Plastic tail bell crank broke?

[Barry Tilson]

Scored an amazing 24 flights in Michigan this weekend mostly on the E5! During landing my last flight I tried a side ways landing and it fell over. No biggie didn't seem to hurt much. When cleaning all the grass off the tail bell crank fell off on the table. Close call as I hovered it after it tipped over to see if it was smooth. The tail did mow the grass a bit.
What's everyone's opinion of upgrading to the metal version? Seems like the plastic one is adequate? However one more flight may have put it in?
 

[Mike Spano]

I have mixed opinions on this one. The plastic one is perfectly sufficient, but the metal one does look nice.  I like the idea of the plastic belkcrank saving my tail servo gears. One thing I know is they both develop the exact same amount of play, which is very very little. Only the bearings really develop play. The plastic it is made out of is great stuff, doesn't wear out like some do.....

[Mark Dean]

The plastic one is adequate. I have replaced the one on my e5 with the metal one only because I broke a plastic one. I'm still running the plastic on my other machine. Truthfully I'll probably break servo gears on the upgraded tail before the arm. Your choice....cheaper to replace the plastic. There is no performance difference IMHO.

Mark

[Barry Tilson]

Thanks like the bling when you can see it and feel the plastic is fine. Just need to add it to my preflight checks.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Dan Minick]

The plastic ones have always been alright. Slowly Iv been replacing them with aluminum, I really like the positive feeling when snapping the ball link on. Never had an issue with a tail servo drive.

[flyalan]

I prefer the metal bellcrank. Have used them since Ralph came out with them. They work very well and are very smooth.
Cheers
Alan

[curmudgeon]

It is my understanding that one has to polish the slider ball a bit for smooth operation with the metal bell crank.

[Cliff Chmiel]

I liked the metal one and replace the slider from the e-7, i never broke mine i just wanted to upgrade it

[Chris Wall]

It is my understanding that one has to polish the slider ball a bit for smooth operation with the metal bell crank.

this is true for the E7se, and instructions are on the website (http://www.fblrotors.com/FBLROTORS-Metal-Bell-Crank-Synergy_p_657.html).  For the others (N5/N5C/E6/E7/E5) fit should be good.  It has to do with the ball type used on the E7se versus the others.
Chris

[flyalan]

It is my understanding that one has to polish the slider ball a bit for smooth operation with the metal bell crank.

Depends on the ball. Some work fine and some do require a little polishing.

[dbrc]

When I saw your post, I thought it caused a crash. Glad you were on the ground when this happened. I have metal pitch sliders on all my heli's and think for the little amount it cost from FBL, it is a good investment. I sure that is why Ralph developed this upgrade.

[Kevin Feil]

I've been running my Proto Type Metal pitch sliders from FBL and haven't had one issue at all. Movement is silky smooth and has held up just fine through a few crashes. I PoGo'd the tail in on the N7 folded the tail box completely over and the Slider survived just fine. And honestly speaking I have yet to have a Tail Servo fail... +1 for FBL's Slider.

K

[curmudgeon]

I found it surprising that the weak point of this tail design was the plastic bell crank.  I would have thought the weak point would be where the ball threads into the plastic tail slider.  Still, for only $2.99, I would get the stock plastic bell crank again.

[flyalan]

Well nothing wrong with plastic I guess? I prefer a metal part. I have crashed with the metal bellcrank numerous times and never damaged one or damaged a servo as a result. And yes the crashes usually did involve some other sort of tail damage.

Cheers
Alan

[Mike Spano]

i should clarify a statement i made in my first post.....i do not KNOW that the metal bell crank will hurt your tail servo gears any faster than the plastic one could. in my mind, the plastic part SHOULD break first. after reading everyone's experience with the metal one, sounds like that is really not a concern. not surprising if you think about it though, the carbon tail rod is very strong pushing straight back and forth, but lateral forces can break the tail rod easily, so that will be the failure point. the blades hitting the ground are really the only thing that can push the tail rod straight back and forth, and the blades themselves will fail far before the rod will damage the gears (again, in my mind....)

like i said, i fly both the plastic and the metal bell cranks, and they both seem to hold up beautifully.