Loose Landing Gear Heartache!

BeeRAD56 · Mar 5, 2017

My H is 3 weeks old and has never been crashed or even had a hard landing. When flying yesterday, I noticed that the port side landing leg, lagged slightly when coming up. Once back on the ground, I found that there is roughly 1/4" of play at the hinge point of the gear motor assembly on the left side, whereas the starboard side is tight with no play. As result of this play, the bird does not sit completely level and leans to the port side slightly.

I poked around on the net and YouTube and learned how the retracts work and also learned that the yolk of the cast knuckle, which rides on the nut and screw assembly, is a common point of failure.

It's a beautiful weekend here and I want to keep flying but afraid that the knuckle may totally give way on a subsequent landing, doing additional damage to props, arms, etc. I also, dread the thought of sending the unit in to Yuneec for repairs and being without it for who knows how long?

I'm dying to tear into it myself and see what's going on to see if it's possibly an issue where the nut on the threaded rod has moved and can be readjusted. Or, getting a replacement motor assembly ($30) and replacing it all together. That said, I'm guessing that to open the unit up which is only 3 weeks old will void the warranty.

One other tidbit is that I updated the firmware yesterday on both the bird and the controller to the latest release (2/24/17) and noticed this issue immediately following. I can't image that the two are related but as a Newbie, I have more questions than answers.

I'm curious if other members have come across this issue and if so, what did you find and how did you resolve it.

Thanks in advance!

RiverRunner · Mar 5, 2017

Contact Yuneec CS and ask if they will cross ship a replacement landing gear. This should be covered by warranty. It is easy to replace (two screws.)

BeeRAD56 · Mar 5, 2017

RiverRunner said:
Contact Yuneec CS and ask if they will cross ship a replacement landing gear. This should be covered by warranty. It is easy to replace (two screws.)

Thank you. I'll contact Yuneec CS when they open tomorrow.

I see the two screws on the outside, but in looking at a motor assembly online, I see that the assembly has 4 mounting tabs with holes. Are the two upper tabs connected in the main housing or are they not used?

Thanks again.

RiverRunner · Mar 5, 2017

Only two are used.

Baldfield · Nov 11, 2020

Was your problem solved? I am experiencing same thing with a bit of a twist. The left side is loose, does not retrack or extend fully, so the bird lists to one side. The other leg will not operate at all. No crashes, hard landings, .

SkyVidTek · Nov 11, 2020

Try this: Turn the H480 on, flip it upside down in your hand, move the landing gear switch to "up" wait for movement to finish, then to "down" wait for movement to finish, then put the H480 down. Did it fix the issue? This worked for me once when I noticed some play in the actiator on one side.