LST2 diff and cleaning quesitons

[f22warzone]

ok this is my first nitro rc truck and the day before I broke it in using he heat cycle method but I had to crank the high needed in to about 2.5 turns out just to get it to run.... was cold and had just rained so their was high humid. anyway so yesterday I finished breaking it in with 4 tanks then went out bashing and man is this a tough truck I ended up doing more cartwheels then correct landings getting bout 4' off the ground : ) ...... and can you believe it about 130 cartwheels later 23 flips and 2 upside down ladings all I broke was the rear bumper and one of the outer wheel bearing only because a piece of grass got wrapped in-between the tire and hub and pushed the seal of the bearing into the bearing .... I straightened it out but now the bearing doesn’t role as smooth so I will be pick up a new one..... now to the problem for some reason my diffs are acting like they have lockers in them and do not turn freely unless both tires turn together so I have them taken apart and was wondering if regular will bearing red grease for trucks would work for the diffs..... Also is it ok to just unplug the batteries and hose the truck down with the water hose avoiding the engine and air filter and after words blowing it dry with the air compressor?

Thank you for your help
Michael

Oh and I am glad I found this forum as it has allot of info and help on it

 

[olds97_lss]

No water in that capacity. If you get the tops of the servos wet, the water gets in them and ruins them. You want to keep water away from the core of the truck. Hitting the arms, wheels and skid/bumpers is ok, but be careful as you have 4 servos on that thing if it's a LST2 and a receiver to get wet inside the receiver box. None of those parts like water. You also want to keep it away from the air filter.

On the ring/pinion gears in the diff, normal axle grease is fine. Silicone diff oil is used inside the diff cup.

 

[f22warzone]

No water in that capacity. If you get the tops of the servos wet, the water gets in them and ruins them. You want to keep water away from the core of the truck. Hitting the arms, wheels and skid/bumpers is ok, but be careful as you have 4 servos on that thing if it's a LST2 and a receiver to get wet inside the receiver box. None of those parts like water. You also want to keep it away from the air filter.

On the ring/pinion gears in the diff, normal axle grease is fine. Silicone diff oil is used inside the diff cup.

hu guess i will stop washing it off with water..... so what do you use to clean it all off nice a good then?

opps on that one to i went ahead and just filled the diff up with axle grease and now i have a some what limited slip witch is good: ) but when i opened it up i was surprised to find metal shavings in the front one and plastic shavings in the rear. the front had the pin break on the left side gear that in the diff cup holding on the out drive and the rear had plastic from where the Bevel Gear Set ground into the side a little bit but the cup is still usable.... i hope : ) guess that will be what i buy next order when i break something and where do you get the pins at or do you have to buy the whole new out drive assembly?

 

[olds97_lss]

Are you talking about the shaft in the axle that comes out of the diff that keys to the large sun gears in the diff cup? Or the cross pins that hold the smaller spider gears inside the cup?

I'm not sure where to get the new sun gear pins... I know some guys on the LST forum have been using drill bits cut down to length and others have been using other pins from other companies.

I upgraded my diffs to the heavy duty cup over the winter. It should really help against cup wear with the notches from the cross pins. I run OFNA 50K diff oil inside the cups and basic axle grease for the ring/pinions. The 50K oil is good for bashing because you get the limited slip, but it still gives a little when turning and doesn't kill your turning radius like diff lockers. At least not as bad. It helps avoid being high centered on rough terrain since a decent amount of power is making it to the wheel making contact with the ground. It also makes for pretty straight wheelies

 

[RC Addict]

hu guess i will stop washing it off with water..... so what do you use to clean it all off nice a good then?

You can use Nitro Cleaner found at your LHS or the online stores, or you can do what I do (basically the same stuff but cheaper) and use electric motor cleaner. It is the same thing the electric guys spray into their motors but without the "R/C" name brand and the associated cost. You can pick it up at your local auto-parts store. It evaporates quickly, but be sure you don't flood your servos and receiver with it! You may also want to try WD40 for your suspension arms, etc. In fact if you use a brush and brush some onto your arms and underside you will find that mud will tend to fall off vs. sticking. Again, don't go overboard--a little goes a long way. Hope this helps!

 

[chuck3]

if you waterproof your electrical, you would probably be safe in just hosing the thing down. there is a cool thing with plasti dip somewhere around the site.