I have just finished the assembly of a ‘JR Venture 30’ with the ‘O.S. 32’ motor, and on the initial start-up and idle the clutch was continually catching, at higher revs and during flying it is fine. I removed the motor and checked the clutch, which seemed to be fine, realigned and reinstalled the motor, but the problem still exists. As this is my first Heli I am not sure if this is something that will cease when it has run itself in, or wether it is a faulty clutch. Has anyone else experienced this problem with the ‘Venture’ or is there somebody that can offer some advice as to how fix it?
Thanks, Michael.

Mike,

It's been a while since I put my Venture together but I recall a similar problem. The local heli expert caught it when he was prepping to test fly my Venture.

Seems like the illustrations in the assembly manual were somewhat confusing, or just plain wrong. As a result I had installed my engine mount upside down thereby positioning the engine too high and causing top of the clutch assembly to drag against the top inside surface of the clutch bell. This resulted in an "almost always engaged" clutch. Sounds similar to what you're describing.

Try flipping the motor mount around. You should end up with the bottom of the clutch assembly almost flush with, or slightly below, the bottom of the clutch bell. When I look at mine from the side I see about 1/16 of clutch assembly below the edge of the bell.

Hope this fixes it!

Thanks Steve, I did check the engine mount and the position of the engine and all seams to be to the book, maybe it will run itself in.

That motor mount direction:OS picture in Section 2-1 is wrong. You've got to have the shorter distance down, like the Webra diagram.

Spin the big black main gear counter-clockwise by hand. Does it make a metallic grinding noise? All you should hear is the tail rotor belt and feel the tail rotor spinning. If you hear anything metallic your engine is mounted too high. Per the crude drawing on 2-4 mine looked correct too but the drawing leaves a lot to be desired.

You said it was fine when you're flying but I thought the same thing till a more experienced pilot flew mine and pointed out the problem. He noticed that the main rotor wasn't freely spinning down on its own when he cut the throttle. I wouldn't have know any difference.

Shoot me an email and I'll send you a digital photo of my heli's clutch and motor mount. Perhaps a picture will help. [email protected]

Thanks Steve, I'll check it out.

Same problem on the 50, their is not enough clearance between the clutch and the lining. You can ether turn down the clutch lining OR let it wear in by itself.