230s maintenance

[Droptanks]

Total newbie question here. Does this thing require maintenance?
Also I have a whining sound that started a while back. I think it’s coming from the tail area. Could it be a tail motor getting ready to pack it in?

Thanks!

[jackovart]

I crash frequently enough that during rebuilds i have always cleaned and lubed my thrust and main shaft bearings, or replaced notchy thrust bearings. Thats about it. I have never torn one down for routine maintenance. My original motors and servos are still going, along with my electronics. Never broke a main blade. I have gone through about a hundred main gears though. I bought three 230's when they first came out and the redundancy has kept me in the air one way or another. I have had to resolder many tail wires at the esc. Ive probably done about fifteen frame off rebuilds.

Your whine is hard to diagnose...main gear mesh maybe...chewed up main gear...tail rotor on backwards...are some things that come to mind.

[BrokeDad]

I spray a little dry teflon lubricant in my motors every now and then. I got 1500 flights on the V1 main motor. The tail motor is still original.

[Allan114]

To be honest I think this is about the most maintenance free heli I've had. I reckon that if you don't crash and damage it the thing will fly on for many hours between overhauls. It also depends on the conditions where you fly. Dry dusty environments are a bit hostile. In these conditions I try and blow the dust off but don't add a lot of oil otherwise you just get a good lapping compound to wear everything out. I've found that the servo rod ends and the dog bone links get slack as does the swash.

[motoxxxman]

The 230s is the one heli I own that I have never done any maintenance on. I just fly it til I crash it, repair whatever is damaged in the crash, and that's it. Three years later and still going strong, original motors and ESC and servos.

Almost all of my crashes damage the blade grips and/or grip bearings, so when that happens I always just buy a complete new head. Because The price for a whole head is about the same price as just the bearings alone. And this way I also get new grips, dampers, bearings, feathering shaft and bolts, head, and usually new links come with it too. And zero assembly required, just slap it on the main shaft and good to go.

I've bent a lot of stock tail booms, which led me to discover that MicroHeli tail booms are half the cost and twice as strong and look way better.

Tail rotors are a frequent replacement as well. And main gears.