Stebbo

It's me again with another build question on the Hawk SE.

What is the correct way around for the thrust race bearing to be fitted in the blade grips ?

The instructions mention a larger and smaller inside diameter on the bearing steel washers but I can not see any difference.
I've kept the bearings tied together so I can see how the bearing assembly goes together. Should the open side of the race bearing cage point towards the nut or hub ?

Darksider

hey again stebbo,
ok the way to identify which side is the smaller race and which side is bigger is to split the thrust bearing apart and then slide each side of the bearing onto the main head spindle or feathering shaft as they call it in the manual which runs between the blade grips, you will find that one side of the thrust bearing is very tight on the spindle and the other is a quite loose, grease the ball cage (i use lithium grease or something similar) and then assemble the thrust bearing into the blade grip with the side thats larger on the spindle closer to the rotor head and the side thats smaller closer to the blade, and thats it

all this will be worth it stebbo, your gonna love flying the hawk they're a great heli.

Stebbo

Thanks Darksider.

Why didn't I think of that check. I'll try it tonight.

I've put together a few heli's in my time (Heli-boy, Kalt Baron 50 and Concept 60) but the Hawk must have the most detailed yet complicated instructions of them all. I thought that since the kit was American, the instructions would not suffer from translation problems from Japanese and be simple....WRONG !

Thanks again (until the next problem)

Stebbo

Hi again,

Last night I did slide the two washers from the thrust bearing along the feathering shaft but they both fitted the same so I could not detect which is the smaller or larger inside diameter. The only difference in the washers themselves is one has a deeper "groove" for the balls to run in than the other.

Are there anymore clues as to which way round the thrust bearing should go ?

Darksider

Hey stebbo,
that sounds very strange, there is always one side of the bearing thats slightly looser and a side thats slightly tighter, it may be a silly question but it you've checked both of the thrust bearing and all 4 of the grooved parts appear to have the same inside diameter i'd consider contacting the place you bought it from and asking them, it is important that the thrust bearings are installed as described in the manual with the tighter side closer to the blade and the looser side closer to the main rotor head otherwise the thrust bearings would never work properly, and you'd end up with problems gettin the blades to track right, i guess it's possible there may have been an error when your kit was packed, it's certainly worth checking.

Kwaz

Hiya guys

First post here !

Just bought a Hawk SE yesterday. I found the same issue with the thrust bearings as Stebbo. I suggest, therefore, that these bearing are a new addition to the kit, and they no longer have different internal dia. I will check this with my local hobby shop today and let you know what I find.

Cheers!

Kwaz

EDIT : Update, just spoke to the model shop - there IS a difference, but it is TINY... if you rock the washer on the spindle, you should be able to notice a slight difference....
He also said that even if you get it around the wrong way, it won't make a huge difference really....

Stebbo

Just spoke to Heli-World.com and the say the thrust bearings supplied can be fitted either way around.
This would stack-up with the measurements I made using a digital vernier caliper and found no difference in the inside diameter of the washers. (measurement accuracy was better than + - 0.02mm).
So I'll have to fit them as they are and see how it goes. Thanks for all your help.

Kwaz

I did some more checking again last night. My conclusions were...

- no difference in internal dia for main rotor thrust bearings
- big difference in internal dia for TAIL rotor thrust bearings (which can be seen easily by rocking them on the spindle).