Roger Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 Greetings... Any of the learned colleagues care to offer an opinion about K-flex or Kaflex drive shafts in Bell mediums. Thanks in advance... Rog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splitpin Posted April 14, 2008 Report Share Posted April 14, 2008 Greetings... Any of the learned colleagues care to offer an opinion about K-flex or Kaflex drive shafts in Bell mediums. Thanks in advance... Rog Never seen them myself, but I understand that they are a worthwhile upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic_front Posted April 15, 2008 Report Share Posted April 15, 2008 I've seen a couple now.... in a word, great idea. No grease, no hassle until you have to remove one. It takes special tools, nothing hard to fabricate, but you better have one before you need it. Also, if it installed on an aircraft with vortex-generator type particle separator, major PITA. I think they should be a mandatory mod for reasons of safety and lower maintenance costs. JMHO, But they are not cheap. And need to be sent back to the factory for inspection at some very long interval (hours flown). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustanAME Posted April 15, 2008 Report Share Posted April 15, 2008 I've seen a couple now.... in a word, great idea. No grease, no hassle until you have to remove one. It takes special tools, nothing hard to fabricate, but you better have one before you need it. Also, if it installed on an aircraft with vortex-generator type particle separator, major PITA. I think they should be a mandatory mod for reasons of safety and lower maintenance costs. JMHO, But they are not cheap. And need to be sent back to the factory for inspection at some very long interval (hours flown). Also, they hate to be scratched. Some have scratch limits as low as 0.001". You must use the tools they call for. They also don't like flexing too much as strange as that might sound. In otherwords, that's why the 222 still uses greased driveshafts. And yes, they are expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted April 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2008 Thanks Guys The opinions are appreciated but I'm trying to get a bigger pool of opinion. I don't wanna go into all the detail but if a few more people 'in the know' could comment it would be great....And specifically say for or against it would help... If I say X against, and Y for.... . And he (Boss) asks how big was the group I sampled, and I say 3...He's gonna laugh me to a place that starts with prince or fort and that's not the plan...Help me out if you can. Thanks...Rog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Don't know about mediums, but we have a few on our 206 fleet. We like them because it eliminates the regular (annual) greasing, and there's very little to go wrong on them. Also on the 206, you can remove/install without the special tool. There's enough flex/movement to allow that quite easly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic_front Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Don't know about mediums, but we have a few on our 206 fleet. We like them because it eliminates the regular (annual) greasing, and there's very little to go wrong on them. Also on the 206, you can remove/install without the special tool. There's enough flex/movement to allow that quite easly. Try that little manouver on a 206 if it has a rotor-brake.... what a nightmare. Luckily not many 206's have rotor brakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwistedSpar Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Thanks Guys The opinions are appreciated but I'm trying to get a bigger pool of opinion. Thanks...Rog you get what you get..... :down: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underslung Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 PITA with the pall kit installed, seems to work well though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewa Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Jetrangers, Longrangers, H500's, and mediums, the k-flex works great on all of them. I would rather fight with it a little to remove/install then spend 3 hrs re-greasing the d/s any day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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