Should/Why Shouldn't I Grease My Pinion (metal)/Spur (plastic)?

[The_RC_Dude]

Hey guys, TRD here. I have been wondering about this whole "should you grease your pinion/spur" thing, I know some people have strong feelings about this topic. In this case, I'm talking about a metal pinion on a plastic spur, and the grease I have is this Synthetic-Multi-Purpose-Super Lube grease (the stuff's great BTW!). Will greasing these two gears result in a smoother, quieter tranny with less gear wear (not that there's anything wrong with the stock tranny in my 144001, which is the rig in question, along with my SG 1601), or will the grease just get flung off the gears at speed after a few runs, coating the inside of the gear covers? I'm also wondering if the grease could heat up to the point that it degrades or messes with the gears and their longevity. This is kinda a "noob" question, but no question is stupid, plus, someone else could learn from this thread!

I know that when running a metal spur with a metal pinion, it's advised to grease them, since it's metal-on-metal, and in RCs, the majority of places with moving metal-on-metal parts, you'll want some grease on/in it. Lastly, how much grease should I use for my setup, and for a metal pinion/spur setup (if greasing the former is recommended)? So pitch in your two cents RCT fam, I'm interested!

-"TRD", AKA, Isaac

EDIT: Ok, sorry, I wasn't clear. I'm asking about greasing a METAL pinion meshed to a PLASTIC spur, in an INCLOSED housing, so the gears aren't in the open, and dirt would be hard pressed to get inside.

 

[tntpoof]

I've never greased a pinion and spur been in this hobby for 40+ year.herd guy do this but this is one of those things in this hobby you know you will have to replace sometime or another so buy a new set when you get your nib rc,,

 

[Chubaka]

With the right setup, the gears will last. My stampede and scx10.2 both had the same spur for years.

Greasing a gear in the open will attract dirt and will probably give opposite results thdn what your looking for, not to mention fling it everywhere!

 

[Tunedfrog]

Grease and dirt don't play well together.

 

[WickedFog]

I don't use grease on my metal spur/pinion setups. Just graphite. The only place I use grease is on internal gears, protected by a housing.

 

[ahr43]

For years have used the tiniest dab of Tamiya Ceramic Grease on my pinion/spur. Steel or Aluminum to Nylon or Kevlar interface. This primarily for an on-road and drag racing environment. I would hesitate to recommend it for an off-road environment. This is for 48P gears.

Same for 32P on steel to nylon interface. In addition, on 32P I polish the [steel] pinion as the brand I buy tend to be a bit rough. Promotes longer spur gear life.

 

[WickedFog]

Nylon is self lubricating, so I never use grease on my plastic gears.

 

[mzanzirc]

I don't use grease on my metal spur/pinion setups. Just graphite. The only place I use grease is on internal gears, protected by a housing.

Same. The applied grease will be gone on the first run anyway.

And WHEN it attracts dirt, it becomes like a grinding paste, prematurely wearing down the thing you want to protect in the first place.

 

[RET4RD]

I don't grease. I just pop the motor module and blow it out every now and then with some air, and I can actually HEAR the difference when it runs.

 

[STONER RC]

I agree with all the above. No grease on the pinon/spur gear set up. I only use grease on internal gears bud. That's it. If your mesh is good you should never have any issues

 

[RustyUs]

No grease. Even if I would get the hardened steel spur gear for my eBuggy... no grease would be used.

The only time I greased a spur, and pinion gear was when the instruction manual said to do it. '83 Frog...yes. '85 Optima... sort of, kind of did (on the "counter gear"/gear behind spur gear). After those two RCs... no grease.

What I thought was weird was the fact the 2016 Optima "re-re" states to grease the ends of the dogbones as well.

 

[nino]

No grease on spur/pinion no matter the materials.

 

[Addict Rc]

I personally don’t grease my pinion and spur because I have a truck that’s mostly off-road so I don’t want sand in my gears with the grease

 

[The_RC_Dude]

I've never greased a pinion and spur been in this hobby for 4+ year.herd guy do this but this is one of those things in this hobby you know you will have to replace sometime or another so buy a new set when you get your nib rc,,

Thanks TNT! I though you've been in this hobby for over a decade, you've been on this forum since like the mid-2000's, IIRC! I was wondering if grease would make them last longer and/or run quieter, not that I've had issues with the gears.

 

[The_RC_Dude]

With the right setup, the gears will last. My stampede and scx10.2 both had the same spur for years.

