).

Hope this helps.

Happy Crawling,

[going2fast]

I just posted what works for me.. I don't worry about gunking the motor up because I don't run is dusty conditions ... I run an creeks and trails next to creeks..alot of water and mud , moss covered rocks ect ... if this is what you like to do then my method seems to work great .. the wd40 seems to keep the mud from sticking to things quite well and allows the motor to flush itself out without scaring or locking up..this is because its MUD..dirt and WATER combined

[Dad,Canyoufix?]

I was not attempting to say your current method is wrong. If it works for your application, great! I was just providing some info for others that might view this thread and possible run hiking trails where you can go from dust to water to mud back to dust again all in a matter of minutes. I believe you said you use electric cleaner with the wd40 anyway. Just providing the name of a product that can be used to clean out a junked up motor as well a tip on esc care.

Your actually not hurting your motor with WD on the corrosion front, MSDS specify it has no deleterious effects on most if not all materials used in making a brushed motor. I have used it before but since I hit a lot of dry-wet-dry conditions I prefer just using the cleaner after each run(I have heard people suggest break cleaner before, it has to be non-chlorinated and even then I tried it on my old HPI 55t I ran in my LCC and it just dries out bushings and such like crazy).

I run a stock axial 27t motor in my scx and a 55t axial in my LCC and they respond as they did on day one.

Happy Crawling,

[going2fast]

i don't use brake cleaner because i have seen it ruin the cosmetics of parts ie r2jkustoms slider,coating on alum , ect.. but if you don't care about such things i think it would be fine to substitute along with wd40{again if your running my style} .
this all being said i drive my rc from the car to the creeks , threw and in walking/biking paths ,in dust/dirt/grass and again have never had one single problem , but maby i should give an exact run down of what i do.



start off: run axial to the creak sight , threw paths fun rocks and other things along the way.
have a beer
sray cleaner and wd40 in can and wr40 suspension joints when arriving at creek
run in creek/along creek and so one, going in around and under water, some of witch has silt and muk
in the event of a long 2 plus hr run i recommend a spritz every lipo change in the motor and give the rc a good once over{look at bolts nuts ect that may loosen from the warm air cold water combo..it does happen
when done spritz with cleaner and wd40 before heading back to car or truck via trail
when home give her a hose down with clean water and spritz wd40 on screw heads and motor
i have run the same set up another half dozen times sence my first post with again ..not one problem.


side not if your running a traxxas waterproof box for your rx .. replace the foam pads inside every so often or shoe goo it

you may not like the way i do it and that's fine but i can not me said as wrong sense three of us have been doing this with wonderful results for quite some time

[Dad,Canyoufix?]

Sounds like you have a good routine there. I hope others that hike with their rigs as we do will find this information helpful. You have a decent routine here, and those that have thoughts on how to maintenance a rig that sees some trail and creek duty, would be wise to follow the steps you have provided, in my opinion. There are many ways of doing all of the things related to caring for a rc rig, I for one, find that this would be a strong routine for most creek bashers and trail runners that get wet.

Goin2fast, I have not tried to convey that any part of your routine is wrong or ill-advised. I only wanted to help further by providing a few tips of my own on top of the info you originally brought to us. If there is a part of any of my posts that make you feel I am flaming/bashing your routine, Please let me know and I will edit it immediately.

It does seem others have suggested that WD40 attracts grit and such, you have stated twice before those suggestions or notions that you don't use WD40 alone. Therefore you have an explanation of why you don't have the problem they might have had with WD40. Hope this helps clarify I am not on the attack of your routine, just throwing in a small assist to help others that may be new to the scene, and read this post in a search when trying to find methods to preserve their rig.

With that said, I do use Crc Qd Electric Cleaner plus Lucas fuel system conditioner to clean and re-slick my motor after a hard day on the trails, I have been making quite a few 1-2.5 hour runs a couple times a week lately due to the warming weather here. I clean with the Crc Qd, rinse, drop about 1/4 oz in the side of my motor and turn by hand until I feel that the detergent/lubricants have done there job and plan for the next outing( at no point in the cleaning process is my motor under electric power). I also find that if the outing doesn't consist of a lot of mudding, the motor stays clean enough and lubricated enough for another outing without cleaning. So If your biased against WD40, no reason you should be as long as it is used properly, there are alternatives.