Have you had your exhaust ball joints lubricated recently?

[Anticept]

Just a PSA, the ball joints in the exhaust need to be lubricated regularly. The Rotax 912 ULS Installation manual, Edition 2, Rev 1, Chapter 78-00-00, page 3, paragraph 1.1, and the line maintenance manual, edition 3, rev 2, chapter 5-20-00, page 5 table has notices reminding people of this.

 

Not performing this regular lubrication will result in heavy wear of the socket and ball joint, leading to expensive welding repairs, and cracking of the pipes. The sockets and knuckles are rotax parts (ball joint, stainless, is 978 521, and the female stainless socket MIGHT be 978 511 (please call and confirm, I think lockwood knows exactly which P/N). If you need to weld these components, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to have these parts welded by someone experienced working with stainless steel. Stainless steel is NOT easy to repair. Factors such as the exhaust carbon mixing with the weld site, normalization requirements, and filler material are important, or the heat from the weld process will cause brittleness and fatigue, leading to cracking around the weld site.

 

There doesn't seem to be anything in the manuals about the lubrication interval. There's already a lot to do at the 200 hour, so I would say add this to that list.

 

Roger: You've been recommending copper anti-seize. It seems that nickel is the recommended anti-seize to use for this application by several manufacturers for stainless and I'll be switching:

 

http://www.antiseize.com/pdf/how-to-choose-an-antiseize.pdf

http://www.henkelna.com/us/content_data/186160_MaintenanceRepairOverhaul_CoatingSurfaceTreatments_AntiSeizeLubricants_pg32_33.pdf

http://www.henkel.mx/mxe/content_data/83749_LT3355v4_MROantiseize.pdf