I am thinking about buying a ram 500 that just had a check up and had the bearings replaced. Do I need to do anything elese to the turbine before I run it?

Do some more reading here on RCU as well as AMA documents on Turbine safety and the JPO.
Make sure you have a CO2 or Halon Fire extinguisher on hand. (NOT dry chemical like you find in Home Depot / Lowes, the powder will mess up your engine and new bearings) Going to cost you about $150-$200 for a new 5 LB CO2 or sometimes you can find them refurbished at fire supply stores for about $60-$75 with some shopping.
All though not necessary but highly encouraged I would recommend to have someone that already has a turbine should be on hand to assist you so you don't get that feeling of "I wonder if that sound is normal or is this thing going to blow up" anxiousness. That way you can also ask them to bring along their extinguisher and answer any questions.
Cheers,
BC

Which software version does it have? If it is earlier than C02C I would recommend getting the ECU updated. Bob Price can update it.

Before you try to start it read "Tony's Ram 500 Tips"
http://www.jetpilots.org/PDF%20files...M_500_Tips.pdf

Ram 500's can be difficult to start, however once started they run fine. Mine has the latest software, C03. Here is what works for me:
- Fully charge the ECU battery before starting.
- Fill the gas bottle 10-15 minutes before you start to allow the gas temperature to come up to ambient temperature, or warm up the bottle in your hands for a few minutes after filling. Some guys have had better luck with a larger gas bottle, like the Jetcat one.
- Make sure that the glow plug has two coils pulled out.
- With a McCoy #9 plug I set the glow plug parameter to 55. If you use a Rossi plug you will need more voltage, about 45 should work. If it is cold out you might want to decrease the value by 5 or so. A lower number gives higher voltage. If you have the older software levels that start with an A or B the glow parameter works opposite, a higher value gives more voltage.
- Set the gas adjust parameter to 10 - 15 less than the ambient temperature. The lower the value the more propane it lets in.
- The Start PW parameter should be set to 5 less or equal to what the pump PW reading is at normal idle. This value can vary depending on how strong your fuel pump is and your fuel tank set up. 105 works on mine. If it is not ramping up on kero then increase the number. If you are seeing flames shooting out the back then lower the value.

I have put well over 100 starts on mine and done a lot of experimenting with the start parameters. Even with the above I can get a good automatic start about 50% of the time. What works every time with the above is to leave your Powermax can connected and give it an extra squirt of gas a few seconds after it lights off.

I plug in my data terminal for each start. It always lights off fine. Then I watch the EGT. If I see the temperature start to drop off then I give it a little squirt of gas and then it runs up fine. As stated above I need to do that about half the time.

Good luck. let me know if you have any questions.

Joe

The sftware is the latest version 3. The turbine has had 10 flights. do i need to balance anything befor i run it. i will take it to somebody inga to help me run it. thanks for the help

Who replaced the bearings? Normal proceedure is to to rebalance the engine when bearings are replaced. As long as the check up and bearing replacement was done by someone competent you should be good to go. If it was done by RTI or Modellbau I'm sure you are OK.

Joe