600 Trex 550E

[Chris Hadley]

No, the Hippo has the 850mx dominator motor, although the animal is in bits at the minute... hence no videos or posts

 

[Tony]

Oh, you are going to need to create a post about why it's in bits. And yea, the 550 I have here has the 730mx motor in it. Overkill if you ask me lmao.

 

[leedude1]

Hey guys question here.. I purchased a used trex 550 pro DFC and im upgrading the tail cone gear with the newer red ones (supposedly a little tougher) how the heck do you remove the old one? Is there an easy way? I trying not to scrap the tail case in the mean time.. I managed to change out the front torque tube gears by using the case slots them selves but the tail is one piece.. I was hoping to salvage the older gears if possible as replacements. Guidance on the best way would be helpful.

thanks

 

[Tony]

If you are talking about pressing them on and off, I have never done that. I have always purchased the entire unit as one. Because once they are pressed on, they will never be as strong when they are taken off. If you have the black gears now, I would just use them until they wear out, or strip (hopefully they wear out) and then, if the shaft is still good, press the black ones off (if you can, some are molded I think) and press the red ones on. But if you decide to put the red ones on, just toss the old ones. I would not trust them.

 

[leedude1]

I think I may have already damaged the gear a bit as I was trying to press it out with a mips driver that fit and didn't touch to bearing it self ..but realized these are on there like seriously tight.. so at this stage I could change the tail shaft gear as its one unit and no issue there remove the set screw and slide it out almost one and done...but to remove the other its basically just force it off and force the new one on? The front gears werent bad because i could use the slots in the case itself as a bearing tool to seat the bearings themselves and to force against but here I have nothing.

 

[leedude1]

Never mind Tony my man... go t it.. My old man used to say you shouldn't force anything... so with a little gentle jackhammering with and inserted 1.5m MIP driver and I saw some headway..then a little more and finally off she came. Inserting the new one was much easier. I stood the tail case flat on the workbench and pushed ...once the gear got started , I laid a small srcap of soft wood on the gear top and just pressed through the first bearing.. I checked the alignment before continuing through the second...we are seated and good to go...
in short doable but wow not that easy getting that thing off at all.. actually thought it was glued in at first.

 

[Smoggie]

The bevel gear should press out without too much trouble. Half the battle is finding the correct size bit of bar or a socket or similar tool that in just slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the bearing. An arbour press makes removing them easier, less likely to cause damage than whacking with a hammer.

 

[leedude1]

Agreed, no I didn't wack at it with a hammer but the temptation was there. I managed to find a mips driver where the sleeve of the driver is rounded. The circumference was a little smaller than I would have liked but was good enough.
My original pressure only gave me about 1/8 of head way and that was all she wrote.
The jolts from the gentle but persistent knocking about a half inch off the table top..started to see movement so I kept going with what was working.
I realised that if I messed up the bearing I would be needing a new tail case all together so was actually pretty careful.
Turned out well everything is smooth and ...on to the next phase of the overhaul. ..I'm really enjoying this project actually.
Thanks smoggie peace out my man.

 

[Smoggie]

FWIW I dont think you would have had any trouble with the black gears in the tail. For reasons that i dont really fully understand it's almost always the front gears that strip. It's maybe just Murphy's law in action because the front gears are harder to replace.

 

[leedude1]

Agreed had that happen with my 450 actually. ..just brushed the tail blades on one landing and toasted thosé front gears... and an afternoon loosing 25+ screws to give me enough play to remove the boom etc etc.
Well its done now so red gears all round for the tt ...hopefully I'll never have to go there again but if I do, .....with knowledge, I am armed.

 

[Smoggie]

If you want to reduce chances of the tail blades hitting the ground on landing and take-off get yourself a set of landing gear legs from the Trex 550X or 700X (same parts on both helis) which have a 5 degree nose down tilt so raise the tail up well clear of the ground.

 

[leedude1]

Gentlemen do you know if there is any other ALIGN canopy that will fit the 550e pro dfc. Mine got stepped on at a fun fly and I was wondering if there are any other options other than the after market.
Like would the 600 dfc canopy fit? or the 550L or X etc they have some color options that I would like.

 

[Chris Hadley]

Leedude,
The 550L will fit but will require a bit of messing as I was looking to replace my cracked 550e canopy but the originals were all out of stock. Tried a mates 550L up against my frame and only close bits are around the top where the swash links are and the main gear may need clearance with longer stand offs
Regards
Flying Hippo

 

[leedude1]

I managed to find a 550 e pro dfc at LHS luckily.
I will need those what may work for the future though as they are more and more scarce and supplies are not being maintained at newer models on board.

What did you finally use? If a 550l do have a pic of the mods you made?

 

[Chris Hadley]

Managed to get a 550e dfc pro canopy again but I will need to change to 550l or 550x next time so I will take some pics if I ever crash and swap...

 

[leedude1]

Lmao. That's it , we're both in the same boat. I manged to get mine also .
We will need to see who posts the first pics of the X or L mods ...Lol (meaning we drove one of ours in)
Thank you my man.

 

[Chris Hadley]

It was almost me first... was inverted cutting grass last Saturday when I heard the headspeed decreasing at an alarming rate. Slowly gained height to about 10ft and flipped it the right way up before landing with a bump... I had reinstalled a discharged flight battery... lmao. My mate nearly pissed himself as I checked it and the pack was at 5%

 

[Eggy 71]

Just putting it out there but I got 4 canopies with my 550e when I bought it. If you're in a bind I can let one or two go but the postage may be $$$$. I get everything shipped across line border and I walk across to pick it up.

 

[leedude1]

Chris...at least you managed to pull out from it. Yeah you arent thee first or last to slap in a used pack. Lol.

Eggy thanks my man yeah.. like said I managed to get one so I'm good for now but I appreciate the offer.