My R50 v2 is eating belt idlers

[MarkWebber]

Any particular reason that my R50 seems to wipe out the l/h t/r belt idler. Flanges coming off are the most common. It once even wore the pulley flat to the bearing.

I keep the belt snug but not too tight. Any thoughts?

[Lzfalcon]

Hey Mark,
Are you refering to the tail idel pulley only/ I had it happen to the guide pulley. I had not pressed in the rod that goes through the pulley into the frame. All is well.
Good luck

[MarkWebber]

On the front pulleys, but the l/h side is what I've been having trouble with.

[MLaBoyteaux]

Hey Mark,

I've noticed on my stretched R50 electric that if the belt isn't really tight, it will flutter inside the tube and jump off the left idler. Each time it happened in flight, because of the quieter electric, I could hear a change in the way the heli sounded.

Is this a standard length boom and belt?

[MarkWebber]

Mark

Yeah, it's standard boom. Maybe my 'tight enough' isn't really? I don't want to over do it and start wiping out other parts.

[wecoyote]

Make sure your boom is straight.
I had one of my raptors do this. I thought the boom was straight but when I tok it off and rolled it I could see that it had a slight bow in it (I think from a tail strike). It wasn't much but enough to cause the belt to ride aginst the flange and wear it out.

[MarkWebber]

This is with a new boom. Although it did the same thing with the previous boom. Maybe I should preload the boom up a bit before I tighten everything down?

[hydravien]

ive had this happen before as well.

it happens when you tighten/loosen the boom without undoing the tail supports. when you move the boom back it acts as a lever and moves the tail case down, which causes the belt to ride on the lower side of the pulley. simply loosen the supports when you tighten or loosen your boom and youll be fine.

ps. im not saying an overly loose belt doesnt cause this, but generally it will happen because the belt is riding low, not because it is jumping around.

[MarkWebber]

That would seem the most logical answer. I do however loosen the support clamp when I move the boom.

Thansk

[MarkWebber]

So, upon further invesitgation, I find the belt is resting on the lower flange on the l/h idler. Quite a bit of up pressure is required on the tailboom to keep the belt in the middle of the idler. :dontknow Anyone else seen this before?

[HeliSat]

I found this on RaptorTechnique last night:

http://www.raptortechnique.com/ts-mechanical.htm

Belt ate the bottom flange of the front left pulley: R30/50 When installing the belt always check that it is centered on the pulleys. Often times the belt will end up under the flange of the left pulley so you have to check this anytime you re-install the belt.

[MarkWebber]

Thanks HeliSat

I'll have to watch it in the future. I was just surprised how much up preload I had to add to the boom to keep the belt centered.

Atleast it would seem I've got the cure :D

[Lzfalcon]

Mark,
Just for kicks, a couple of things I have been thinking about this issue. The first is take a look at the Auto rotation pulley and be sure the alignment is ok with the guide pulley assembly. Never know if the auto rotation pulley may have a wobble or is a bit to low (factory defect maybe) The other location is the recessed areas that the guide pulleys pins are set in. Possibly one may be kicked out a bit (factory defect maybe) extra piece from mold or something. Do you have the thundertiger main shaft?
Good luck

[MarkWebber]

Lzfalcon

The pulley appears to be in line with the idlers. Each idler appears to be inline with the other, i.e. not out of kilter pins. So far as I know, this is the factory main shaft. It was used when I got it but the owner did not indicate that it had that much switched from factory.

This whold issue really makes me appreciate my Bergen's torque tube t/r all that much more!

[RSL_Mongoose]

I had this happen once on an old 30V1 I had, I just replaced the stock ones with metal upgrades, the V1 is long gone but the pulleys are in my 50V2 now.