HOW TO
FREE UP YOUR
NITRO DRIVETRAIN
Be Free! BY BRENT FIEGE
The drivetrain of any nitro-powered vehicle is a maze of gears, shafts, joints and bearings that get the power to your tires. ;is is essentially the veins and arteries of your car and a bound up drivetrain can have some severe
consequences. ;e extra friction will put more stress on your engine, cause parts to wear out prematurely and drastically reduce
the performance of your car. Freeing up your drivetrain isn’t hard
to do by looking at a few key elements and you will get more
consistent handling and better fuel mileage in the end.
FYI
BEARINGS
Ball bearings are, by far, the most important part of getting your drivetrain free. Most
ball bearings come greased and sealed. Grease is great for keeping bearings well
lubricated and last a long time but it also is thick, slows bearings down, and attracts
dirt. To get these bearings spinning freely, you will need to clean out all of the grease
and replace it with lightweight bearing oil. ;ere’s a few ways to go about this but
the best two ways is to remove one side of the seals, spray out all of the grease with
motor spray or use an RPM Bearing Blaster and some motor spray to get the job done
for those who don’t want to risk damaging your bearings while removing the seals.
Once you have the grease out you’ll need to apply a few drops of light oil such as Acer
Racing Sin Oil. Once they are in your car, you should instantly see a huge
di;erence in how free your drivetrain is. Your bearings will be a bit
louder after this process, but it’s nothing to worry about.
Make sure you also clean them often and they’re well
oiled.
Oiled bearings spin
much more freely than
a greased bearing at
the expense of bearing
life.
Bearing on the left is the
new greased bearing. On
the right is a cleaned and
oiled bearing that will spin
much freer.
