Fed up with fighting the retract system on my 1/8 FEJ F-16
04-13-2014, 04:49 PM
#27
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Well,, I finally decided to un-ass the money for converting my landing gear,, I have one of the older 1/8 scale FEJ f-16s with the advanced gear, the previous owner had plenty of flights, and from the sounds of it had to put plenty of work into the landing gear, I know it had collapsed at least a couple times on it. I bought the jet last year and am getting SO Close to being done. But have been fighting retract problems, one cylinder leaking, the other wont release the locking pin on the piston of the cylinder. System wont hold air for long, I replaced all the O-rings, removed the locking pins on the cylinders and put a tapered point on them, and still have problems. Got in touch with FEJ about getting brand new cylinders, still have not heard back on a price, and just don’t have any faith in the pneumatic system at all any more. When I purchased the jet, a lot of guys told me the gear was the weak link on it, and as it turns out that has been the case.
SO I bit the bullet, pulled the gear out and sent it to Down And Locked. Hopefully this will take care of all the trouble I have been having. Its $$ for the conversion, but the way I figure I really like this jet, it is my first one, and I am in it so deep, I might as well spend the money to get some confidence in my gear,, the last thing I want is to belly land the jet, and damage it or the turbine. The guys at D&L seem to have a good reputation and have done about 30 of these particular gear conversions according to Mitch. So I am hoping this was this was a wise choice on my part..
So, hopefully this will be the end of my retract problems,, the conversion is supposed to take about a month, once I get them back in, I will update this with my thoughts on the change.
THIS POST IS TO SHOW HOW MY EXPERIENCE WITH A DOWN AND LOCKED CONVERSION TURNS OUT,,
If you want to bash FEJ,, got to one of the other post, they are easy to find, and have the same group of members bashing on each one..Personally My opinions of the jet are good, it is put together well, just not a lightweight, No honeycomb in this one..
SO I bit the bullet, pulled the gear out and sent it to Down And Locked. Hopefully this will take care of all the trouble I have been having. Its $$ for the conversion, but the way I figure I really like this jet, it is my first one, and I am in it so deep, I might as well spend the money to get some confidence in my gear,, the last thing I want is to belly land the jet, and damage it or the turbine. The guys at D&L seem to have a good reputation and have done about 30 of these particular gear conversions according to Mitch. So I am hoping this was this was a wise choice on my part..
So, hopefully this will be the end of my retract problems,, the conversion is supposed to take about a month, once I get them back in, I will update this with my thoughts on the change.
THIS POST IS TO SHOW HOW MY EXPERIENCE WITH A DOWN AND LOCKED CONVERSION TURNS OUT,,
If you want to bash FEJ,, got to one of the other post, they are easy to find, and have the same group of members bashing on each one..Personally My opinions of the jet are good, it is put together well, just not a lightweight, No honeycomb in this one..
Sir I find your post completely misleading and factually inaccurate. I have read numerous posts about fej jets over the past few months. As everyone knows there is no such as an older model fej with multiple flights on it because they have all crashed as well as every jet flying with a jr radio. You are not going to fly this with jr are you?
04-13-2014, 05:44 PM
#30
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Lol. I fly jr. I have flow futaba and jr. I switched over when I went to 2.4. the module for my 9 cap was cheaper to get a jr module for it. I know it makes no sense. I have had problems with both actually and had to send my futaba and jr transmitters back for repairs. With that being said the radio always seems to be the scape goat for poor flying resulting in crashes. You can't buy skill or talent but you can get a nice looking rc fill in the blank.
04-13-2014, 07:38 PM
#33
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Mitch is a great guy and I have dealt with him many times and I do think he will work with you on ALL of this!! There products are really good and I have them on my stuff! You STILL did the right thing!!
You will REALLY enjoy them!
You will REALLY enjoy them!
04-14-2014, 06:54 AM
#36
OK,, here is the Monday morning update,,,
GJHINSHAW,, You are absolutely right,,AZ3D is a troll,
And Mitch is a great guy. Every time I have talked with him it has been very good, And I KNOW for a fact HE personally had much better luck tracking down my gear than I did. From the beginning He stated he felt responsible for the gear being lost due to the change of address,, although it was never his fault,, SOLELY on the POST OFFICE.,
SO here is what happened,,
I got off work this morning (in my midnight rotation this week) I figured I would wait until about 10 to call them and let them Know I wanted an invoice to pay my bill and how I feel about the matter. This morning I checked my email, and there was the invoice from Ron at D&L, just as promised by Mitch at D&L last week. I open up the invoice expecting to see a bill higher than I was quoted, WHY??because so far nothing has went right,,, WELL,,
I was wrong,,
-The bill was less than quoted,
-And there was a special Customer discount on it
-AND they paid the insured Shipping back to me , (a cost that is normally the customers responsibility)
All of this was done, by D&L and I never said a negative word,,, So what does that say about the company and their customer care,,, Well It speaks volumes and shows they are truly a great company to deal with, and confirms everything I have ever heard and read about them. The truth is things happen, And I realize that, and I felt that they did not keep their end of the bargain on the time frame,, and apparently they felt the same way, and did their best to make it right,,
And they succeeded. I have no doubts about the gear working great, and I will be able to have confidence when the wheels touch the runway, knowing that the gear wont collapse and send debris into my jet..
