Axle grease experiments... Temps

[RcBro]

I got everything working out on my losi except the axle heat issues. I opened them up from the box and the oil used was very thin and almost none inside, so I put in some of my mobil 1 synthetic axle grease like I typically do with all my rigs.. The heat is still present and I think even alittle more.

I talked with an engineering friend of mine who is familiar with the worm drive setup and said I should put in the thinnest oil I can find like a 3in1 sewing machine oil.

He claims the worm drive creates so much friction a super thin oil is needed. So I wanted to see what your using and how have your results been? My rear axle is the hottest thing on my crawler after a 10 minute run.

 

[kineteks]

I don't think he's right.... check this out from "The Ins and Outs of Worm Gears" at http://www.oilanalysis.com/article_detail.asp?articleid=1080

The worm on a worm set gear turns, and while turning, it crushes against the load that is imposed on the wheel. The only way to prevent the worm from touching the wheel is to have a film thickness large enough to not have the entire tooth surface wiped off before that part of the worm is out of the load zone.
This scenario requires a special kind of lubricant. Not only will it will have to be a relatively high viscosity lubricant (and the higher the load or temperature, the higher the viscosity must be), it must have some way to help overcome the sliding condition present.
Viscosity (thickness)
Viscosity is the major factor in preventing the worm from touching the wheel in a worm gear set.

 

[Robbob]

yeah i think thin oil would work best if we were using sealed cases and the gears were bathing in it.

for us i think we need something synthetic for sure but how thick is gonna be to thick.

 

[Rocksmith Eng.]

I just did a run on my rig
Rear is 84.2
front 82.4

motor is 145.8/45t novak

This is with my gearjelly of course.
This was after a pretty hard moshin on my backyard rock garden. I dropped my pinion to a 15t and that really helped

 

[dkingston]

I just did a run on my rig
Rear is 84.2
front 82.4

This is with my gearjelly of course.
This was after a pretty hard moshin on my backyard rock garden. I dropped my pinion to a 15t and that really helped

"thumbsup"Pretty much what happened to mine. I think it will go lower when my GearJelly gets here.


- DK

 

[PHiSH]

Did your Mobil 1 stay on the worm gear? I packed a lot of M1 grease in and it seemed to like to gather on the diff housing rather than staying on the worm gear since it's at the top. Is it possible that your axle is heating up because the grease isn't staying on the worm?

 

[AreCee]

Anyone try Tamiya AW (Anti-Wear) grease? A little of this stuff goes a long way. It sticks like glue to metal gears.

 

[letus]

I don't think he's right.... check this out from "The Ins and Outs of Worm Gears" at http://www.oilanalysis.com/article_detail.asp?articleid=1080

The worm on a worm set gear turns, and while turning, it crushes against the load that is imposed on the wheel. The only way to prevent the worm from touching the wheel is to have a film thickness large enough to not have the entire tooth surface wiped off before that part of the worm is out of the load zone.
This scenario requires a special kind of lubricant. Not only will it will have to be a relatively high viscosity lubricant (and the higher the load or temperature, the higher the viscosity must be), it must have some way to help overcome the sliding condition present.
Viscosity (thickness)
Viscosity is the major factor in preventing the worm from touching the wheel in a worm gear set.

Cool, great info on that. Says ISO viscosity 320 & 680 are typical worm gear grease, especially in steel on steel.

Mobil 1 Synthetic (red stuff), which I use as well, is ISO 220.

 

[Dark8ngel]

I use Molub-Alloy, we use it on a large scale in Mining, but if you look you can find the smaller tubes at some type of big hardware store. I've used this for years in all my r/c racing diffs and have never had a worn out gear or failure issue."thumbsup"

Molub-Alloy is designed to lubricate heavily loaded open gears and screw type gears. It exhibits excellent adhesive and cohesive characteristics since the gel-like lube ‘liquifies’ when pressure is applied, carrying away both heat and contaminants. yet it resists ‘squeeze-out’ and clings tenaciously even to gear teeth in vertical orientation.

 

[MISFITCOMPER]

Tomorrow I will be trying some of my VERMEER machine greese, which I use on my trencher. Its a synthetic blend and only needs to be aplied once a year on all the chassis points. Ill let you guys know how it works.

 

[BJoe]

Dad suggested trying Lucas Red and Tacky, apparently that stuff was among the best lubes for the track machinery at the last railroad he was with.

 

[ripper7777777]

Sounds like good stuff

http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?iid=46&catid=2&loc=show



You don't need to pack it in there, once the gears are coated the extra will be pushed to the diff walls serving no purpose at all. Also tons of heavy thick sticky grease increases the load on the gears.

The fact is the worm gears will need to be relubed, it's just going to be part of the maintenance.

The best thing we can do is try different greases and see what lasts the longest before wearing off.

If we had a sealed axle than we could run an oil and not worry about it.

 

[HiloDB1]

I dont own a LCC but I have a RF and I am running gearjelly in my axles on the worms. I have never had a problem with my axles heating up. It never gets much hotter then 85*.

 

[RcBro]

Gearjelly is basically what I'm using now, minus the teflon bubbles..

 

[Del Monte]

Gearjelly is working great for me "thumbsup"

 

[DISTURBIN' tha PEACE]

Gearjelly is working great for me "thumbsup"

That's what I'm using. Cleaned the gears, then packed it in. It was actually alot more drag with them packed.

 

[nsg1rc]

I use Molub-Alloy, we use it on a large scale in Mining, but if you look you can find the smaller tubes at some type of big hardware store. I've used this for years in all my r/c racing diffs and have never had a worn out gear or failure issue."thumbsup"

Molub-Alloy is designed to lubricate heavily loaded open gears and screw type gears. It exhibits excellent adhesive and cohesive characteristics since the gel-like lube ‘liquifies’ when pressure is applied, carrying away both heat and contaminants. yet it resists ‘squeeze-out’ and clings tenaciously even to gear teeth in vertical orientation.

I found this info on Molub-Alloy.
Not sure on which one should be used..........

http://www.castrol.com/castrol/subsection.do?categoryId=82958713&contentId=6005585

 

[sniders1975]

Hey Guy's I run an automotive repair shop & the stuff that im using is a thicker royal purple oil or gear lube that oil has polishing agents in it thats what it is designed for friction! It works great keep's the axel cooler also it's a little pricy but a quart will last for a while! just my .02

 

[DUDE]

anybody try Sil Glyde yet?

 

[toyofast]

From a fellow ORCRC'er that has the Losi axles under his 2.2 scale rig....

I broke em in for 20 min each with a small, constant load on the drill press with the grease they came with. Then i tore em down, and greased em up real good with some LGB train transmission grease. The Big LGB trains use worms and have forever, i figured if anyone made a quality grease for worm transmissions, it would be them. Im real happy with the grease so far, i used it in AX10 axles, and i like it better than the GM grease i had been using, i even like i more than the Asociated black stuff i had always used. Seems to spin pretty freely, not fling as easy and it keeps constant viscocity up to 300F or something like that.