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Bearings How to get the best out of your bearings. In this section I will endeavor to pass on a few hints and tips that (if you are serious about your racing) could just give you the edge over your competition. My own experience is in both Off and On Road, National and International Car racing, but most of these tips could be useful to all forms of RC. 1/ Shields: The main problem with shields is friction, the more you can reduce friction the more efficient the bearing, so here's a tip that does just that. Wheel Bearings always come in pairs, side by side. If you think about it the two inside shields on each bearing aren't needed, so ... remove them, using a small jewelers screwdriver ... simple, and in one fell swoop you have halved your wheel bearing friction. 2/ Cleaning: All Bearings need to be cleaned from time to time. Depending on how focused and competitive you are, this can be as often as after each meet, or once or twice a year ... For Club Meetings once or twice a year might be all you need if you are easily beating your competition, but for the BIG meets you need that extra 5% or 10% just to be up with the rest. What you need is a small glass jar, a jewelers screwdriver, an old tooth brush and some Isoproponol. Remove the shields, then drop the bearings in the jar, add some Isopropanol, pop on the lid and shake well. Empty them out, give them a good brushing and make sure they spin free then repeat the process. Clean the shields separately. Once you are satisfied, lay them on a piece of kitchen roll and allow to dry. 3/ Lubrication: The arguments I have had about what lubrication to use you wouldn't believe. Some of the top racers of my day swore they didn't use any at all, but cleaned out the original lubrication and ran them dry ... they also admitted to fitting a new set after each meeting ... well, they were getting them for free. My tip is, yes even with a new set of bearings, clean out the original lubrication (as described above) and with one shield in place use the thinnest oil you can find ... I recommend ZX1 (Zed Ex One) or sowing machine oil. Never use grease!! |
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Tires Rubber Tires ALWAYS should have either soft sponge or rubber inserts. They will not function as they should without them. And if you are totaly serious about your racing they should be glued to the rims. You should also have at least three different compounds (Soft, Medium and Hard) fo varying track temperatures in On Road tarmac racing Touring cars, and varying pin sizes for carpet and of course Off Road racing Buggies. Before mounting your Tires I would recommend asking around the more experienced racers at your local club as to what inserts they use. Even the top level racers rely on a bit of local knowledge on tracks they have never raced before. 1/ Once you have decided what inserts to use, position them inside the Tires ready to go onto the rims. 2/ You will need strong fingers to pull and manoever the Tires over the rims so you may need the help of an adult. (I would recommend NOT using metal Tire leavers as they can not only damage the fragile plastic rims but can also put small tears in the rubber, that could cause problems later) The techneque I recommend is to first of all hook the Tire on one side of the rim, then using the thumb and forefinger, grip the Tire and pull it upwards and over into position around the middle of the wheel, then over to its final position on the far side so that the beading is seated in the spigot. then position the near side beading in the opposite spiggot making sure the sponge (or rubber) incert is not trapped and positioned centrally. 3/ You have the option of either gluing or not gluing your tires on. If the track you race at is not too grippy you can get away with it, but on high grip tracks there is the possibility the tire might pull away from the rim and ruin your race. My recommendation in that case is to glue. Superglue is the thing to use. To do this carefully pull the beeding out of its seating put on a spot of glue then quickly push it back down. repeat this about 6 times around each side of the wheel. Superglue can be dangerous, so this is best done by an adult. Sponge Tires can be puchased either pre mounted, glued and trued on the rims or seperately. Fitting the Tires onto the rims can be messy so here are a few tips to make it a bit easier. If you are fitting new Tires on old rims make sure the old sponge Tire is completely removed, to do this I recomend using a wood lathe and a bat or piece of wood with medium grit emery paper stuck to it ... sand paper will also work, but emery is harder wearing ... This will also be used for trueing the wheel, described later. 1/ Mount the Tires on the rims. Make sure they are reasonably tight on the rims, too loose and you might have problems. 2/ I find this to be easier if either in the lathe or on the car itself (but be carefull with that glue) Using your thumb and forefinger, lift up the Tire off the rim, then using a small spatula or a thin piece of rigid wood or plastic dipped in glue (I recomend Evo-Stik, Impact Adhesive) slip it in the gap, making sure both the Tire and the rim are smeared. Then lower the Tire back onto the rim and press it down. Turn the Tire approximately 60 degrees and repeat. 3/ Depending on the width ot the Tire you may need to repeat the process on the inside also. Trueing Sponge Tires is esential if you are serious about racing competatively. To do this you will need the bat or piece of wood, as described earlier and a good pair of vernear or digital calipers. Sponge Tires will always wear unevenly, weather you race on Carpet or Tarmac, the outside wheels will always end a race smaller than the inside, so after each race I recommend swaping them over (unless u are fortunate to have a new set for each race) and dont forget to adjust the steering trim on your transmitter before the next race. 1/ Before starting check each mounted Tire for diamiter and order them smallest to largest. Start with the smallest and mount it in the lathe. 2/ Make sure you are wearing safety glasses before you start this procedure: Lay the sanding bat under the Tire so that it can be pivoted up from behind onto the Tire. Start the lathe spinning so that as you stand before the Tire it is rotating downwards. Slowly lift the bat and try to hold it ridged as it comes up against the Tire. There will be a high point on the Tire that if you hold the bat rigid enough will eventually wear down until the Tire apears completely concentric. at this point stop the lathe and measure the diameter on the inside and outside of the width. If needs be, repeat the process until satisfied. Repeat for each Tire, mathcing them in pairs for diamiter. If concidered necessery also trim the sides. |
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