i have four dNano and i take them all to battle at one time or another so anyone who does the same knows exactly how much maintenance is required to keep them race-ready. if you don’t, no worries, i’ll break it down for you. the process is actually very simple, we’ll start with step one:
STAGE 1: The Breakdown
1) remove all wheels and use a small brush to get the dust out. this is more cosmetic than anything but i can’t imagine dirt caked into your wheels can help increase performance. 2) remove rear of the chassis by disconnecting the body mount (attachment screws inside battery compartment). this way, you don’t have to remove your rear suspension plate for the process. note: if you have a damper installed, of course you’ll need to remove the containing plate from the spring/mount and separate the springs and damper discs. 3) remove the wheel hubs and ball differential and completely dismantle the diff. 4) remove the upper front suspension plate and loosen the tie rod to release the front knuckles. 5) dismantle the front knuckles, removing the ball bearings from their seats as well.
STAGE 2: Cleaning
maintenance primarily means cleaning the areas where dust likes to creep into moving parts which hampers performance. in a tiny car, these tiny intrusions can cause serious issues over time and slow lap times in the short run. 1) take all ball bearings including the four (4) in the front knuckles, one (1) in the motor case and two (2) in the ball differential (carefully remove the e-clip on the base ball bearing, i’ve lost a few of these when they bounced away while removing with a twezer), soak them in a chemical specifically meant for the purpose, i use Brak-leen (contains tetrachoroethylene) but this is a chemical brake cleaner and is normally only available for industrial use. its excellent for this purpose as it coats the surfaces of the bearings making them super smooth, extending life and improving performance. 2) check the wheel shafts and remove collected dust strings around the base of the shaft. this dust slows rotation and over time can damage ball bearings. once clean, drop them in the solution with the ball bearings. 3) clean front knuckle ball bearing seats with a tweezer and tissue to remove dust and dirt (especially if you use oil for your bearings!) 4) all parts of the damper & ball diff should now be wiped free of dirt, dust and oils. toss your pressure plates and ball races (diff balls) into the solution where your ball bearings and other rotating, metal parts are now getting treatment. shake the solution every 2-3 mins and let them soak for a total of about 10 minutes. 5) use a brush to clean dust from all parts of the chassis, tissue + tweezers to get at those tiny parts your brush won’t reach in and around the motor case
STAGE 3: Re-Construction
oils should only be used in 2 places on your dnano: the ball differential and the damper. oils attract dust/dirt and that never mixes with well with a high performance racing model. use oils sparingly, watch for external dirt collection and use a brush to remove what you can see as needed. 1) put the diff back together, using 1K wt oil (Kyosho) or 5k-10K+ wt oil (X-Power) on both sides of the spur gear covering the diff balls. 2) install the diff and wheel hubs, carefully tightening the right hub only close enough to touch the bearing, too tight and rotation may bind. 3) re-attach the rear of the chassis, re-oiling the contact sides of the damper plates with a viscosity thick enough to slow action, but not suspend it. 4) move on to re-building the front knuckles and complete your maintenance task with a complete rebuild of your chassis. if any of your screw seats are stripped due to over-tightening, pick up a set of X-Power screws, replacing them with the straight screws first and when/if these no longer hold, use the included tapered screws.
if you practice 3-5 days a week and race weekly, you’ll want to do this maintenance about once or twice a month – OR – you can move to Pattaya, join as a member at our club and we’ll handle the service for only 199THB ;-). just a quick note, Joom and I installed spoilers for Hugh and Calvin who has moved from an FXX into an all new, Scarlett Red Reventon. this weekend was a long weekend, so before the shop opened we welcomed visitors from Surin. one of them is a big r/c fan, saw NanoTrax online and was excited to get the chance to visit in person. i just came back from the gym and we had no staff, but they didn’t mind so we gave them a tour and Bun picked up a souvenir NanoTrax T-Shirt and photos to mark the occasion. maybe we’ll have more Thai visitors who love R/C visit us again soon? i truely hope so.
July 28th, 2010 at 00:46
what my car could really do with is a smiley face :D
July 28th, 2010 at 01:09
then it would look like a kid’s car… YOU ARE A MAN!!! …. almost :-P
July 28th, 2010 at 08:52
Reventon’s are looking great with the new spoilers
Question why do you have Renault logo on the Reventon ?. looks very good
July 28th, 2010 at 10:53
lol… i told Calvin that Renault and Red Bull are competitors but he said Renault builds their engines and i figured it wouldn’t matter as long as it looked cool :-D
July 28th, 2010 at 11:10
i just noticed we have 4 drivers with Reventon at the shop – we’re going to have to do a “Reventon Challenge” race! ;)
July 30th, 2010 at 21:44
Thanks for the guide Q’on, next time I will try for myself. I wonder how many bits I will lose…
I love my Reventon with the spoiler, no decals required (see orange model above). Just wish I could drive it properly.