Greasing a gear in the open will attract dirt and will probably give opposite results thdn what your looking for, not to mention fling it everywhere!

I agree! I've edited my original post to make it clearer, the gears in question are in the stock gear housing, so almost no dirt gets inside. When I did the brushless conversion to my 144001 (the vehicle in question) and I opened up the gear housing, there was very minimal dirt, and that was after about 1.5 years of use!

It would become a grinding paste, I agree, but would you say anything different after knowing this info? I'm guessing the gears would still fling the grease everywhere, housing or not?

With the right setup, the gears will last. My stampede and scx10.2 both had the same spur for years.

Greasing a gear in the open will attract dirt and will probably give opposite results thdn what your looking for, not to mention fling it everywhere!

I agree! I've edited my original post to make it clearer, the gears in question are in the stock gear housing, so almost no dirt gets inside. When I did the brushless conversion to my 144001 (the vehicle in question) and I opened up the gear housing, there was very minimal dirt, and that was after about 1.5 years of use!

It would become a grinding paste, I agree, but would you say anything different after knowing this info? I'm guessing the gears would still fling the grease everywhere, housing or not?

Grease and dirt don't play well together.

See above (the post edit and what I wrote in reply to Chubaka).

I don't use grease on my metal spur/pinion setups. Just graphite. The only place I use grease is on internal gears, protected by a housing.

See above. Thanks Kevin, the gears are in a housing. I've heard that white graphite grease or whatever can be bad for your health, some guy on RCT swore that he'd never use it, said his dad or grandpa has some issues with it, possibly health related I think?

For years have used the tiniest dab of Tamiya Ceramic Grease on my pinion/spur. Steel or Aluminum to Nylon or Kevlar interface. This primarily for an on-road and drag racing environment. I would hesitate to recommend it for an off-road environment. This is for 48P gears.

Same for 32P on steel to nylon interface. In addition, on 32P I polish the [steel] pinion as the brand I buy tend to be a bit rough. Promotes longer spur gear life.

See above, the gears are in a housing that keeps 95% of the dirt and grime out. I'm probably a light basher at heart, but I run on-road a fair bit, not comp, just ripping around. I'll also go on gravel when it's not super dusty, and a little hardpack moist dirt here and there. The gears in my buggy are 0.7 mod, a pretty uncommon pitch.

Nylon is self lubricating, so I never use grease on my plastic gears.

Interesting! Why is that so, is it because they are oil based plastics or something? But that's for your Tamiyas, right? My buggy has a metal pinion, plastic spur setup. Not sure if the stock, plastic spur I'm using is nylon. Are nylon spurs common in budget friendly cars?

Same. The applied grease will be gone on the first run anyway.

And WHEN it attracts dirt, it becomes like a grinding paste, prematurely wearing down the thing you want to protect in the first place.

See above, what I wrote to Chubaka. Gotcha, thanks, I was wondering if the grease would stay on or not, apparently not! I'm familiar with the "grinding paste" effect caused by grease, lube, or oil mixed with mud, dirt, or sand. I work on my bike, and am into Mountain Bikes, so I have experience with that. (Kinda, I try to not create a grinding paste anywhere on my rigs)

I don't grease. I just pop the motor module and blow it out every now and then with some air, and I can actually HEAR the difference when it runs.

Thanks for the feedback! On my buggy, to spray out the main tranny, you have to at least unscrew the rear part of the top deck, and if you only do the rear, bend the top deck a little, slide the top tranny cover out, then blow it off. I'm not sure if it's worth the effort, as last time I checked it during my brushless conversion, the inside of the gear housing was pretty clean, after 1.5 years of light-ish use! Now that I think about it, it's not that hard to peek inside the tranny, so I might blow/clean it out, say, every 6 months. Just for good measure, and so I can have something to wrench on!

No grease. Even if I would get the hardened steel spur gear for my eBuggy... no grease would be used.

The only time I greased a spur, and pinion gear was when the instruction manual said to do it. '83 Frog...yes. '85 Optima... sort of, kind of did (on the "counter gear"/gear behind spur gear). After those two RCs... no grease.

What I thought was weird was the fact the 2016 Optima "re-re" states to grease the ends of the dogbones as well.

Ok, thanks HeavyBag!

Greasing the ends of dogbones, what the heck? You mean the end that goes into the diff outdrive cup, or the axle stub? I've never greased any dogbones or CVDs (ESPECIALLY not CVDs, #grindingpaste!), I'll wipe off and clean the dogbones, CVDs, diff outdrive cups, and axle stubs (for the dogbones), and relube with some "dry" chain lube, for bikes (since we also ride).

