Review/Assembly KDE Trex Tail Upgrades

[Mystic3D]

Patrick is right, I just installed the Align 700 V2 Tail Assembly.
1. This is on a wag free 700E with VBar that has the 600N Plastic Tail.

Removed Plastic Tail Assembly.
Installed Align V2 Tail - (Bought from Ebay seller in Taiwan)

1. First Flight fine
2. 2nd Flight WAG

Removed V2 Tail, refitted Plastic Tail, Wag gone.

[Mystic3D]

Another freak in the 700E forum had the great idea and fitted 450 Pro main shaft shims between the radial and thrust. I tried it this AM and fits perfect. Now just need some testing.


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[StatiC]

I thought I found where to buy just the shims but it looks like they were the wrong size. Only way to get the Align spacers is to buy the 450 pro main shafts it seems.

[Mystic3D]

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?p=3252218


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[smaze17]

Sorry guys I'm lost here. I just bought the V2 tail assembly for my V2 700. What is the mod I should be doing to eliminate wag? Can I simply buy a KDE upgrade to take care o the problem?

Thanks for helping this knucklehead

S

[Mystic3D]

Originally Posted by smaze17

Sorry guys I'm lost here. I just bought the V2 tail assembly for my V2 700. What is the mod I should be doing to eliminate wag? Can I simply buy a KDE upgrade to take care o the problem?

Thanks for helping this knucklehead

S

Maze - No one really Knows Yet. We have theories about the shims, but untill we get a few positive reports back, pretty non conclusive.

The KDE Upgrade does not solve the problem.

[Finless]

I cant believe Align messed this part up? Maybe they just forgot to package the shims in the V2 tail kits?

Bob

[StatiC]

Not to mention they put tail blade bolts in that are too short to go through the plastic of the lock nut. 2 problems with this product.

I had to order 2 18mm bolts because the 16mm that come with it are too short.

[smaze17]

Originally Posted by In_to_the_Mystic_2003

Maze - No one really Knows Yet. We have theories about the shims, but untill we get a few positive reports back, pretty non conclusive.

The KDE Upgrade does not solve the problem.

Ok thanks man. Guess I will just take my time assembling the 700 and see what transpires

Thanks

S

[cpmboy]

any videos on installing the 450 tail upgrade ver on trex 450 helis?...

[ProtoDewd]

Nice series Bob! I did this conversion on my 700 a few months ago and have a couple of notes to add that I encountered in installing this mod.

I totally agree with you about having that spacer for the pitch slider assembly included in the kit. That can't be more than a 50 cent part and having to destroy your original to get it... I didn't use the heat method as you did - I just tapped one of the bearings out, which of course destroyed it - but you said that even using heat you ended up damaging yours also, so what's the point of doing that to retrieve that silly spacer? It should be included as part of the upgrade.

The one problem that I had that you didn't mention is that the mounting "Bolt", as they call it - the part that mounts to the side plate in place of the original. In my kit it had been machined too long in the vertical direction so it would not fit down into the recess in the side plate, causing it to rock to one side or the other when I would tighten the mounting bolt. I ended up having to file off about 1 mm of material to get it to seat properly in that recess.

The other difference I had was that the pitch fork was not nearly so tough to get off of mine. No heat, just a bit of elbow grease to break that red loctite loose and it came apart nicely.

I did the performance pitch upgrade on it as well (along with most of the other KDE upgrades and I have to say that I've been quite impressed with the quality of their products. I even did the performance pitch upgrade on my 450's and noticed a slight improvement in response, but what I think is more beneficial is that running in bearings rather than bushings, things should last much longer with less wear and fewer adjustments being necessary as a result.

Again, nice series and look forward to more!