Main shaft bearing removal

[Chris Wall]

Couple of quick questions on the 3 main bearings, do they typically need heat/cold to get them unseated from the factory?  And how often are most replacing them?  I would love to be able to just pop them out in the assembled heli and put new ones in, but with my experiences with the bearings in the rotor head, I assume they need a little extra!  I had a little spare time and was doing some maintenance...

[Rodney Kirstine]

I've been able to press them out and new ones in without heat but I have taken the bearing blocks off of the helicopter to do it.

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[flyalan]

They can be tapped out with a hammer and socket of the correct size.  I have done this but now use an arbor press.  It is much easier to do this with the blocks removed as Rodney indicated.
As far as how often to replace?  Well I usually manage a crash often enough that it's not a concern :-) 
Just check them for smoothness every 100 flights or so.  If you start developing some vibes after numerous flights then that is always the first thing I check.

Cheers

Alan

[Chris Wall]

As far as how often to replace?  Well I usually manage a crash often enough that it's not a concern :-) 

Cheers

Alan

Ain't that the truth!  Right there with you...

[Rodney Kirstine]

Yeah, I've never had one just wear out from normal use. . It's kind of like the question about how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop... I'll probably never know.

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[flyalan]

Yeah, I've never had one just wear out from normal use. . It's kind of like the question about how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop... I'll probably never know.

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Lol...... Good analogy Rodney :-)

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