XRAY - Model racing cars

Hi all,

The time has come to replace both the bearings and the composite bearing hubs that cover the 8x14x4 bearings.

I know that an 8x16x5 bearing can be used in place of the smaller bearing and hub, is the smaller bearing and hub in there to reduce wear on the bulkhead/gearbox itself?

Anyway what I'm wondering is if anyone using 8x16x5 bearings instead has experienced wear on the gearbox? I might be right or wrong but surely a bigger bearing has a longer lifespan?

Thoughts & comments please!

the smaller bearing lets the drivetrain rotate better. less resistance.so its a trade off .faster acceleration/longer lifespan

i would think if any bearing is not spinning in the hub the size would not matter.

They also weight a lot more. I use 8x14's with the bearing covers everywhere in my truck too.

I switched to the 8x16x5 bearing on all 3 diffs in my 808. I definitly do see a much longer life from the larger bearings and in all honesty cant tell a difference at all in acceleration. They probably do add a few grams of weight, but the decreased maintenance and increased reliability are worth it IMO.

I actually wish I could use the larger bearings in the wheel hubs too. (without buying the expensive aluminum upgrade parts that is)

I definitly understand where Xray was going with trying to keep all of the weights down and get the best acceleration they can, but for me, being a weekend warrior club racer, anything I can do to reduce the amount of time I need to spend working on it and increase the time I have racing it is important to me. And like I said, any performance difference there might be is totally invisible to me but the bearing life increase is very noticeable for me.

I've been using the old school 8X16 in my 808 from new(8-9 gal range) & had no bearing wearing bulkhead issues. I simply had a lot of that size left over from my last car & had really really bad experience with small bearings when I ran losi. I have a buddy that runs all X-RAY brand correct size bearings & he had no problems either.I believe I have replaced the 8X16 bearings once & my buddy that runs stock size replaced them twice. If you buy Avid $1 bearings I don't think it would make a difference which size you run. Except for my diff o-ring problem you don't need to touch the diffs in this car if you run the same track mostly & like what you got,& there is the benefit in the 8X16 size. You can pack a lot of grease in those big mothers & it takes like 2+ gallons for them to run dry & when you have good o-rings these diffs will still be full & mostly clear by then & that = your total car maint cut in 1/2 just like jhautz said.

What I would like to see is 8X16 on the outer wheel bearings those I replace often,well often when compared to anything else on the X-RAY so maybe the same amount as you would on other cars running the new school tiny bearings. I know I shouldn't complain bout them ,they just seem out of character for the this car maint wise but ,like I said above $1 bearings make life better.

I never had to change the diff bearings...everytime i clean the diffs the bearing seem OK. I test them by spinning the plastic cover and making sure it spins the bearing inside too. After 6 months all look good.
Except of the small bearings on the wheels...all other are still stock.