Hey,
How do you get at the bearing once you get into here?
(3 months old and already squeaking and not rotating smoothly)
Cheers
these bearings arnt disined for the directions of load that are put on them,i think thats why they dont last.all my kites are fuels, iv had 5 or six over the years and the o9 is the first to rust up over obout 3 mounths ,the others where all fine.my be they got there bearings from a differnt source for the 09s..????
noooo, you just grab a pair of plyers and pull the rope out from the bottom of CL. to replace the bearing you will need to pull the rope through all of the bits and peices, as if you were replacing the depower rope.
bit of a job though.
yep, exactly what surfingboye said. take of all the bits and bobs and when u come to putting on the new bearing, its a bitch. I have done this twice and from my experience make sure u wax that specific part of the depower rope really good (the bit where the bearing sits), otherwise ull find if the bearing is not up far enough the depower lead will stick out of the botton and its impossible to put the donkey dick on.
Lastly. if ur in to unhooking make sure that the thing that clinches on to the rope, (black thing located just above the chicken loop) and the chicken loop system have no gap as i can see in the pic coz if u try to hook back in the chicken loop will just dangle around. which can drive u crazy.
Thanks guys,
I had not planned on replacing the bearing, was just gonna clean it up and lube. Is this worth the hassle or should i just replace with new one? Does SS provide these under warranty?
What wax do you use Jacky?
cheers again
hi mate, had the bearing in mine completely destroy itself as well. nice shop man down at kite republic gave me a new rope bearing and bottom bracket thingy to fix it, so if your kite is under a year old get the shop you bought it from to give you some new bits. although the problem itself comes from them using a ball bearing which is designed to carry big lateral loads and small linear ones. in the bar set up it has huge lateral load and small linear ones. if you want to replace the bearing, go to a bearing shop and see if they have the same dimension bearing 22mm outer diameter and about 8 mm inner diameter in a tapered roller bearing, which is designed for big lateral load.
or, just get some good quality sail rope 8mm and tie a knot in it and be done with the bearing
if you havent already done it, take the whole bottom rope off the bar assy and then push the whole lot through the end that you show in the photo.rest it on a vice or something and get a punch and hammer and knock it through. good luck
Good info,
Have just replaced my bearing and put in new rope from slingshot but now the measurement between the top of the bar and the stainless ring where the rope doubles over has increased by 4cm - the new rope must be longer but not sure why (mine is 9m do the bigger kites have longer ropes?). Can easily reduce the length of the rope by moving stopper at end, not sure what effect this will have on kites flying. Can anyone out there give the right distances for a 9m rev from top of bar to stainless ring and for stopper (black ball on rope) Cheers
Replacement bearings are available-BUT NOT from Slingshot-it's bloody ridiculous that a kite company of its apparent calibre would put such a shiity bar together with such a cr@p part-they could have use stainless bearings designed for that job which cost a few bucks more-how's it go: 'penny smart pound foolish'-if one of these parts was to fail and result in injury to a rider or someone else, no amount of warning bullsh!t on their warranty material would be sufficient to protect them from a damages claim.
All kite companies-SS included-need to get their sh!t together and stop bringing product to market that has not had sufficient R&D and QC-PARTICULARLY in light of the ridiculous RRP on kites.
SS should address the issue and get the parts replaced through dealers NOW!
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