I'll do this every month to 2 months, mostly. Keeps those parts from getting worn too fast, and the dry lube (I also wipe off the excess) attracts minimal crap (kinda like what you want when dating someone...you don't wanna attract "crappy" people ).

No grease on spur/pinion no matter the materials.

Thanks man, does that hold true even when the gears are in an enclosed housing?

I personally don’t grease my pinion and spur because I have a truck that’s mostly off-road so I don’t want sand in my gears with the grease

Please see above, what I said to Chubaka and the edited post. Thank you for your input!

I agree with all the above. No grease on the pinon/spur gear set up. I only use grease on internal gears bud. That's it. If your mesh is good you should never have any issues

Yup, internal gears (ie. in a housing). Mesh is basically spot on, it's preset. My takeaway from y'all is to not grease gears, and only consider greasing gears when they're in a housing, and only in special conditions.

 

[RustyUs]

Ok, thanks HeavyBag!

Greasing the ends of dogbones, what the heck? You mean the end that goes into the diff outdrive cup, or the axle stub? I've never greased any dogbones or CVDs (ESPECIALLY not CVDs, #grindingpaste!), I'll wipe off and clean the dogbones, CVDs, diff outdrive cups, and axle stubs (for the dogbones), and relube with some "dry" chain lube, for bikes (since we also ride).

I'll do this every month to 2 months, mostly. Keeps those parts from getting worn too fast, and the dry lube (I also wipe off the excess) attracts minimal crap (kinda like what you want when dating someone...you don't wanna attract "crappy" people ).

Re-re manual:

Totally surprised Kyosho shows to do so on a 2016 re-release model... possibly to get that Optima nostalgia feeling . And yes, I also use some "dry" stuff barrowed from my MTBikin' days (Pedro's Extra Dry Lube) on CVA joints.

 

[The_RC_Dude]

Re-re manual:

View attachment 146783
Totally surprised Kyosho shows to do so on a 2016 re-release model... possibly to get that Optima nostalgia feeling . And yes, I also use some "dry" stuff barrowed from my MTBikin' days (Pedro's Extra Dry Lube) on CVA joints.

What da he- that's strange! That chassis is kind of un-conventional, long, thin, and all plates!

Cool, you do it to! I'm still in MTBing, we're going to a bike park/trail center tomorrow, in fact. I've said it before, somewhere on the forum (if anyone actually wants to try find it, props to you!), that we run Finish Line brand dry and wet lube, depending on the season. I prefer dry lube, even in winter, except when it's really nasty and wet, and it gets wet here in Washington in the peak of winter. I'm not gonna get into this whole chain lube topic again, last time I rambled on for minutes!

Edit: Wouldn't that grease get heated up and partially melted/degraded with extended running, not to mention all the crap that's gonna get in there?

 

[1Outlawtrucker]

Hey guys, TRD here. I have been wondering about this whole "should you grease your pinion/spur" thing, I know some people have strong feelings about this topic. In this case, I'm talking about a metal pinion on a plastic spur, and the grease I have is this Synthetic-Multi-Purpose-Super Lube grease (the stuff's great BTW!). Will greasing these two gears result in a smoother, quieter tranny with less gear wear (not that there's anything wrong with the stock tranny in my 144001, which is the rig in question, along with my SG 1601), or will the grease just get flung off the gears at speed after a few runs, coating the inside of the gear covers? I'm also wondering if the grease could heat up to the point that it degrades or messes with the gears and their longevity. This is kinda a "noob" question, but no question is stupid, plus, someone else could learn from this thread!

I know that when running a metal spur with a metal pinion, it's advised to grease them, since it's metal-on-metal, and in RCs, the majority of places with moving metal-on-metal parts, you'll want some grease on/in it. Lastly, how much grease should I use for my setup, and for a metal pinion/spur setup (if greasing the former is recommended)? So pitch in your two cents RCT fam, I'm interested!

-"TRD", AKA, Isaac

EDIT: Ok, sorry, I wasn't clear. I'm asking about greasing a METAL pinion meshed to a PLASTIC spur, in an INCLOSED housing, so the gears aren't in the open, and dirt would be hard pressed to get inside.

I don't think it would hurt if it's enclosed,an as far as Temp goes...if ut dies get hot...no grease could wear out plastic...I use wolfs head hi temp red grease use it in my 18 wheeler..in my peterbilt an trailer ( heavy haul 13 axles)