I've been trying to replace the main shaft in my BCP, but it doesn't want to come out. I've taken off the landing gear, I've completely unscrewed the screw in the collar on the shaft, I've removed the small pin holding it to the head, but it doesn't want to come out. I'm afraid I might break something. Help needed ASAP before I lose a small screw or something while waiting.

There is the retaining pin in the head, pull it out the head should spin freely without the pin and indpendent of the shaft. Then theres the links that hook the swash to the flybar control frame, diconennect them from the swash plate and take the head off. The undo the ball joints on the swash plate so it moves freely. If you can lift the swash off easily then you'll need to sand down where its sticking, for me the hole near the top where the pin goes in. Once thats done theres a retaining collar on the shaft, loosen the screw and take it off. And pull the main shaft out from the bottom. If you didn't sand down the shaft earlier you problly still stuck with the swash on, just get a good grip and yank till it comes off. then use a pair of pliers or some similar, and put the top of the shaft on a hard surface and the pliers above the bearing thats stuck and just try to brake it free, once thats done the shaft will come out with a bearing from the other side, do the same for this bearing.

I think this is detailed enough to get you threw it. Remember its gonna be like this for every bent shaft.

...great. Well I got through it but I'm going to doing that over and over for every bent shaft. Tons of sanding and stuff. Will sand from sand paper harm the swashplate any?

Might be a good idea to try not to get any on the swash plate, might get in the bearing. But some compressed air should take care of any grains that get on it.

I've done it twice. If you can get about a quarter inch of separation, then you're almost home free. I put the tops of my fingers facing each other between the gear and the bottom of the frame, then bow up on it, holding it in front of my chest. That's usually good enough to get past the brass ferrule on the swashplate. If the top bearing is stuck, then I suggest the pinion puller tool. It works great so long as the bearing is within about 3/4 inch of the top. For the bottom bearing, you can use a dremel to saw off the shaft at the plastic end and use the pinion puller there, too.

To put bearings back on a rough shaft, I use the pinion puller's blade (only) and a deep-well socket and hammer them on.

Someone suggested a repair method for a bent shaft, and I did it today, and it worked. Put the shaft in a drill chuck and turn on the drill (on slow). Make little adjustments to get it as straight as possible. It's still a little wobbly, but at speed, you can hardly tell. It'll get me by until I can get a new shaft. I tried all night googling to find a titanium one, but no luck.

[Update: here is how to do a titanium shaft][link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=527017]here[/link]
[Update2: Elektro-RC no longer carries the hardened main shaft, but they referred me to ICare-RC, which does have the[link=http://www.icare-rc.com/maxir_pricelist.htm]Y0319[/link]; and so I ordered the Century AR hub & Y0319 shaft. We shall see... ]

Here is my procedure... and I do this alot

Take the head off all the way:
Push out the pin with a pair of scissors part of the way.
Grab it with pliers and twist to get it the rest of the way.
Undo the control arms (The ovalish shaped things).
Unhook the tail motor from the 4in1.
Turn on transmitter.
Hook battery up to 4in1.
Give it some thrust, not tons, but enough.
Squeeze some sand paper over the hole to sand away the burrs while the motor is running.
Unhook battery.
Unhook swashplate (Bend the piece of plastic that holds the swashplate from spinning... the one with the slot in it... bend it back)
Take off the swashplate.
Loosen the setscrew in the collar. Take the collar off
Put your thumb and index finger inbetween the gear and main frame and wedge the gear out.
Pull it the rest of the way.


Straighten it by doing this very simple procedure:
Get a piece of heavy metal sheet or something similiar and a hammer.
Set the metal on a brick or something similiar.
Hang the gear off of the metal sheet with the shaft on it.
Roll the gear around while randomly hitting the shaft with the flat side of the hammer for about 20 or 30 seconds.
Inspect for obvious bends... it should be ok.

Install it.

It might exhibit a slight wobble or it may be perfect, but it is the best, quickest method.

You can work with it and a marker and pliers, but that takes an awful long time and you will still might end up with a wobble.


Taking the head off should take about 30 seconds to a minute.
Sanding the shaft should take you about 30 seconds.
Taking the swashplate off should take about 15 seconds.
Beating the hell outta the shaft should take about 30 seconds.
Installation is a usually a snap. There aren't any burrs to deal with.

If you do all of that once or twice, it becomes very easy.

I really wish Eflite would come out with a stonger shaft. Its all I ever mess up anymore. Of couse I am flying with plasti-blades aka the best thing since sliced bread. Oh yeah, I burn tail motors

I break blades much more than shafts. Which is why I'm going to order some plasti blades very very soon. I breaking blades. I the idle up switch too...it's only good for inverted flight which I don't have a prayer of doing anyway.

Well, Bringitallback, that is just much better than my advice. Next time, I'm doing it your way. But I did order the hardened shaft and century AR gear just the same.

I'm getting my stick time in on my Century Hummingbird V4 now, laying off the BCP until I get my flying chops. Big difference in the two, but BCP isn't good for training.

Thanks tam,
I wish I had a better heli. You can't beat the Blade for the price, but you can't sure beat it ... period.