Trex 700 at Charmouth

[mattie-lodge]

Hi all,

I went to Charmouth this weekend and had an epic time of it. Saturday was a bit windy but Sunday was awsome.

Now, the reason for my post here is to invite any Align reps or sponsored persons on this forum and or to feedback back to Align what I'm about to discuss.

Many posts have been rasied about the Trex 700 main gear failures. Yesturday at charmouth I estimated that their were about 50 odd Trex 700 helicopters at Charmouth flyin. Most of them were being flown very well and very hard. Great to see, however I counted at least 5 main gears that stripped in flight. Let me say this again 5 main gears I counted and may have missed a few. That means at least 10% of the people that own an Align Trex 700 will have a gear go on them in flight. Is this acceptable?

My serious question to Align is what are the plans to correct this problem? I know that in the past you have jump on problems very quickly and solved any issues but this one just seems to have been pushed aside.

Any answers will be greatly recieved.

[ChrisB]

Matt i 100% support you but you are ****ing into the wind if you expect any sort of official answer from Align or any of their representatives other than `There is no problem`

[dumb thumb it]

Matt i 100% support you but you are ****ing into the wind if you expect any sort of official answer from Align or any of their representatives other than `There is no problem`

very well said

[Sieze2]

I am on my 6th main gear. Have spent hours doing lots of things to fix the issue (that doesn't exist). Just recently my latest main gear has lasted over 5 gallons (which is a record).

I have had the problem so long I am numb to the whole thing to be honest. Its definately bad Align don't do anything about this. When people ask me about my 700, its one of the first things I tell people about, and to be honest that usually put them off the heli. Ultimately Aligns reluctance to recify the problem, will cost them customers. I am amazed they don't do anything about this.

[chemicalbro]

i've always said that a good reputation takes years to achieve
but a bad one takes seconds.

Align really aren't doing themselves any favours by burying their heads in the sand over this problem.

bigger companies than them have gone down through bad word of mouth.

[barney]

Hi Mattie, Align recently addressed this by releasing a larger dia main gear a few weeks back. Still to see them on offer in the UK shops though. The part no has -1 at the end to designate it's a modified part.

I'm not saying this is the answer either, as it will take a while to see if it fairs any better.

Brian

[ChrisB]

On the whole i think Align make bloody good helicopters for the price,my 600N`s and 500 are amazingly reliable and apart from the link swap on my 700 that may or may not have been needed as we never heard an official response from them,it has also been fine.

My main gear did show signs of excessive wear so i changed it to maybe pre empt any failure but i still dont know if it will fail at any minute or not.

If Align seriously investigated the problem we might find a pattern or something,maybe its just certain actual kits that will get the failure.

Its not down to individuals,or third party companies to make an upgrade,its down to the helicopters designers to fully investigate this potential problem and find the cause,make it public and fix it.


FWIW i dont mind paying for an upgrade if its proven to 100% cure the issue.

[Sao]

Already seen reports of them being stripped over in the US. I have a set of -1 gears but haven't fitted them yet.
What align should be doing is producing mod 1 gear sets mod 7 is way to fine on a 90 sized machine.

[Tom Burgess]

Already seen reports of them being stripped over in the US. I have a set of -1 gears but haven't fitted them yet.
What align should be doing is producing mod 1 gear sets mod 7 is way to fine on a 90 sized machine.

I am confident that this is the problem here

[Sao]

I am confident that this is the problem here

If even a nitro newbie such as myself can figure this out how come Align made it with such fine gears!? are there any other 90's with mod7 gear sets?

[barney]

If it continues Align will address it again I'm sure...

Note the little bit at the end of my above post above. LOL.

I'm not saying this is the answer either, as it will take a while to see if it fairs any better.

I've still to do one myself..must be around 15 gallons. One question for those experiencing the problem consistantly. When does the stripping generally mostly. Fast stop on Pitch, sideways tic/tocs, forward tic tocs etc

I still think the 3rd main brg block is the answer. I wonder how much fuel Electricsceudo has been through now since modifying?

[trvo]

I've still to do one myself..must be around 15 gallons. One question for those experiencing the problem consistantly. When does the stripping generally mostly. Fast stop on Pitch, sideways tic/tocs, forward tic tocs etc

I'm not sure if you can count mine as it's running an 8HP electric motor but mine always goes on spoolup and things like stall turns etc.

Trev

[richieclarkie]

I've had mine a short time and I wasn't really pushing it.

[robgt]

I had one gear strip on mine after approx 25 gallons, and it just went for no reason. The heli wasn't being chucked about at the time as I recall...

I agree... 3rd bearing block is needed.
Cheers,
Rob

[moonmanflyer]

Mine as you know Mattie failed at charmouth on sunday mid tick tock, knew as soon as i heard the crunching sound what it was.
The issue is has it caused any one to put one in, auto'd mine fine but in an extremme manover(that won't be me) could it cause a crash