Replacing the white schock absorber on the feet

[Mr Phantom]

Is it possible to replace only the white shock absorber on the landing feet? Or do the whole feet need to be replaced?

And is it hard to replace it and are these sold as spare part? Does the guarantee cover broken schock absorbers?

I was in the process of buying an Inspire 1 and now just learned that one of the shock absorbers are broken. Would you advise against buying it?
Can the drone still be landed with one broken schock absorber without negative effects or will it affect the drone negatively?

Thanks for some answers.

 

[Kilrah]

From what I've looked at the white thing is actually only cosmetic.

 

[Mr Phantom]

No there is a metallic pin running down the whole length of the shock absorber according to the picture I've looked at.

 

[Carlo]

Is it possible to replace only the white shock absorber on the landing feet? Or do the whole feet need to be replaced?

And is it hard to replace it and are these sold as spare part? Does the guarantee cover broken schock absorbers?

I was in the process of buying an Inspire 1 and now just learned that one of the shock absorbers are broken. Would you advise against buying it?
Can the drone still be landed with one broken schock absorber without negative effects or will it affect the drone negatively?

Thanks for some answers.

Im sorry to hear about the Shock, it is not replaceable. And DJI forces you to send it in for repair since they do not sell the part, other then that I have seen the entire foot on eBay for 175.00 also if you google it you might find someone who wrote up a repair.
hope this helps

 

[Mr Phantom]

Thanks for your answer. So the whole feet must be changed? Is it covered by the warranty or do one have to pay it themselves?

 

[Carlo]

Thanks for your answer. So the whole feet must be changed? Is it covered by the warranty or do one have to pay it themselves?

Depends what caused it they will want to review your flight logs to see if you caused it or not.

 

[Kilrah]

Well I have one of mine that popped out of the foot (it's inserted and "clicks in" with a little ridge), and it could move completely freely inside the tube above i.e. no shock absorbing feature at all. That's provided by the flex of the foot itself, the white thing just "looks cool". I glued it back in as it didn't want to hold by itself anymore. One can see when flexing the foot that the tube actually bends with it.

 

[Mr Phantom]

Well I have one of mine that popped out of the foot (it's inserted and "clicks in" with a little ridge), and it could move completely freely inside the tube above i.e. no shock absorbing feature at all. That's provided by the flex of the foot itself, the white thing just "looks cool". I glued it back in as it didn't want to hold by itself anymore. One can see when flexing the foot that the tube actually bends with it.

Okay so you say that the white thing has no shock absorbing effect at all? So then its just there for looks?

So it is the foot itself that does the absorbing and flexing? But since you say that the white thing is bending with the foot, then it needs to function in that way that it bends, it needs to be able to bend, maybe that white thing keeps the flexing of the foot more rigid and hard so the foot doesn't flex from too little force, if you understand what i mean?

In this particular Inspire the white thing was broken, there was one white tube hanging from the upper part of the foot, and attached to it was a metallic pin, and then on the lower side there was another piece of the white tube, the upper and lower white tube suppose to be fixed together and form one tube, so the tube was broken in half. Not sure it can be fixed by myself? It would be needed to be able to attach the two parts of the white plastic tube together.

 

[Aviator]

Take a look here
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DJI-Inspi...837?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51d3b399ad

 

[Mr Phantom]

Take a look here
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DJI-Inspi...837?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51d3b399ad

Thanks, i haven't bought the inspire 1 with the broken white absorber yet, i wanted to ask here first how costly and hard it is too buy and change it. It seems pretty easy to change the whole feet which one seems to be required to do, but the feet seems costly. So i will have to add about 200 USD at least for a used feet with shipping and tax to the total purchase price.

 

[World Media]

I had a flyaway crash into a brach at about two metre height, broke a carbon boom arm ad the white shock absorber popped out. I repaired the boom for under $10 and was able to compress the white shock absorber and refit it.
It has stayed in place ever since.
Whilst it was out I did consider its real purpose, whilst it is sprung I don't thing it absorbs a considerable load, frankly it seemed to me like it was mor of a support.
if I was in your position I would try to find something with a little flex in it and bend it enough to allow it to locate in the reception holes and just provide angular support for the leg. That way you will have the load displaced if you have a hard landing.

Normal landings are so gentle that the absorber really makes little impact IN MY OPINION !
let us know what you do.

 

[Mr Phantom]

I had a flyaway crash into a brach at about two metre height, broke a carbon boom arm ad the white shock absorber popped out. I repaired the boom for under $10 and was able to compress the white shock absorber and refit it.
It has stayed in place ever since.
Whilst it was out I did consider its real purpose, whilst it is sprung I don't thing it absorbs a considerable load, frankly it seemed to me like it was mor of a support.
if I was in your position I would try to find something with a little flex in it and bend it enough to allow it to locate in the reception holes and just provide angular support for the leg. That way you will have the load displaced if you have a hard landing.

Normal landings are so gentle that the absorber really makes little impact IN MY OPINION !
let us know what you do.

I don't know if this one is fixable that way, take a look at the photo. Even the black plastic on the lower part of the leg where the white tube goes is broken.

Also do you people think this could have happened any other way than in a crash? The seller says it is not from a crash but that it must have broken some other way,he said he hadn't even noticed it until he packed it up from the box in order to make it ready for sale. How can one miss a thing like that?

