Bearings

[AlastairCooke]

Hi All,
I looking to the forum and the lessons learnt by those who have built and run their models for some time. I am getting close to final assembly of the wheel sets, final drives and idlers on my Tiger 1 (F01). I wonder if it is a good idea to replace the (budget?) 6000-2RS and 6002-2RS bearings supplied by Armortek with branded (SKF, Enduro or NKE?) ones.

Thanks
Alastair

[Donald Suttie]

Hi
I replaced the Final Drive and Idlers bearings with FAG bearings which should be fine,as the other wheels are not taking so much strain
i also replaced the gearbox bearings but have to stress this is NOT recommended by Armortek,nor is an easy replacement

Donald

[Adrian Harris]

Partly, it comes down to how much you will use it.

If it's going to be run at shows every weekend throughout the year then it might be worth the investment for their longevity.
If it's going to be run around the garden occasionally then probably not.

But also, as you're working so hard improving the build and external details of the kit, why not invest in upgrading the bearings?
I doubt you will see any difference in performance but you will know that you have made them the best they can be.

Adrian.

[Armortek]

Over the years there has been the occasional post about bearings along with speculation on what we use, what people should use ...

You are welcome to replace anything you want in the kit - that is the beauty of a kit but as Donald points out, opening the gearbox does invalidate the warranty.

So a few facts to set the record straight:

1. In theory Buying a branded or non branded bearing makes no difference. What is important is the ABEC rating of the bearing - and of course trusting the supplier that the ABEC rating is correct - a large brand has (probably) got a more accurate ABEC rating.

2. ABEC ratings run in class 1,3,5,7 and 9. The ratings increase as the tolerance gets tighter. ABEC 1 and 3 cover most of the bearings in the world and are used in engines, gearbox, drive trains etc. ABEC 5,7 and 9 have much tighter tolerances and are generally used in high performance or specialist use - such as on our CNC spindles.

3. We use ABEC 1 and 3 depending on use case. You will not see any performance difference going to ABEC 5,7 or 9, but you can expect (roughly) to almost double what you pay each time you go up a grade - ie. if an ABEC 3 bearing is £4, an ABEC 9 will be (approx) £30.

[AlastairCooke]

hi all,
Thanks for the responses, especially the detailed one from Kian.

Alastair

[Dennis Jones]

I have been running a Comet, Tiger and 251 for approx 10 years, at least 10 shows per year and same number of visits to Bovington museum. I hate to boast but I am probably one of the few members in the Armortek fraternity that has run their tanks for that number of hours over the years. I am still running the standard bearing sets in all my models.

Dennis.

[Stephen White]

If Dennis is the fleet leader, my Cent is not far behind. It’s been running very satisfactorily for several years with no sign of wear. I’d say that substituting the running gear bearings is a triumph of optimism over reality or in other words very satisfying but a complete waste of money.

[Donald Suttie]

I have to stress that the only reason i replaced the bearings mentioned above is because 1 bearing did not have the correct I/D to fit one of the drive shafts,and i had damaged another myself by drifting out a tight fitting bearing from one of the hubs and damaged a seal
it was far easier to purchase a couple of bearings locally than send away for replacements
i was also impressed with Søren Sandvold bearing replacement in the drive motors and in my quest to find out what was causing one of the motors to be quite noisy i stripped down the gearbox to take a look,i am still none the wiser as to the noise,but will continue with the build and lower assembly and try and figure out if it happens under load.
again this is NOT recommended by Armortek,and i strongly advise even attempting it

Cheers
Donald

[Gerhard Michel]

I have a comrade who drove his Bigtanks Kingtiger for more than 200 hours (real motion) on pavements in the inner city of Munich in Germany, The track links were worn aut, the sprockets were worn out, but no bearing was damaged over this time. And Bigtanks uses only simple Z-type bearings without water sealing, only with dust caps. Therefore I suppose that it is impossible to wear out bearings by single driving.

[johnny johnson]

I am building my Stug 3 with stock bearings, my experience over the 30 years has been in R/C cars, usually 1/5 scale, I have never worn out bearings in onroad cars probably because of the cleaner surfaces I run them on, offroad is completely different I have found slack in bearings after a year of racing them in nasty muddy dirty conditions, so unless the tanks are run in the rougher conditions Im not going to worry about the Stug.