Tail Drive Gear - Can't find a good part?!

[FlyinLo]

Well this is getting old fast.

HeliDirect sent me align part #HS1216-84 to replace the stock HDX tail drive gear which had defective bearings. They wanted to send me another HDX replacement but after reading a lot of similar reviews on those bearings I didn't want to chance a seizure in flight.

The new Align tail drive gear bearings aren't spaced the same as the HDX ones. The lower bearing was perfectly fine, it sits flush in the block. The upper bearing sits too low to slide fully into it's block.

The pilot in me says not to fly this thing with the bearing like that but these align bearings are smooth as butter.

Will loctite and the upper set screw be enough to hold it in place? (It doesn't seem like it's going anywhere) Or should I keep trying to find the elusive perfect part.

See pic:
http://i30.tinypic.com/4g0qq1.jpg

[Greg Alderman]

FlyinLo...a small amount of blue or better yet of green loctite will hold that bearing fine...it already is a snug fit in the block and on the shaft correct? just carefully clean the block and the outside of the bearing with some alcohol and then put a very thin coating of loctite on the outside of the bearing and press it back into the block...make sure you don't over do the loctite and allow it to weep down into the bearing races! Also let it cure overnight before flying...should not have a problem with it falling out...if you use green loctite you might need a little bit of heat to get the bearing out of the block...but not nearly as much heat as if you used red loctite! :D

Hope this helps!

Regards,