By the way, could a crash without visible damage cause any problems that can present itself later on, if yes what kinds of silent problems is likely to come from a crash that only shows itself later on?

 

[Mr Phantom]

Here is a picture of a leg showing the parts. Don't forget there is the strut fluid inside the tube.

Thanks, if you look at my picture which parts do you think is missing or is damaged, and does it look as anything can be done with the absorber in my provided picture? Thanks.

 

[Mr Phantom]

It looks like the oleo is broken and from what I tried, it is not possible to disassemble the tube from the leg. So maybe if you are short on cash or didn't buy it from B&H try finding a plastic pen with the same circumference and fabricate a new oleo. Even if you can make a new one without the inside parts, I do not think it will be a terrible problem to fly without.

So to answer your question, first try to fabricate a new strut, than worry about the rest. I just tried a papermate pen and it is pretty darn close. Maybe a slim sharpie may work.

Thanks, but how will you get the new piece to stick? And isn't the inside parts needed? Then i guess maybe it can be flown without doing anything, until one can make a proper fix by buying a new feet?

 

[Mr Phantom]

As stated earlier the tube seems stuck in the foot, so maybe you can cut it level and use some sort of dremel tool to make it hollow and crazyglue or cement the new tube into the foot.

Sure the inside parts are needed, this is what makes up the shock absorber. It looks like you were looking for an inexpensive fix, that is why I stated, I do not think it will be a terrible thing to fly without the 'complete' assembly.

Yes if needed i will have to make a quick fix until it can be fixed properly, but if it can be safely flown like it is then i would not fix it at all now until i fix it properly.
IF i buy the drone in question, which it doesn't seem as because the seller will not lower the price with the amount what a used feet cost. We decided on a price and at that time it supposed to be an Inspire with no problems at all, suddenly he told me he just saw the broken absorber when he made the drone ready for sale, but he still wants the same price.
And also i have a hard time believing that he didn't knew about the broken absorber, since i can not imagine it has happened in any other way than thru a crash.
So maybe there are more hidden problems that present itself later.

 

[Mr Phantom]

It does sound a little shady. Use good judgment; it already sound like you are.....good luck

Yes i will do that, thanks.

 

[World Media]

The outer part of the absorber is just plastic, easily broken and could have been broken against something sticking out in the case ......... regardless of how it was broken NO ONE is going to buy the damaged inspire without discounting for the repair cost.

Also I still suggest that if it were mine I would find something flexible that can be bent or compressed prior to fitting into the receptacles top and bottom. Whatever you put in will not effect flight in any way and is unlikely to be an issue even in a hard landing. If you use the fix and crash breaking the foot then what you have to replace the foot.
I don't really see the need for the shock absorber, in my opinion any landing that is hard enough to require the benefits of the absorber will break the camera mount and gimbal in any event. These things land so smoothly unless your in a full blown crash and then the absorber breaks regardless.

 

[World Media]

Well said World Media.

Kind thanks UAV

 

[Carlo]

Yes if needed i will have to make a quick fix until it can be fixed properly, but if it can be safely flown like it is then i would not fix it at all now until i fix it properly.
IF i buy the drone in question, which it doesn't seem as because the seller will not lower the price with the amount what a used feet cost. We decided on a price and at that time it supposed to be an Inspire with no problems at all, suddenly he told me he just saw the broken absorber when he made the drone ready for sale, but he still wants the same price.
And also i have a hard time believing that he didn't knew about the broken absorber, since i can not imagine it has happened in any other way than thru a crash.
So maybe there are more hidden problems that present itself later.

I just Don't buy if the guys didn't know it was broken? come on man a 3K investment broken? I just don't buy it, he must landed to hard and broke it that's it. there are allot of good deals out there just make sure the boom on the landing gear are at the same angle as some forum member has post that hard landing caused his feet boom was at a different angel. not saying your deal is, Just get a good price if your looking there is allot of inventory out there with good deal and extras.

 

[Mr Phantom]

I just Don't buy if the guys didn't know it was broken? come on man a 3K investment broken? I just don't buy it, he must landed to hard and broke it that's it. there are allot of good deals out there just make sure the boom on the landing gear are at the same angle as some forum member has post that hard landing caused his feet boom was at a different angel. not saying your deal is, Just get a good price if your looking there is allot of inventory out there with good deal and extras.

Thanks for all your suggestions and ideas. I decided not to buy the drone even if the guy decided to sell it to me cheaper. About the shock absorber being broke in any other way than in a hard landing.. i think in this case it was really a crash since if you look at the picture i provided in a earlier post you can see that its not only the white part that is broken, the whole black lower part where the white absorber ends and attaches too is ripped up, so in my non professional opinion it looks like not only a crash but a hard crash?

Also the biggest reason i didn't buy was that the buyers character was bad and he didn't know how too talk and behave properly to buyers, for example he called me a "joker" just because i didn´t answer back his text message in 5 minutes, so he thought i wasn't serious. Who calls a potential customer for joker when he doesn't answer in 5 minutes?
Also when he finally lowered the price a little bit and i said no and told him which price i can pay and not a single dollar more, he answered "so come and take this piece of ****, but don't except any happy faces when you arrive"
Who says these things to a customer? So i couldn't lower myself and give my hard earned money to such a person with such a horrible persona and attitude.
So i rather pay much more and buy a brand new Inspire 1 or wait until i find another used Inspire 1, or i buy a Phantom 3.