Ceramic bearings

[themountain]

Do they have maintenance advantages ?? No greasing, oiling , etc? Whats the take on them here ?

[Gula]

Waste of money IMHO! I've been running ebay metal or rubber sealed and they work great! Our stuff is too slow to need that much precision

[Xx Losungen xX]

I have two sets, the stock bearings and a set of Fast Eddie's for each axle.

I swap them out every once in awhile and leave the dirty set to soak for months sometimes in acetone.

They always come out looking and working like new, minimal maintenance and fairly cheap.

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Ceramic bearings are generally good for racers and go-fast stuff but pretty well just a waste of money in crawlers.

There's no maintenance advantage.

[Panther6834]

Coming from racing, and now (also) getting involved in crawling, ceramic bearings are outstanding...technically "required"...for racing, but, from what I've discovered (so far) in regards to crawling, they'd be a complete WASTE of money, time, and effort. There's absolutely NO advantages to installing ceramic bearings in a crawler...well, unless you plan on taking a crawler, and turning it into a 'speed run' vehicle (and, if you do, i wanna see a video of that, as I think it would be hilarious to see a Jeep 'think' it's a drag racer).

~ More peace, love, laughter & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place

[themountain]

Thanks guys I thought that it would be easier to maintain with those ...specially in wet condicions.

[nightcrawler48]

Originally Posted by themountain

Thanks guys I thought that it would be easier to maintain with those ...specially in wet condicions.

A little more info on ceramic bearings, in you're interested. Only the rolling elements (balls) are actually ceramic (generally silicon nitride). The inner and outer races are still steel so corrosion is still an issue when running in wet conditions. Ceramic bearings are generally lighter than steel bearings but the difference is probably negligible on the tiny bearings we use. Depending on application, ceramic bearings can run with no lubrication so no drag from the grease. Many factors determine the efficiency of a bearing - material, sealed or non-sealed, speed (bearing RPM), load (weight the bearing has to carry), temperature, type of lubrication, etc. I don't think anyone could tell the difference running an 8lb crawler/trail rig at 8mph.

[themountain]

Originally Posted by nightcrawler48

...Only the rolling elements (balls) are actually ceramic (generally silicon nitride)...

Well..there are full ceramic bearings too and they come in two flavours ( Si3N4 and ZrO2)as far as I see.

[mewalsh100]

I've used ceramic bearings in some of my race bicycles. I don't know if it's a kind of placebo effect, or what, but in areas like the bottom bracket they definitely seem to offer less resistance than a standard cartridge bearing set up. I've done the "spin test" on my bikes between ceramic bearing BB and standard cartridge BB. This involves just free spinning the cranks when they are disengaged from the chain / driveline. I'll typically get an extra 2 - 4 revolutions out of the ceramic. Not much, but every little bit can help when your body is the "engine".

I highly doubt that they'd offer any real appreciable benefit in a crawler though.

[JatoTheRipper]

I'll take the cheap price of steel bearings over the less resistance of ceramic bearings in crawlers.

All-ceramic bearings, which are rare, also won't rust which is a huge benefit in RC. I would think RC ceramic bearings still have steel races though which his how most "ceramic" bearings are constructed and those will eventually rust.

Ceramic is also supposed to be harder and more durable than steel.

Are the benefits worth the much greater additional cost of ceramic? No, not to me.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by mewalsh100

I've used ceramic bearings in some of my race bicycles. I don't know if it's a kind of placebo effect, or what, but in areas like the bottom bracket they definitely seem to offer less resistance than a standard cartridge bearing set up. I've done the "spin test" on my bikes between ceramic bearing BB and standard cartridge BB. This involves just free spinning the cranks when they are disengaged from the chain / driveline. I'll typically get an extra 2 - 4 revolutions out of the ceramic. Not much, but every little bit can help when your body is the "engine".

I highly doubt that they'd offer any real appreciable benefit in a crawler though.

This, they do make a difference and just like steel bearings not all ceramics are the same. I buy steel with rubber seals, add a little better grease, reinstall seals, use them and buy spares to rotate out. Keep spares prepacked with good grease and replace them as needed (put old worn out in the recycle) if they aren't worn out, clean, dry them and regrease to rotate back in during next maintenance.