Swash plate loose

[flipboy]

I have a Trex 700 DFC,i noticed my swahplate has vertical play between the red top plate and the bottom plate.
My question is,is there a way to tighten it down if i remove the swashplate?
Is there a set screw underneath the swashplate to eliminate the vertical play?

[ticedoff8]

Is there a set screw underneath the swashplate to eliminate the vertical play?

No.
The top red part rotates and bottom silver part doesn't. There is a press fit redial bearing connecting the two pieces.
If the vertical play is excessive, either the bearing's race is loose (inner or outer) or the balls are shot.

You could try to find a replacement bearing (Align does not sell spare swashplate bearings) or buy a new DFC swashplate (Align does sell new swashplates)

[flipboy]

I have another swashplate from another kit i crashed a couple years ago (V2 version) which seems to be okay,i'm wondering if i can just swap that in.
Is there any significant difference between the swashplates other than the red bling?

[jhamel]

I prefer the design of more modern swashplates where the top and bottom parts are held together with screws compared to the older style swashplates that use press fit. This is an example of a press fit swashplate that I was able to jiggle loose at the bench. This was a fairly new swash with no crashes. It really bothered me that the manufacturer refused to accept that the swashplate could possibly come apart without having being involved in a crash. But now all the manufacturer's new helis come with swashplates held together with screws.

[ticedoff8]

Is there any significant difference between the swashplates other than the red bling?

No.
There are 2 types of Align swashplates for the 700: DFC and non-DFC.
* The non-DFC swashplate has 4 balls screwed into the top "crown" and is designed for the old flybar equipped head or the new "FL" head
* The DFC swashplate looks exactly like the one you nave now, except it is all silver (I don't think they made a DFC swash that is all black)

You can use either one on the DFC head.

[flipboy]

Thanks Ticedoff8!

[Atomic Skull]

Originally Posted by ticedoff8

No.
The top red part rotates and bottom silver part doesn't. There is a press fit redial bearing connecting the two pieces.
If the vertical play is excessive, either the bearing's race is loose (inner or outer) or the balls are shot.

You could try to find a replacement bearing (Align does not sell spare swashplate bearings) or buy a new DFC swashplate (Align does sell new swashplates)

Disassembling an Align swash plate requires some specialized tools to unscrew the two halves swashplate (the two pieces are threaded together not press fit) and the new bearing will develop play in time anyway, nature of the beast. John Salt on Youtube shows how but he uses tooling he made himself to do it.

The reason they screw it together with super strong threadlock instead of using screws is simple they want you to buy a new swashplate not fix the old one.

Tarot sells a device for unscrewing the halves of a 450 swash (or used to). I wish somone would make one of those for a 600/700 Align swashplate. Also a set of small bore reverse collet internal bearing pullers, another useful thing that nobody makes.