Once I get the Gear in and setup I will post some more, and try to put a video up.
WIllig10, from what I understand they do not actually stock converted gear, they just take customers gear and modify it to an electric setup,, You can always call Mitch and talk to him, who knows he may have a set you are looking for that someone backed out of,, I will post his phone number because it is listed on his website and not a confidential number,,,
MITCH STOTT - 828 817 0412
GJHINSHAW,, You are absolutely right,,AZ3D is a troll,
And Mitch is a great guy. Every time I have talked with him it has been very good, And I KNOW for a fact HE personally had much better luck tracking down my gear than I did. From the beginning He stated he felt responsible for the gear being lost due to the change of address,, although it was never his fault,, SOLELY on the POST OFFICE.,
SO here is what happened,,
I got off work this morning (in my midnight rotation this week) I figured I would wait until about 10 to call them and let them Know I wanted an invoice to pay my bill and how I feel about the matter. This morning I checked my email, and there was the invoice from Ron at D&L, just as promised by Mitch at D&L last week. I open up the invoice expecting to see a bill higher than I was quoted, WHY??because so far nothing has went right,,, WELL,,
I was wrong,,
-The bill was less than quoted,
-And there was a special Customer discount on it
-AND they paid the insured Shipping back to me , (a cost that is normally the customers responsibility)
All of this was done, by D&L and I never said a negative word,,, So what does that say about the company and their customer care,,, Well It speaks volumes and shows they are truly a great company to deal with, and confirms everything I have ever heard and read about them. The truth is things happen, And I realize that, and I felt that they did not keep their end of the bargain on the time frame,, and apparently they felt the same way, and did their best to make it right,,
And they succeeded. I have no doubts about the gear working great, and I will be able to have confidence when the wheels touch the runway, knowing that the gear wont collapse and send debris into my jet..
Once I get the Gear in and setup I will post some more, and try to put a video up.
WIllig10, from what I understand they do not actually stock converted gear, they just take customers gear and modify it to an electric setup,, You can always call Mitch and talk to him, who knows he may have a set you are looking for that someone backed out of,, I will post his phone number because it is listed on his website and not a confidential number,,,
MITCH STOTT - 828 817 0412
Last edited by raron455; 04-14-2014 at 10:21 AM.
04-14-2014, 07:03 AM
#37
I can personally attest to the reliability of Down & Locked: both in their products & in their service.
I've had Mitch & his staff convert my last 3 jets' retract systems to electric, and my future airframe will also have their system.
They do get covered up on occasion with orders (especially the weeks prior to Top Gun & Joe Nall), but the wait is well worth it.
Greg Hames
AMA #8130
I've had Mitch & his staff convert my last 3 jets' retract systems to electric, and my future airframe will also have their system.
They do get covered up on occasion with orders (especially the weeks prior to Top Gun & Joe Nall), but the wait is well worth it.
Greg Hames
AMA #8130
04-14-2014, 08:40 AM
#38
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I too have Down And Locked gear in my !/8th FEJ F-16. And I am very happy with both the service and the quality of the work from D&L. Mine are flawless......................And it has not crashed..........LOL
04-14-2014, 09:59 AM
#40
And no I do not fly with JR or futaba, only the best for me,Orange transmitters and receivers all the way,,,
Last edited by raron455; 04-14-2014 at 10:22 AM.
04-14-2014, 11:57 AM
#45
Yeah when the guy called me and we made the deal, wasnt feeling like I made the right choice. After GA jets that year I had all the gear stuff worked out and I would guess about 40-50 more flights on it without a single problem. I wish they would have took my advice, I made some really simple improvements that I think made all the difference. I put a lot of work into my f-15 as well and after being away for a few months now I have started thinking about just flying it. I did what I thought it needed to be strong and hold up so a part of me says why not, but I can't wait to own another F-16 its my favorite jet.
