Clutch issue?

[rjflyer]

I have an issue that developed with my Intrepid gas. I had it in a hover last week and it developed a bad vibe in the top of the canopy, near the mounting standoff. It didn't happen at lift off, maybe 2-3 minutes later. Clutch was very hot at shut down.
I thought I had inadvertinly got some lube on my clutch. I took the clutch off and soaked it in alcohol and wiped clean, checked and replaced the lower bearing in start shaft bearing block, checked and replaced the lower main shaft bearing. lubed the one way bearing with oil. reassembled!
Today I took it out for a trial run, it was fine for a couple minutes then the vibe appeared, shut it down and the clutch was so hot I couldn't touch it for more than 4 sec.
Does this vibe have something to do with the clutch? It looks like the vibe started after the clutch got very hot.
Alignment looks good, everything is tight bolt wise. Any suggestions why the clutch is heating up? Why the vibe?

edit; went over the heli with a fine tooth comb. Found a worn out engine mount hole in the rear behind the muffler. fixed it and realigned the motor. test hovered. Still the vibe appears once the skids lift off.

edit; just replaced the main shaft just for the sake of elimination.( Old one seemed straight.)

The next thing that crosses my mind is engine tuning. I changed from amsoil to pennzoil outboard. Chris B said it was running rich and after a gallon lean it a bit. Is it possible it is running too rich all of a sudden after break in? (only half a gallon since change)

[rjflyer]

Does anybody have any ideas? Could it be tuning? I don't want to start messing things up more than they are :?

[v22chap]

How did the 2 delrin bushings that fit up into the clutch shoe look ... do they fit pretty tight yet or is it loose ,,,if it has melted enough to let the clutch float around some this could be your vibe and the hot clutch could do this or a bad aligned clutch will wear them and let it do that too...
As far as the engine tuning ,,the hot clutch sounds like you are running to fat or not enough curve to get the engine up to enough RPM quick enough to lock the clutch before lift off.
What are your needles set at now?

[rjflyer]

I glanced at the delrin bushing and didn't notice anything abnormal. My needles are set at 1 3/8 and 1 3/8. I don't have a tach, but if anything it sounds a little to fast a head speed. Chris looked it over at the Ashland funfly and it was working good, I did not touch a thing, a week later I went out to fly and It started acting this way.
I will take the clutch out again and take a close look at the bushings.
I did not change any curves or pitch after Ashland. But chris did say it was a little rich.

edit; I just took out the clutch and bell, checked the delrin bushings and they looked fine, the clutch liner (compared to a new one) was half as thick, so I put a new bell and liner in. I don't have the experience to know if it is worn to much to work right, but I will try it tomorrow.

[v22chap]

Did you remove the clutch from the start shaft and then put it on the delrin bushings and try to move it back and forth as they can look o.k. and still be worn down enough to allow the clutch to move around when it is on them .... check that for sure if you haven't put it back on.

Those needle settings are max rich start out ,,so yes you are way rich and that would explain the hot clutch and maybe even the vibes.It is so hard to trouble shoot over the net without seeing the bird in flight.

[MarkWebber]

Rick

Have you gotten anywhere on this problem? Curious on my part.

[rjflyer]

Mark, I replaced the delrin and the metal bushings because there was a little play between the two.( I am getting quite good at un-assembly and assembly, and learning a lot about this machine.) :D
I had a nice talk with Chris, good customer support as usual, and he thought it was related to the pitch and throttle curves. I tried it after the parts exchange and it was the same vibe. I then played with the curves and I was able to get the heli to run like silk. (Chris was right :oops: )
I ordered a tach, waiting for it to get shipped, then set it for the correct head speed. So it looks like I am good to go. :cool:

[MarkWebber]

Awesome, Rick. Funny how that guy seems to be right so often! Acts like he built the thing, doesn't he? :wink: I need to order a new tach. I think my model avionics version is not so accurate. The setup Chris did at Ashland for me with Greg's MA tach did not tach the same with mine.

Glad to hear you've got yours going!

[rjflyer]

I ordered the MA tach from Rick's and have not heard from them about a ship date, so maybe it is out of stock. I need to call Monday to find out what's up.

It is so nice to have good customer support. Ya can't beat it :)