Replacing Main Rotor Blades of RC Helicopter

The main rotor blades can become cracked in a severe crash and pieces can break off. While it’s completely possible to fix small cracks and dings with some medium CA glue and accelerator, this can negatively affect blade balance and make the helicopter vibrate. It’s easier and faster to replace the old blade so here’s how to do it:

Get a small Phillips head screwdriver and unscrew the single aluminum screw at the root of the damaged blade. The blade will now be free, and you can remove and dispose of it. Damaged blades can be sharp, so be careful not to cut yourself.

All the top rotor blades come with a white warning label on their upper surface. Choose from the upper and lower rotor blades as needed so that the rotors look like this when viewed from the front. As viewed from the front, the right top rotor blade should curve upwards and the bottom right rotor blade should curve downwards. This picture shows the correct blade orientation. 

Install the replacement blade and tighten the screw just enough so that the blade swings freely when you tilt the helicopter, but is secure enough that it won’t fly off. This has to be done by feel – it’s not critical that the screw is perfectly adjusted, but the blade should feel secure and move freely.

Replacing the Blade Grips

The blade grips / holders are black clevis like objects which clamp down on the root of each blade and hold it to the main shaft. If one of these becomes damaged, use this procedure to replace it:

Remove the both of the rotor blades that the blade grips are holding by following the instructions above.

Lay the helicopter on its side and observe the two screws that hold the blade grips together and on the main shaft. This picture shows one screw removed, viewed from the bottom of the helicopter. 

Unscrew the blade grips and keep the screws in a safe place where they can’t roll away.

Replace the broken blade grip and install the screws.

Replacing Ball Linkages:

Ball linkages connect the RC helicopter’s servos to the swash plate and fly bar. It’s fairly unlikely that these will get broken in a crash, but if they do, here’s how to replace them:

Snap off the damaged ball link using your fingers or a screwdriver.

Find the replacement link that matches the one you took off and press it on to the spherical plastic nubs where the broken link connected.