Bell 407

[SuddenStop]

c'mon I'm an a-star guy, and we all know they can give grief too...lets just all stop flying altogether now and get into trucking.

Does Ice Road Truckers need a few more up and comers?

[DGP]

The problem with the #4 bearings was suppose to be undue load imposed on the bearing during install in the gearbox...the fix was a bearing with a chamfered edge for easier installed...however we had the new bearing installed the second time and it had started to fall apart as mentioned...the torguemeter gear was tracked back to poor manufacturing process and certain part numbered gears were to be scraped..this also is the same p/n gear that is in the L4...affected both machines...as mentioned when you get an engine chip light on the 407 you can expect a large amount of metal has turned on the light not just a sliver or a flack...I would get her on the ground asap and expect the worst until you are on the ground!

[CrackedSpar]

The problem with the #4 bearings was suppose to be undue load imposed on the bearing during install in the gearbox...the fix was a bearing with a chamfered edge for easier installed...

 

Sounds like they were blowing smoke because the bearing is undersized. Or they genuinely wanted to believe that the problem was an installation problem. It is, however, interesting to hear that. I think all of the 407s that I am familiar with would have the new style bearing, and they don't seem to be lasting either.

 

 

And the Astar... Well, at least for the most part it seems the Arriel doesn't fail suddenly. But, I do seem to wind up changing a lot of modules early.

[SuddenStop]

the be an install problem would dictate a tooling or training issue.

 

seeing the bearing continues to have issues, i would lean more to a design issue.

[helidude]

Sounds like they were blowing smoke because the bearing is undersized. Or they genuinely wanted to believe that the problem was an installation problem. It is, however, interesting to hear that. I think all of the 407s that I am familiar with would have the new style bearing, and they don't seem to be lasting either.

 

 

And the Astar... Well, at least for the most part it seems the Arriel doesn't fail suddenly. But, I do seem to wind up changing a lot of modules early.

 

 

"Arriel doesn't fail suddenly"

I beg to differ! One of our pilots will testify to that as well!

 

So anyways, about the maintenance manual procedure when finding metal in the C47, can anyone enlighten me?

[helidude]

So anyways, about the maintenance manual procedure when finding metal in the C47, can anyone enlighten me? /quote]

 

 

Hello?

 

Anybody out there?

[SuddenStop]

LOL, makes me wonder too helidude.

[mike hunt]

I am not an engineer so don't quote me on this but I believe we did a thirty minute ground run after a chip light illumination this Summer. I think the engineer checked the plug again and I was given the green light to continue. Not comforting to hear of some of these failures but thanks for sharing.

[DGP]

The last post was pretty much as per the book...you don't have to do anything until you get a light...this may be way too late...I would suggest that if you go on a 407 as a pilot ask if they have any record of chip lights...as an engineer I would pull the chip plugs a few times to see if anything is happening...the quick disconnect chip plugs are a bit tricky so I would not suggest a pilot to be pulling them and do a ground run afterwards to leak check them...they dump a fair amount of oil when pulled as any engineer will atest to...any kind of light means you have something falling apart...sometimes slowly...sometimes quickly...stay safe...

[SuddenStop]

I too did the 30 minute ground runs when I was in the field, cuz thats what the old guys taught me....until I actually read the books