Rotor Head DANGER !!

Yeah, I definitely second the Sharpie marking thing Chris talks about.

All of mine have been marked like this since he taught me that trick. It sure does make pre-flight of the head easy from the ground! All of my head bolts (Kingpins) use castle nuts, and the cotter key fits inside a longitudinal channel on the bottom of the torque tube. No nylocks. I recall Dan something up north built his own heads, used drilled kingpins and castle nuts but didn't install nay cotter keys. That bit him bad. Don't leave out the cotter key.
 
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Yeah, I definitely second the Sharpie marking thing Chris talks about.

All of mine have been marked like this since he taught me that trick. It sure does make pre-flight of the head easy from the ground! All of my head bolts (Kingpins) use castle nuts, and the cotter key fits inside a longitudinal channel on the bottom of the torque tube. No nylocks. I recall Dan something up north built his own heads, used drilled kingpins and castle nuts but didn't install nay cotter keys. That bit him bad. Don't leave out the cotter key.

Not all rotor heads use castle nuts and cotter pins.
Some do use NYLOCKS with great luck and no problem.
Not all torque tubes have slots for cotter pins.
I'll bet that most people that fly a Dominator never knew they had a NYLOCK holding their Spindle bolt on the torque tube.
But I guess when you only have experience with one model, then I guess that's all you know.
Use what ever works for you.
 
Jake
Good catch, could this have been seen during pre-flight?
Rick

It might have been hard to detect, but the grease and dirt drew my attention.
With the weight of the rotor system you probably could not feel it move if grabbed and shook.

I think Chris Burgess, has the best idea for detecting a problem with the spacer.
 
Yeah, I definitely second the Sharpie marking thing Chris talks about.

All of mine have been marked like this since he taught me that trick. It sure does make pre-flight of the head easy from the ground! All of my head bolts (Kingpins) use castle nuts, and the cotter key fits inside a longitudinal channel on the bottom of the torque tube. No nylocks. I recall Dan something up north built his own heads, used drilled kingpins and castle nuts but didn't install nay cotter keys. That bit him bad. Don't leave out the cotter key.

Yep, Chris taught me that trick to. One of the things we did before he flew my Butterfly. Had to modify a socket to torque the bolt. Gyro gone but still got the socket.
 
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