General Retracts on T28

[fran11784]

Hey friends, not sure what's going on with this plane. Its a Eflite T28, the big 2.0m one. The main gear get stuck half way retracted but only when in flight.... The gear work fine on the bench. Cant for the life of me figure out what's different when in flight except wind??? I was thinking I could mount a camera to watch and maybe see what's going on.
T

 

[RandyDSok]

I'd first suspect that when the wings are under load while flying, it's binding the landing gear. It wouldn't be unusual for a foamy airframe to flex ( which is why I typically didn't fly them ). Your idea that the air moving past the gear is also not out of line and another possibility. If you have decorative landing gear covers that can be removed, try taking them off and see how it works. If the gear use a separate servo and are not the servoless ( actually the servo is integrated into each gear ), you may be able to replace it with a stronger one. I'm not certain of what else to suggest trying.

 

[fran11784]

What I'm going to try real quick is a separate 2s battery for the retracts. Pretty sure they can handle 8 volts, (I hope)...lol. Only 6 volts coming out of the BEC. I rigged up a adaptor with ground and signal only from the receiver and power and ground from the 2s battery. Works on the beach ok

 

[LoveRC]

Pre-flight or bench tested is a little less power or less power load. When plane is on the air, motor, esc bec, servos it adds up power use. Check your landing strut screw, maybe a little loose and its causing a binding inside the gear box of your landing gear. You need to adjust your landing struts, in this case you need to pull it out just a little.