Hello!  The left rear white tube on the foot of the landing gear cracked.  A spring is exposed and there is clear fluid leaking from it.  The tube is still completely in tact, but is no longer sealed at the bottom.  1.  What is the fluid?  2.  Can this be repaired with sealant/glue our should I ship it back to DJI?

How are you guys able to crack these ... !?  
It´s really easy to do soft landings with this thing !

Where you landing it manually or with auto pilot?

If you cant bother to do soft landings I suggest you ship it to China ... cause you probably gonna need this chock absorber fully intack for future landings.

If you think you will be able to do soft landing in the future ... just tape it together and you will be fine!

In my opinion this thing shouldn´t need chock absorbers ... but on the other hand it´s quite obvious it does ... but I can´t figure out why the construction is so weak ...

w1der Posted at 2015-5-26 02:48
How are you guys able to crack these ... !?  
It´s really easy to do soft landings with this thing  ...

Thanks for your opinion and somewhat answering the question.  From your response it sounds like you are a very skilled pilot and know quite a bit about the Inspire.  Do you know if the only function of the foot is for shock absorption?  Do you know what the liquid is?  Also, if I were to reseal it with a liquid seal or tape, as you suggest, will they be any impact by the change in weight of the aircraft?

tommy.davis417@ Posted at 2015-5-26 03:05
Thanks for your opinion and somewhat answering the question.  From your response it sounds like yo ...

I am not sure about the liquid ... why it´s there ... the spring should be enough really.
Do a you tube search and see if you can find anything about repairs of this part on there ...

How ever ... I am sure that the loss of it shouldn´t affect the flight performance.  

w1der Posted at 2015-5-26 03:16
I am not sure about the liquid ... why it´s there ... the spring should be enough really.
Do a y ...

Thanks again.  I'll continue to research and wait to hear from more on the forum.  

The white tubes are oil filled shock absorbers.  They are very similar to the type used in RC cars.  I found out about the oil when I got disoriented for a moment and my I1 found itself in a tree.  I believe that as it got stuck in the tree that the shock got cracked.

Once I got my bird out of the tree... I noticed that the tube had a spring in it and that it was leaking oil.  I realized what it was from seeing my son's RC car shocks do the same thing when broken.  I'm not sure exactly what the oil does except  that maybe it helps dampen the shock's movement more than it would with just the spring?

Mine broke right as the white tube enters the lower part of the foot.  If I pulled on the white sleeve I could get it to  match up with the other part that was still in the lower foot.  I tried soaking up the oil with paper towels until I'd gotten most of it and then I used hot melt glue to re-attach the white sleeve to the lower part of the foot.  It doesn't look perfect but it is still functioning well and you can't really tell unless you're looking for the repair.  If they offered a replacement, I'd buy one but I haven't been able to find one except for those who are selling off parts from crashed or demoed Inspire 1's.  Not worth $150 to me for something that took me a few minutes and a few cents to repair.

sndguy1 Posted at 2015-5-26 06:16
The white tubes are oil filled shock absorbers.  They are very similar to the type used in RC cars.  ...

That sounds good.  I think I will repair it on my own. Thanks for the input!

tommy.davis417@ Posted at 2015-5-26 07:27
That sounds good.  I think I will repair it on my own. Thanks for the input!

Dot 5 oil will do it. Brakes better too

I dont think its a big deal. I cracked one of mine several months ago when there was the problem with GPS drop out. I was close to the trees and it drifted into a tree and shattered the DJI props and cracked one shock...There was no time to respond to the drop out...Dam Tree Magnets...I was not going to spend a ton of money shipping it from Canada to California for a minor issue because DJI cant or wont supply parts . So I simply removed the shock and replaced it with a white tube from my local hobby shop.  Problem solved.   I have had many flights since then without any issues...If DJI ever gets around to supplying my rep with new ones I will replace it...No big deal...

Years later...These shocks are examples small little things that make high end systems to last longer. They take in quite some shock, whether during landings, crusing, transport, storage. On a fully rigid system, a there is a chance that a vital component might move, get dislodged etc. I recently had to service an inspire that was a work horse in a very dusty area and got very little care besides charging the batteries and taking it out to fly. That drone was very dirty. Grit in motors and all. When teared down, all vital components, including the shocks, were well covered away and in very good working conditions.