Minimum # of ceramic bearing upgrades

[H2Ohaze]

The most critical bearings to replace with ceramic if you do nothing else?

May not even be needed; I'm keeping Summit stock for now, I might go Dewalt 14.4 in future, but not brushless or LiPo.

My rear diff bearing- inside- touching behind the pinion exploded. Impressive. I'm in the middle of a teardown, but I have enough new Traxxas "blue" bearings for tranny/diffs already.

But the topic: If you were to replace some bearings at $8 a pop for Acer ceramic, how many would you use, minimum, saving $$$, but still hitting all the biggest "stress-points".

Example: I can replace both outside AND inside 6X12X4 pinion shaft bearings on both Diffs. That's four bearings, $32.

Also could replace tranny bearing on either side of both 20T idler gear #3996X AND idler gear 13T #3976. That's another four bearings, this time 5X11X4.

Total: $64. The 64 dollar question is: can I skimp on not doing say the outside diff bearings or not do the front diff just the rear, etc. Do I really need to replace bearings on both sides of both idler gears...or maybe even leave tranny alone.

Maybe just use up the steel I already have...

[jamann]

#5116 on either side of 3996x I blew the very bottom one(On the stock titan) and ended up with broken teeth on #3985 low gear stoped working exept for the horrible noise.There was two or three teeth left.so thats one i would look at as well as the inner pinion in the diffs (the one you and me and a bunch of others have had chewed into tiny pieces)it seems the inside one goes no suprise when you consider the forces that are being put on it.The stock bearings can be cleaned by using a pointy knife and carefully prying the blue seal off.It's silicone so is a bit flexable exposes the bearings and carrier flush out with your cleaner of choice.Relube(i used grease and packed them)pop the seal back on and they should last a bit longer.so $32. for two 5117 pinion and two 5116 for the 20t idler gear.Thats my plan anyways.They are not cheap but are they worth the $$$ ?.....

[b@3]

If you were going to spend $64 I'd go all the way get the full kit for $90.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...P9&P=**Missing Data**
I've also heard good things about RPM's bearing blaster to clean your bearings.

[H2Ohaze]

Thank you. I don't want to spend much more than $32.

So the inner 5117 just behind the pinion on both diffs, and the 5116 on either side of the 3996X gear in tranny...four bearings total.

Good deal.

[jamann]

Thank you. I don't want to spend much more than $32.

So the inner 5117 just behind the pinion on both diffs, and the 5116 on either side of the 3996X gear in tranny...four bearings total.

Good deal.

So far that has been the ones that seem to go most.The 3996x are of course a bit of a pain to get to to check clean and lube same as the inner pinion bearings,I think they tend to get overlooked at maintainance time as they are not quick and simple to get to so anything that will last longer has got to be good.I pull my trans and tear it apart regularly now as i run in the wet alot and have caught the bearing going bad before it blew up and caused havoc again