How long should a clutch/liner last in a 50v2?

[Hulley]

I got 5 gallons of fuel before my clutch went out and gave me an "upgrade opportunity" :( I dont want that to happen again, so do you guys change your liner out on a regular basis or what? also, is this common on plastic frame helis?

[blakka_1]

same thing happened to me TODAY!, my quick uk clutch broke on me due to liner wearing out. i to got around 4-5 gallons before this happened.

therefore i would say every 3 months change liner

[WillJames]

I don't fly 50's, but with the 60-90's you have to make sure you don't let the liner get to much wear, or you will break the clutch very rapidly. I would say I change my clutch liners ever 5 to 10 gallons or so. I have been running one of my QUK clutches for almost a year now, it has been crashed 3 times and still going strong. :)

The QUK 90 clutches last a hell of a lot longer than the TT 90 clutches even with a good liner. What you need to look for is the clutch dragging even at low idle. If it starts doing that, your clutch is damaged and I go ahead and change them at that point rather than letting them fail in flight.

[capebob]

Wow. I've been flying the same clutch for over a year. I wonder what I'm doing wrong. I have several helicopters and I don't keep track of flights, but I fly three or four days a week and I live in Florida so I have no off season. My clutch and bell must have at least 150-200 flights on them. Now if you are flying a V1 50 then it's a whole other story.

Bob

[Dan Lewis]

My 50v2 has the same clutch as when I bought it - 3 1/2 cases of fuel and no problems. In my experience, other problems arise far before the clutch.

For example, this is my list of wear-out parts, in order:

1. Head - it's sloppy to start, which doesn't help - after about 1 case it had to go. I replaced it with one from a friend's Raptor 50v2 that crashed. 2.5 cases later I'm ready to replace it again... lot's of slop already. These stock heads need improvement IMO.

2. Replaced blue dampners for red after 1.5 cases

3. Canopy rattles lose, necessitating a screw to hold underneath - should have been done from the beginning

4. Main bearings were gritty - replaced

5. Rear bearing in OS .50 replaced - started making a little noise

6. Tail horn cause ball link to get out of round, creating slop in tail - 2.5 cases

7. Now I have a problem where the auto hub locks up - I'm looking into either machining the current one or buying new. This doesn't help my auto's at all :)

I expect this list to grow because I pound the hay out of my Raptor. It's funny that the clutch is doing fine, because I abort auto's in idle up at least once or twice every single flight. This is just my personal Raptor experience. It's very possible that the worksmanship and/or material varies highly from one clutch to the other. Maybe I'm just lucky with this particular clutch.

[alexander]

I got 5 gallons of fuel before my clutch went out and gave me an "upgrade opportunity" :( I dont want that to happen again, so do you guys change your liner out on a regular basis or what? also, is this common on plastic frame helis?

I get several years out of a stock clutch ( 10 cases or more). The key is in the build.... low runout, good alignment and .007" liner to shoe clearance. The best upgrade is in the building.

stephen