Help me design a fixed, reliable ARMY R85

[Domz]

Yep Ive heard lots of different faults and modifications for the R85 so I thought maybe make a thread of how to fix them to be reliable, and guide or hopping list, and whatever I settle on Im going to do most of as my piston has now broken.

(well, the gears and motor turn fine and ironically it whizzes just for 1 rev on semi but cant hear the piston going anywhere so I presume the piston is stripped).

(someone'll probably complain it could go somewhere else... well, it'd be buried too fast in the review. Please don't delete this at any rate, if you tell me I'll just move it somewhere else or within the review.)

 

No Im no expert so any of my points aren't definite and mostly what Ive picked up so anybody who knows more, feel free to tell me if Im wrong. I have read the guide for G&G L85s but that doesnt solve everything for me.

Replies such as Get a STAR or soon to be ICS: I'd rather not!

 

 

I'll probably keep the blowback and just hook it back for use.

Might need a new cylinder or just some way of pushing the plate of the charging handle more out as currently the dust cover isn't consistently coming off when cocked.

 

So, problems to fix:

18 tooth piston strips

Semi auto problem- apparently a small metal tab to file off and/or another reason semi might not work?

Also, trigger mechanism may be misaligned (due to the above?)

Someone said the bushings were poor?

Poor hopup on mine

Accuracy not great for such a long barrel

 

 

 

SO plan is:

Piston spacer kit

Systema or G&P piston -remove second tooth apparently helps stop bad engagement?

-or newer G&G piston with second tooth removed?

New bushings?

Remove tab

Check trigger mechanism aligned, maybe replace?

Check and maybe replace if possible some of the semi cut off parts?

New hopup (bucking at least, perhaps entire metal G&P hopup unit)

Possibly downgrade spring if it is now over forum limit.

Metal/bearing spring guide?

Tightbore inner barrel if not already over my budget

 

If anyone knows of other poor quality parts, tell me! I'm not going to pull mine apart to look as the warranty will go. Possibly piston head, cylinder/cylinder head, wiring?

 

 

 

If I just remove teeth from the current gear as opposed to putting a TM one in apparently it keeps precocking, not sure if that's less reliable?

Some people had installed the piston spacer kit and yet their semi "stops working" in the review thread, example here and here too. I don't know what's going on there.

[greebo_Brat]

I haven't done anything to mine other than disable the blowback and semi auto doesn't work. Currently in the process of stripping and rebuilding the gearbox..

[Domz]

Hmm mine had no changes and the semi worked sometimes but other times just clicked past the pull distance. So Im not sure which bit caused that, cutoff etc

 

What specifically are you doing?

 

Come on there must be more help out there!

[jonny2400]

Firstly the problem is due to your battery. The battery that comes with the AEG puts out 8.1volts I know it says 8.4v. Second most batterys put out way over their claimed voltage. I don't know why, but they do when you test them with a volt meter. Compontment shops 8.4v put out nearly 10.1volts etc.

 

I have plenty of experince working on the Army R85. After a lot of time, tests and problems.

 

Mine now runs sweet, it is a great gun to use and the range is excellent. Much better than my classic army M4 or ICS.

 

This is what I done, it works and I spend a lot of money messing about with various parts.

 

Lower gear box. Replaced the rubbish Brass bearings and fitted systema 1000 6mm Metal Bearings

Replaced the standard Spur Gear with a G&G one, Replaced Selector Gear from 18th Tooth to Tm standard 16th Tooth.

 

Cleaned out all the rubbish grease and reshimed the lower gear box. finished with some Tm gear grease

 

Upper.

 

Replaced the Piston for a systema Red 16 tooth (advanced poly) Piston, replaced the spring for a system M100 (stainless as I want full Auto use) & redwolf piston spacer kit.

 

Piston head, system Area 1000 black poly.

 

Hop up rubber, Guarder Clear (systema mis feeds in this AEG) Replaced the hop up unit with a G&P metal one peice unit and refitted.

 

Now it works well and has held its on in 3 full days with no wear to any of the fitted parts. (15,000 BB)

 

You can get all you need from ehobbyasia.com.

 

I used various other parts and set ups and it failed 4 times at 4 different days. The set up above works, on mine and my mate peter R85 carried out the work on both AEG, both have been sweet ever since. Am in a rush as the turkey is in the oven, forgive my spelling mistakes.

[Domz]

Perfect, exactly what I was hoping for!

 

So current plan:

 

Piston spacer kit

Systema or G&P piston -remove second tooth apparently helps stop bad engagement?

Systema bushings

(Remove tab)

(Check trigger mechanism aligned, maybe replace?)

Guarder hopup bucking, possibly G&P unit.

Change spring if it is not my kinda fps

Maybe new piston head, (Area?)

Metal/bearing spring guide?

Tightbore inner barrel possibly

 

 

 

Did you find the G&P hopup unit to be significantly better then?

Thanks, any more comments welcome!

[Pendra]

Get a

- regular sector gear (2nd hand?)

- shims

- an M16A2 nozzle (I used Guarder)

- a 2nd hand plastic cylinder head (got a few laying around)

- a regular piston (got a spare Element)

- the alu part from a TM piston assembly

- an AEG spring that fits your FPS need

- a Guarder hopup unit, it comes with a clear hopup rubber

- a good barrel

 

Disconnect the blowback for good.

