450 feathering shaft gritty, notchy feel
- Thread starter pj1969
- Start date
Tony
Staff member
There are a couple things this could be, and all of them requires you take the head apart. First thing, your radial bearings as URI stated. They could have some dirt in them. Follow my How To Clean Bearings video and blow them out so they spin smooth then put a little light oil in them and call it good.
Next is the thrust bearings. These are wearable items and they should be checked/replaced every 10 flights or so. Use the same method as the radial bearings to clean them. Make sure there is no dirt in them, apply some thick grease or silicone grease to the balls, face the open side to the head block and put it all back together making sure the in is in, and the out is out on the thrust washers.
The last option is that you need to remove the shims that are in the head. This I would try first. Take the head apart and remove the thrust bearing, then remove the first radial bearing and there should be a shim in there. Remove that shim from both sides and put it back together. If there is no play in teh grips, and the grips are smooth, then you have found your issue. It's putting too much pressure on the radial bearings. best option is to sand down the plastic dampers in the head just slightly until the grittyness goes away. Or, you can remove the shims, but is not really suggested.
Hope this helps.
Here is the bearing cleaning video.
How To Clean Bearings The Easy Way - YouTube
Next is the thrust bearings. These are wearable items and they should be checked/replaced every 10 flights or so. Use the same method as the radial bearings to clean them. Make sure there is no dirt in them, apply some thick grease or silicone grease to the balls, face the open side to the head block and put it all back together making sure the in is in, and the out is out on the thrust washers.
The last option is that you need to remove the shims that are in the head. This I would try first. Take the head apart and remove the thrust bearing, then remove the first radial bearing and there should be a shim in there. Remove that shim from both sides and put it back together. If there is no play in teh grips, and the grips are smooth, then you have found your issue. It's putting too much pressure on the radial bearings. best option is to sand down the plastic dampers in the head just slightly until the grittyness goes away. Or, you can remove the shims, but is not really suggested.
Hope this helps.
Here is the bearing cleaning video.
How To Clean Bearings The Easy Way - YouTube
pj1969
Member
Cheers Tony, i took out the shim from between the thrust bearing and grip bearing, got rid of the notchyness, but had quite a bit of play in the head, tried to use small spacers to counter, but didnt really work. I've ordered complete Align replacements for thrust and grip, hope that works. Will let you know the out come.