The Rotorway Factory builds and supplies one of the best main rotor systems available for a kit helicopter.

One reason for this is the elastomeric bearings that provide a very rugged and reliable pitch bearing for the main rotor blades. If they are properly cared for they have a long life and provide an amazingly smoothe rotor system.

Elastomeric bearings age

• Insure that the calendar life of your Elastomeric bearings is within that allowed by the factory
• Insure that absolutely no grease is able to get onto the elastomer (rubber/brass shim) surfaces. Keep them clean.
• I like to place a micro thin layer of grease on both flat surfaces of the outer bearings. This allows the elastomeric bearing to slide into it’s neutral position when the rotor system is running down. If you hear a loud "twang" from the blade area on run-down, it is an indication that the elastomeric bearings are snapping back into place instead of sliding, this could be hard on them and shorten their service life.
• If you find that your ship seems to fly fairly smooth when in a hover and then once it enters translational lift it becomes very rough, the problem may be that your elastomeric bearings are worn out.

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The material on each page is the opinion of the author only and any actions taken by the reader relating to information on this site is the responsibility of the builder.