LNC motor question?

[DFW Rusty]

My Night crawler is about 3 or so years old and has tons of use and I think the motor may be going bad or something. When crawling it starts out pretty good, but by the end it will have no balls going forward, the littlest of binds will stop it in forward motion, where as it used to power through just about any obstacle down to the very last bit of juice that the battery could feed it. One weird thing though, is that it has more power in reverse. The motor will start acting up and I can literally continue playing with it as long as I go in reverse. My batteries are old, but seem to still be good; 1- is a radio shack battery and the other is a venom lipo 5000 20c. Any input would be helpful. I am not very smart when it comes to rc cars.

My car:
bone stock, replaced esc about a year ago (w/ factory one) and added a couple 0z to the front tires (not much though). Also painted the body yesterday, gonna put a bunch of stickers all over it.

[jgrim]

If you have not done so already, lube the worms. Losi worms like lots of lube. Add grease ports to the axles while you have it apart. I had similar issues with mine that I thought were motor or ESC related. Turned out to be inadequate lube. Jerry

[murlin12]

Originally Posted by jgrim

If you have not done so already, lube the worms. Losi worms like lots of lube. Add grease ports to the axles while you have it apart. I had similar issues with mine that I thought were motor or ESC related. Turned out to be inadequate lube. Jerry

Where are the grease ports? I've had the axles off the crawler without anything attached to them.


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[DFW Rusty]

Originally Posted by jgrim

If you have not done so already, lube the worms. Losi worms like lots of lube. Add grease ports to the axles while you have it apart. I had similar issues with mine that I thought were motor or ESC related. Turned out to be inadequate lube. Jerry

That is interesting that you stay that. I noticed yesterday when carrying my lnc after a long run that the axles felt awfully warm for a crawler!

[braune]

Originally Posted by murlin12

Where are the grease ports? I've had the axles off the crawler without anything attached to them.


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You need to drill the ports yourself, and add a small screw... But don't drill in build-state
The screw mustn't be too long... it would hit the worm and gear


@DFW Rusty: Also look if you have HD worms with 21T! THis is a big point at the LCC!

[alterchristopher]

adding the greas point is a personal thing i dont see a point to it but i tear my losi down every run if water is involved and every 5 with out. I clean mine out and pack it full of Marine grease, for motor i got a brushed 35t rebuildably motor i will get a name for it when i get home got it on a ebay trans i bought it works grate on rocks. But i will be going brushless soon theas truck really need a brushless motor for any type of wheel speed and with mine being a scale truck its what i need lol.

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by alterchristopher

adding the greas point is a personal thing i dont see a point to it but i tear my losi down every run if water is involved and every 5 with out. I clean mine out and pack it full of Marine grease

X2, I have not added grease ports either. Never really saw the need. If I noticed the axles start getting warm, it is time to tear it apart clean everything up, add fresh grease and check bearings. Or, always the week before a comp. I have had very good success with that maintenance schedule. I have only needed to replace the rear worm and spool once. Only because a bearing blew and the bearing case ran up the worm. Well twice...It came from the factory with the straight cut spool gears (that I ran for a year without problems).

That being said, I started my crawling with the LCC, so worm maintenance is just part of the conditioning. The lack of axle maintenance that I have had to do with my SCX just does not seem right.

[jgrim]

I am a believer in the ports. I drilled one on each side of the axle housings so that a lot of the old grease is pushed out when I re-lube. Takes about 10 minutes to do both ends. I run weekly comps and re-lube once a month. Over 2-years now since I drilled the ports with zero bearing or worm problems. Jerry

[Olle P]

Rusty, do take a look at my sticky thread on how to generally reduce the friction!

[Hardline]

Originally Posted by jgrim

I am a believer in the ports. I drilled one on each side of the axle housings so that a lot of the old grease is pushed out when I re-lube. Takes about 10 minutes to do both ends. I run weekly comps and re-lube once a month. Over 2-years now since I drilled the ports with zero bearing or worm problems. Jerry

Tearing it down once a month is way superior to just putting fresh grease in through ports.

But who's really going to do that. Actually greasing through ports is way superior to just saying you're going to tear it down regularly.

So OP, yeah, grease it up and see. But don't be surprised if your problem remains. Probably the easiest troubleshooting is just replacing components one at a time until it's fixed.

[Liv3mind]

Originally Posted by Olle P

Rusty, do take a look at my sticky thread on how to generally reduce the friction!

"Thumbs up"

[murlin12]

Originally Posted by dentonmac

X2, I have not added grease ports either. Never really saw the need. If I noticed the axles start getting warm, it is time to tear it apart clean everything up, add fresh grease and check bearings. Or, always the week before a comp. I have had very good success with that maintenance schedule. I have only needed to replace the rear worm and spool once. Only because a bearing blew and the bearing case ran up the worm. Well twice...It came from the factory with the straight cut spool gears (that I ran for a year without problems).

That being said, I started my crawling with the LCC, so worm maintenance is just part of the conditioning. The lack of axle maintenance that I have had to do with my SCX just does not seem right.

Now whats the best action to take if you stripped a bolt to take the axle apart?

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by murlin12

Now whats the best action to take if you stripped a bolt to take the axle apart?

Depends on where it is.

If it is in the plastic there is a mod that should be done anyways, it's called Full Metal jacket. Really it's brass inserts to replace threading into plastic. Here is a how to.

OverkillRC's: The Phoenix

Post #78

If it is a screw head that is stripped. I have had luck two ways.
1) Putting a Torx head in the stripped hole. May have to force it in.
2) Grind a slot into the bolt head (Dremel Cut-Off wheel works well) and use a flat head screwdriver to loosen it.

Hope that helps.

[murlin12]

Originally Posted by dentonmac

Depends on where it is.

If it is in the plastic there is a mod that should be done anyways, it's called Full Metal jacket. Really it's brass inserts to replace threading into plastic. Here is a how to.

OverkillRC's: The Phoenix

Post #78

If it is a screw head that is stripped. I have had luck two ways.
1) Putting a Torx head in the stripped hole. May have to force it in.
2) Grind a slot into the bolt head (Dremel Cut-Off wheel works well) and use a flat head screwdriver to loosen it.

Hope that helps.

Ill try it the next time i tear it down!