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Hi mate don't worry about which way any bearing cage faces,when you do a set of bearings it's generally toast.On a brighter note fnq..why wer'nt you throwing your body between the ground and your engine after you 'dropped' it


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i am coming back to the gurus for advice.
i have a saito fa 125 a
and i bought it less than one year ago.
today was the 30th or so flight since i bought it, and after 6 minutes or so of flight, i started to hear a bad sound, and i noticed it would occur more at WOT, so i cut power down, and landed her. after i landed her, motor was still on, so i taxi'ed her back to me, and it was making a funny sound, kind of like grinding, but it was still on. there was thick dark oil on side of plane, i am using 15% power master nitro. but she did not turn off. i then turned her off, and thought maybe prop nut was loose, but it was not.
have not attempted to restart her. any advice?
thank you
i bought her from HH.
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Old Fart cause it was a Fox. When I work on Saitos I am surrounded by foam. Some what like the Lions Den Bar in Johore Baru.
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I had the journal of a crankshaft hit the back plate on an engine , steel rubbing against aluminium makes oil black. Might try a second gasket under the rear cover as i believe the crank can go no further forward. On the engine that did that to me i just took a dremel to the inside of the cover for clearance, it was a cheap 2-stroke i didn't really care about. I'd replace the bearings as they may have made the crank loose it's tolerences to the rear cover . Pull the cover off and have a peek.

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Orthobird, I would suspect your bearings are the culprit. The only way to really know is a visual inspection. If the oil residue is black something is coming apart.
Main bearings seem to rust real easy on Saitos.
Main bearings seem to rust real easy on Saitos.
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Orthobird, if the noise has developed that quickly you are likely on the fast track to failure. I agree the likely culprit are bearings due to my own experience, but black residue could be base alloy mixed with exhaust residue. Not normal and if visible there is a lot of it. I would at least pull the rear cover to have a look and also the valve covers to check valve lash, (this can indicate cam or lifter wear if it opens up drastically from the last check/adjustment). If there is evidence the crankpin is rubbing the rear cover either the bearings are worn or you gave the nose of the crank a hit hard enough to shift it aft in the bearings.
There can be cam/crank gear noise when rotated slowly, but not really that evident when running.
Is there any sign of loss of compression?
There can be cam/crank gear noise when rotated slowly, but not really that evident when running.
Is there any sign of loss of compression?

ORIGINAL: FNQFLYER
Old Fart cause it was a Fox. When I work on Saitos I am surrounded by foam. Some what like the Lions Den Bar in Johore Baru.
Old Fart cause it was a Fox. When I work on Saitos I am surrounded by foam. Some what like the Lions Den Bar in Johore Baru.

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Mate if you ever went to the Lions Den in JB you would know what I mean. It was run by that paragon of virtue the Sultan of Johore. I used to work on his a/c when I had to as part of my duties at the Malaysian Royal Flight. The club was frequented by ex pat Russian ladies and lots of oil rig workers. The floor was covered in mattresses and from there I will let you imagination run in what ever direction it so chooses.
An experience (the club) never to be repeated by this little black duck.
An experience (the club) never to be repeated by this little black duck.
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ORIGINAL: Hobbsy
I wasn't talking about prop rpm, I was talking about QT's stripped backplate bolt. You're missing some valuable info.
I wasn't talking about prop rpm, I was talking about QT's stripped backplate bolt. You're missing some valuable info.
Hobbsy, is suppose I could do that but the other threads are fine. I shouldn't have to be back into the engine for a while once its all back together. Why fix something that's not broken I figure.

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ORIGINAL: Old Fart
Hi mate don't worry about which way any bearing cage faces,when you do a set of bearings it's generally toast.On a brighter note fnq..why wer'nt you throwing your body between the ground and your engine after you 'dropped' it
Hi mate don't worry about which way any bearing cage faces,when you do a set of bearings it's generally toast.On a brighter note fnq..why wer'nt you throwing your body between the ground and your engine after you 'dropped' it


ORIGINAL: Hobbsy
I wasn't talking about prop rpm, I was talking about QT's stripped backplate bolt. You're missing some valuable info.
I wasn't talking about prop rpm, I was talking about QT's stripped backplate bolt. You're missing some valuable info.


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I really marvel at all the suspected bearing troubles I see here, in 22 years of owning and running Saitos, OS', LASER Enya and other brands I've never lost a bearing. To be totally honest, I have a 1989 Enya .46 MKII that needs the cam drive bearing replaced, if I can figure out how to get it out. I took my first flying lessons in 1990 with the Enya running it on Fox 15% fuel with 20% castor lube. It survived two years of that and has been run on WildCat 10% Premium Extra ever since.
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Hobbsy, I have a tool, home made (Mk4 version) that is a bit like and expanding reamer, but the expanding bit is right on te end. I insert that into this style of bearing and with the use of a spanner expand it as far as I can and then heat the case until I can "extract" the offending piece. A place called the Tool Yard in the USA has a similar device called a "bush puller" that looks like it could do the job wth a bit of modification.
Food for thought
BTB like you I have never run a bearing in my engines that have been used for normal operations though I have replaced a few rusted out ones over te years.
Food for thought
BTB like you I have never run a bearing in my engines that have been used for normal operations though I have replaced a few rusted out ones over te years.

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Thanks FNQ, new tools is always good, I've got the flu right now but will give that a go in a few days. I am anxious to try the new .62 out on the Alpha 60.
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If you haven't already flown one, you will really like that 62, they are a well mannered engine. Mine likes APC 12/6's. I have 3.
L.
L.

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I must apologize, that is a new .65, although I have a .62 also and as you say its a fine totally reliable engine. I run a 12x7 Graupner on the .62. I had two of the .62s for a Dual Ace but lost one in a wind storm at Andrews AFB about 4 years ago. No one ever found it, or if they did it never got back to me.
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