Our team has been having an ongoing debate for at least 3 years, and I’d love to hear your opinions on this. The discussion revolves around whether or not swerve modules should be greased.
(We have 2 swerves: WCP’s Swerve X Flipped and Swerve X (non Flipped), but I believe the discussion should be in general about greasing swerve modules or not)
We have two mentors with very different perspectives:
One mentor firmly believes that swerve modules should always be greased. They argue that grease reduces friction, prolongs the life of the gears and bearings, and ensures smooth operation.
The other mentor says greasing isn’t necessary and might even cause more harm than good. Their reasoning is that grease can attract dirt and debris, leading to increased wear and more frequent maintenance.
Both mentors have valid points, and it’s sparked a lot of curiosity within the team. We want to know: What’s your approach to greasing swerve modules?
Do you grease your modules?
If so, how do you handle maintenance to prevent issues like contamination?
If not, how do you ensure smooth operation and longevity of the components?
Let’s settle this debate—or at least gather some good insights from this awesome community!
I would love to hear some “official” answers from Vendors like WCP, SDS and TTB!
Looking forward to your responses!
I believe the most adopted solution to this is greasing your modules along with using dust covers, which someone has designed for practically every module. I definitely agree with mentor one though.
As per WCP’s own words, grease your swerve modules. Other swerve vendors offer similar advice.
To help prevent debris from getting into our modules, we ensure we put a printed tube plug in the end of the tubing on each corner of the modules, and you can also 3d print guards/covers to help prevent debris from getting in them.
We first got our swerve drive during the off season and didn’t grease them properly, and after only a few couple competitions, all our gears had been turned into pointy little throwing stars.
So now we liberally grease, try to keep stuff from getting inside, and de-grease and clean every 10-15 hours of drive time or one competition.
I just want to point out that we are aware vendors recommend greasing the modules, and we understand the reasoning behind it. However, one issue we’ve observed is that greasing the modules can lead to a lot of dust and debris (like aluminum shavings or carpet fibers) getting inside the module, which can cause wear or performance issues.
The main question we’re struggling with is: how much grease should you actually apply to each module? I haven’t been able to find any specific recommendations for the amount when looking online. Too much grease could attract more debris, while too little might not provide sufficient lubrication.
The second question is: how do you prevent contaminants like aluminum shavings or carpet fibers from getting inside the module and sticking to the grease? This seems to be a recurring challenge, especially in FRC environments where there’s a lot of fine debris flying around.
Would love to hear how other teams are handling this! Any tips, tricks, or maintenance routines to balance these issues would be greatly appreciated.
Wheel cover should do protect the wheel drive train from huge debris.
Applying the right amount of torque ensure there is no binding. The right amount and type of grease also help. You don’t need a blob of grease, light coat is enough. Loctite, proper amount and application ensure everything is in its place. I have Rev Module that has 10 hrs total heavy use that all the drivetrain still looks good.
I’ve seen many teams use it, and have mostly observed poor results from that. Lots of pointy teeth more quickly than they should have shown up.
Dry spray lube is not intended for the high pressure that gear teeth experience. It’s for things like window sliders or between leaf spring leafs. It might delay wearing through the coating on aluminum gears, but you should make an effort to use the proper grease until it’s no longer sustainable, then resort to dry products.
If we meet our practice goals for this year, might need to clean them before the first in-season comp.
To be clear, we clean parts before assembly and we don’t cut parts over the robot - so there’s a second layer of general environmental considerations that you can take there. I wish we did a better job vacuuming our practice area.
No grease: The gear faces are sliding against other gear faces of the same hardness, under pressure – as a regular part of normal, ordinary operation.
Grease, and you don’t keep things clean: The gear faces occasionally have a bit of carpet or maybe aluminum (against a typically steel gear) run through, under the same pressure (less anything taken up by the grease).
You’re ahead of the game even if you don’t clean the gears.
