been flying for about two years now and i'll be honest my maintenance routine is basically "fix it when it breaks" which i know is probably not ideal. i tighten props before every session and i eyeball the frame for cracks but thats about it. started wondering if im shortening the life of my motors or ESCs by not doing more.

like do people actually inspect motor bearings regularly or clean them out? i've pulled motors off to check after hard crashes but not as like a scheduled thing. and what about FC and ESC connections, do you re-flow solder joints on a schedule or just when something starts acting up. genuinely curious what peoples actual habits are vs what they think they should be doing because i feel like a lot of advice online is very "best practices" but nobody actually does all of it

honestly same as you, mostly reactive. i do check motor screws more often now after one backed out mid-flight and i lost a motor mid-pack which was a fun experience. other than that i'll clean the motors out with some compressed air every few sessions especially if i've been flying in long grass or dusty areas. bearings i only really check if i feel or hear something, never on a schedule.

the one thing i've started doing that actually made a difference is checking my ESC to motor phase wire solder joints every couple months or if i've had any hard landings. had a joint that looked fine but was barely holding on and would have eventually failed at the worst possible time. takes like ten minutes to check all of them and reflow anything that looks dull.

frame bolts. thats it. every session. learned that lesson the hard way when an arm literally folded mid-roll because the bolts had vibrated loose over like 20 packs. everything else i do when i notice something wrong or after a crash, i dont have the patience for scheduled maintenance on something i'm actively trying to break anyway