To grease or not to grease.........

[militarymaxx]

What is recommended for lubrication between the pinion and the diff? I just rebuilt my front/rear and never put much thought into what kind of lube should be used. Thanks.

 

[NCNitro]

If this is a 1/8 buggy with sealed diffs, you would use diff oil. You can tune your diffs by the weight of the oil you use. For something like a T-Maxx that the diffs are not sealed I use white lithium grease.

 

[Lessen]

I think he's talking about lubrication between the pinion and ring gear, in which lithium grease or black grease would be fine. I prefer the later.

 

[militarymaxx]

Lessen is correct in what I'm refering to. Lithium or black grease it is.
Thanks.

 

[olds97_lss]

IMHO, I'd suggest sealing the bulkhead with some RTV. Helps keep the grit out and is usually pretty easy to remove it when you do maintenance. You'd be surprised at how much crap ends up in there. Turns your grease into gritty sand blasting media.

I only bring it up because I forgot to do that on my savage when I rebuilt my diffs. I recently had a bearing go out and upon inspection, the diffs had all sorts of sand and dirt in the ring/pinion area.

 

[militarymaxx]

Agree, I do get a good seal between my bulkheads and the chassis. I was just concerned about the metal to metal contact between the ring/pinion. Anyone ever fill the bulkheads with a bunch of grease?

 

[Lessen]

Filling the bulkhead with grease would only cause restriction of the drivetrain, thus robbing horsepower. A 1:1 racecar may have fluid filled rear ends but that's because the gears get so hot they need to be cooled somehow in order to maintain longevity.

 

[Scrogg]

Motorcycle chain lube works very good as well, it stays put on the gears where as the grease flings off. Don't pack it with grease, this is a case where a couple of dabs of grease work just fine. I use both depending on what's handy.

 

[NCNitro]

Oops, my bad. Yeah, for the ring and pinion gear I use white lithium. Sorry bout the confusion.