Replace the sector gear and reshim the whole thing while there.

Take the Army cylinder head apart (literally). Mine separated after little pressure was applied to the small brass tube. Disect the replacement head, take that tube out, put it into the Army cylinder head and assemble it. After that, you can use the replacement nozzle. I don't know about newer gen R85, but the tube on mine was just to thin and the stock nozzle looked like ****.

Now take the piston assembly apart. Get the TM alu part which will be your spacer. Cut or dermel the small piece that sticks out on one side the spacer then make the screwhole so the screw of the Army piston head would go through it. Luckily the screw is long enough to go through the spacer and the end of the piston head. Not long enough the use the head bearings thou. Oh well, the spring guide has bearing, too. My spring guide was decent quality.

Finally assemble the barrel-hopup section and you are good to go!

As for the semi auto problem. Well, that, I never fixed. It is about where the gears stop. It seems if you switch from full auto to semi there is a 50-50 chance that the semi will not fire. But if it actually fires in semi, and you pull the trigger all the way until the cycle finishes, it will keep on shooting. If you try to do quick semi firing, then you will have problem.

[Killian]

Hi Pendra,

thank you, your post was very helpful. I have the same problem with Semi, I guess it can't be fixed, but I have never really used semi (I can shoot slower on full-auto, no problem).

Interesting information on the cylinder head..

 

Can I use a M16A2 nozzle with the stock cylinder head?

What about the tappet plate? Is there a standard replacement or a higher quality version?

I know that powerupgrade.cz is planning to start selling custom made cylinder heads/tappet plates/other parts for L85A1 in about a month (they will ship anywhere to Europe). I am really looking forward to it (because I already have some parts from them and I think they are the most durable parts you can get at these low prices). I'll make an update later, when they start selling the parts.

 

We have 3 Army R85A1 in our team, all broke after few hundred shots, but they work fine after replacing the needed parts (piston, piston head, spacer, sector gear).

[greebo_Brat]

Does the G&G L85 have the same issue with semi auto?

 

Would using L85 spares (WGC stocks them) help?

[ferdiii]

I have change the original nozzle from my L85A1 and I have used another one from a MP5.It is shorter than the army, and, although it has less FPS, the accuraty improve a lot.

 

[MDK_Marshal]

N-N-N-N-NNNNECROPOST!

[Domz]

Indeed! But since it has been necro'd:

 

My L85 now has the airsoftworld/scotland upgrades and it worked well so I'd recommend it- before that it broke the stock piston in a few games.

Used mine at Ground Zero Weekender and it functioned really really well! Took other guns because I expected it to suck but I ended up using it for EVERY game! Had installed a new guarder hopup bucking, one was designed for a SP130, but it worked fine on my stock fps l85, just harder to set the hopup initially.

 

Range was good. I was still using the original hopup unit (because the guarder needed the bar on the side which clips on to the body to be filed shorter) but it was OK. Accuracy: I may install a tightbore still, as shots tended to spread out.

 

Bizzarely it seemed to me that when recoil was enabled the single shot worked better.

Often with it disabled if I pull the trigger lightly or sometimes even when doing a full trigger pull the gears will wind back but the shot Won't Fire, but then on the next trigger pull it fired twice. Strange...

With the recoil enabled this didn't happen. :?

 

Worked well but for the occasional strange semi not firing for a shot then firing twice... If anyone has any idea what's going on there it could be helpful!

 

 

BTW I also found my L85 is firing down at 270 (but with .23g BBs). Stock spring but AW piston, dunno if they put in a new piston head too.

 

Lastly, the 5:2 configuration battery fits in my L85 as well or better than the 6:1 from AW. -Put in in this config with lines being batteries, barrel end being the far end: ||||| =

[Meko]

Can anyone explain to me why with the AA R85's switch it has that little red wire(+) coming from the black wire(-) in the switch? I dont understand the purpose for it... :-(

[Hop2]

Since this post has been necro'd, thought I might join in

 

So, to get the R85 up to a reliable condition I need to get some internal kit. I'd like to source the kit from the UK if possible, so would the following be about right?

 

The following from Fire Support:

 

Guarder Enhanced Hop-Up for MARUI M16 Series - 15.00

 

Systema Area 1000 Oilless 6mm bushes - 6.00

 

Guarder Improved Hop Bucking Clear - 5.00

 

The Piston and Spacer from Airsoft World:

 

Piston Spacer

 

Piston

 

 

Then possibly a new battery from Component-shop.co.uk

 

 

That leaves the sector gear and a possible tight bore... Not sure which bits I need for this... Links anyone? Any thing I've missed?

 

Oh and what's the best mags?

[fladnatas]

All I did to mine was replace the piston with a G&P one after the stock one broke, I re shimmed it, disabled the blow back, added a mad bull m110 spring, completely rewired it with heavier gauge wiring, deaned it and is now running off of a 7.4 thunder power lipo, and installed a mad bull 6.04 tight bore. Now the gun sounds very clean, it runs smooth, and is chronoing around 395-400 fps with .2's

 

Also, my semi was acting up as well so I went back into the lower part of the gear box and found that the mechanical part of the trigger switch was out of place, after working with it for a bit I finally got it working as smooth as I can get it. Other then that it's a very reliable gun now.