Tail shaft left to right movement, normal?

[helisrmylife]

Hey guys with the tail of the 250 facing you does your tail shaft (the shaft the belt drives and tail rotor sits on) move from left to right by around .5 mm? Are my bearings flogged or is this normal? I have had a few 250's in my time but font remember if it used to do this?

[03svtsnakevert]

Sounds like bearings may be gone

[discl]

mine does this, and I just recently ordered a new one that came in and does the same out of the box.

I was thinking about grinding down the tail case so that it clamps down on the shaft more or maybe putting in some spacers next to the bearings to stop it from doing it.

[helisrmylife]

I took the tail apart and fitted new bearings, i think they are bearings from another part on the 450 i also own, and they are perfect nice and snug. If it is the align standard any wonder some people have tail issues.

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[Russers]

No movement maybe .001 on 4 trex 250'S

[dze]

its normal to have detectable play there but not excessive. The tail will stay 'loaded' except in a heavy left rudder input and it will not cause tail problems. What could be a problem is shot bearings and about the only way to tell is disassemble the tail, run a shaft through them, and check that theyre smooth and free .. if there happens to be extra play, and .5mm is too much imo, what you can do is take the rear 'cross-support' bar and lightly sand the ends down until the play is REDUCED .. i wouldnt try to take ALL the play out and make it solid ... detectable play is where i want it on ANY bearing, mains, ect . Zero play will cause excessive drag and cause problems not solve them imo ..

[discl]

not sure if I misread helisrmylife's original question but the movement in my tailshaft is from the shaft sliding back and forth through the race in the bearing, it's not an up/down type problem caused by worn bearings where the race wobbles etc.

It seems to be caused by the tail cage being a little too wide for the tail shaft which causes the shaft to move around inside it, the bearings dont seem to have much play at all from what I can see.

I've got two tail cages which have this problem (one old, one brand new) and an old trex 250se cage plus a microheli one which both dont have the problem.

[Inverse]

I shim my tails if I find this behaviour.

[mtuccio]

Originally Posted by Inverse

I shim my tails if I find this behaviour.

+1 on this...This is what I do....It usually only takes one shim to get acceptable play....

[discl]

Originally Posted by Inverse

I shim my tails if I find this behaviour.

Wheres a good place in Australia to buy such small washers/shims from? QuikUK/Gforce only seem to have large diameter/thickness washers/shims.

[Inverse]

Not sure mate, I normally scour my spares/fasteners/washers container until I find one that fits.
I'll see if I have any spares later.

[helisrmylife]

Originally Posted by discl

not sure if I misread helisrmylife's original question but the movement in my tailshaft is from the shaft sliding back and forth through the race in the bearing, it's not an up/down type problem caused by worn bearings where the race wobbles etc.

It seems to be caused by the tail cage being a little too wide for the tail shaft which causes the shaft to move around inside it, the bearings dont seem to have much play at all from what I can see.

I've got two tail cages which have this problem (one old, one brand new) and an old trex 250se cage plus a microheli one which both dont have the problem.

Yes the left to right in the tail cage was my drama. Thanks for all the responses guys. New bearings fixed it, very little play if any now. Flies beautiful now.

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