Brushless motor bearings

[HOTSHOT III]

I've had 2 x 2700kv Hobbywing EZRUN motors for about 6 months and am wondering how often the bearings need to be re-lubed.

I called Castle Creations in the states and they told me that all modern BL motors have lifetime bearings which are maintenence-free and good for 100,000hrs runtime.

This being the case i've just left them up to now apart from a couple of occasions when the car was run in the wet, when I re-lubed the front bearings because I could see that water had got in to the front bearing but again I could see no evidence of moisture around the rear one so I just left it alone.

Up to now both motors have performed faultlessly and i'm not sure I want to pull them apart to do something which might be unnecessary.

Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

[jasonwipf]

Don't listen to castle. I have busted 3 of their monster mamba motor front bearings with no bashing track only use. 100,000hr my ass. Maybe in lab conditions but not in the real world, much less a 1/8th buggy. Pull them apart at least once a year and more often if you get them wet. Use electric motor cleaner throughout and reoil the bearings. Takes 5min but worth it.

If you have to replace them, do not use Apec 3 bearings like castle does. Seek out Apec 7 bearings and it will last even longer. Tekin T8 motors have Apec 7 quality bearings and I have never busted one of their motor bearings even with twice as much run time as my castle motors.

BTW when bearings do rust or brake in these motors some times they get stuck in the front end bell housing so you have to near brake them to get them out or fork over another 20-40 getting a new end bell. Spend the time maintaining the bearings.

I often get my Castle motor bearings wet in my r/c boat when i'm doing tricks on the water. every time I do not rebuild that motor after it gets wet or soaked I ALWAYS regret it. Rust and seizing may not seem to be a problem now, but a few weeks wet and you'll see.

[HOTSHOT III]

Jason, thanks for your reply.

Every time i've got these motors wet i've always pulled them apart as you say so I think i'm OK for the time being.

I also have some spare ceramic bearings for when the time comes, a pair from Boca Bearing and another pair from Acer Racing. Have you tried these?

Also what is the best way to change them, would you recommend the "heat up the end bell/put the bearings in the refrigerator" routine?

[metalmickey0]

Thats one thing ive never done to any of my brushless motors is relube the bearings. And i ve never had any problems at all. Thinking about it never did my brushed motors either, still had no problems. You must be getting lots of crap in then to have to redo the bearings.

[jasonwipf]

do what ever works to get them out.