Ceramic Bearings

[emac]

I Had an O.S. 82 in my microbust. After one season of running i replaced the bearings in it with ceramic bearings. The bearing i took out were worn but not too bad. I always after run my motors and use qaulity fuel. The ceramic bearings didnt last two months and i paid double for them than the original OS ones. Anyone else have problems with this type of bearing. I have a lot of nitro motors and change bearings every year to prevent one from coming apart. this is the first time i used ceramic. I'm thinking they are not worth it , anyone else use them.

 

[izitbrokeyet?]

Pros:

The ceramic bearings are really best in cases where you need quick acceleration. They weigh significantly less than a steel ball, so they take much less effort to accelerate from 8 krpm to whatever.

Cons:

I've purchased them making the mistake that more expensive means superior. This is not the case since I've also found that ceramics seem to wear much faster than steel balls. I personally wont use them any more in boats since acceleration doesn’t matter as much as in car/buggy/dragster applications and the service life isn't as long. Also....I haven't quite figured out if the balls are getting smaller when the bearing sets wear or if the balls are hard enough to wear the race....either way, where does all that material go as the bearing set wears? I suspect it turns into lapping compound :huh:

Maybe Ron can help us out with this one:

 

[Don Ferrette]

Ceramic bearings- cough twice & pass! Just go with the quality swiss WIB bearings that you can get from Ron (Racecraft Bearings) B)

 

[gil sonsino]

Ceramic bearings are really good for specific applications where low lubrification is needed.My sons are using them for skating with sucess.

Personally I wouldn't waste money with them for our engines once When I got a pair for my Picco years ago it was a mess pass the crankshaft throughout them.I had to return the set to bocabearing and again with the new ones I had problems with the fit.

Stick to good swiss or germany ones and save your money!

They cost the double but don't last the same.

Gill

 

[emac]

Thanks for all the info, that'll be the last set of ceramic bearings i ever buy. I kinda knew it just needed another opinion.

Eric Maculan

 

[gene gager]

I had the same problem, fast motor , no bearing life. added extra castrol till a very light smoke trail followed boat, ( if the wind is blowing at all , you won't see the smoke trail) guess what , fast motor and no bearing wear. how much faster is a tile motor vs. a metal motor? good question, but with more oil a tile bearing will work. one ounce of recipicating mass is equal to 7 onces of dead weight, (4 cycle engine) now a 2 cycle may or may not benefit the same gain due to double the power pulse. let me know if you figure it out as I am real green on 2 strokes. geno. :unsure: :blink:

 

[ScottVanSlooten]

The races are what don't hold up . The balls are harder then them and if you send them back Boca told me they would put my balls in new races for the cost of steel bearings. You want to have a little fun go put this question on the other web site and see what happens. ( I did this ) Got pissed off e-mail from one of the guys. Scott

 

[Rudy Formanek]

So I got a question for the people that ran ceramic bearings-- What color were the balls?? Were they gray or midnight black??

 

[izitbrokeyet?]

the ones I had were grey

 

[[email protected]]

the ones I had were grey

:lol: :lol: ...........I thought you were gonna say BLUE :lol:

JUST KIDDIN'

 

[izitbrokeyet?]

wait till I send you another batch of props Rodney......I'll tie them to the back of my car and drag them around the city like a wedding train a couple of times before sending them

 

[RaceCraftBearings]

Boca told me they would put my balls in new races for the cost of steel bearings.    Scott

The typical rip off attitude of Boca. Give them your used ceramic balls and they will put them in new races for the price of a set of Steel ball bearings, what a rip off, think about it! I hate to slam my competitor but when they are such a rip off artist its hard not to say something!

When are you guys going to learn that they are in it for the money and I am in it because I race right along side of you? Who would you rather support some corperation who doesnt care about your hobby other then to make money or someone who is and will always be a diehard RC Boat racer?

 

[Rudy Formanek]

If your ceramic balls aren't midnight black you weren't getting silicon nitride balls, which are the high tech balls they are putting in the mega expensive machine tool bearings. Gray balls are probably aluminum oxide ceramic balls and are cheaper, but not near as good. Sorry, but alot of people fell into the any "ceramic bearing is great" trap. If it ain't got midnight black balls, you aren't getting the ceramic balls that have made ceramic bearings legendary in machine tools. Don't know, but if you are able to get the silicon nitride balls in a bearing that is affordable (highly unlikely) those are the ones to buy, anything else is just a cheap imitation. People I have know that have tried the gray ball bearings found them to be gritty when later removed from the engine ( no amount of cleaning would remove the grittiness). Might be good for heli's or somthing. Some European pylon engines come with the good style ceramic bearings and they seem to work.

 

[aamick1971]

i run the racecraftbearings in my 3.5 k&b outboard and havent had any problems with them. they are alot better than the stock ones(k&b's spit fuel out of the bottom of the flywheel)racecraft dosen't. i highly reconmend them over ceramic bearing.racecraftbearings is best in my book!

thanks,

allen