Phantom 4 Advanced crash, gimbal mount damage

[Nick Mendocino]

Has anyone had to replace the vibration absorber that connects the gimbal to the aircraft frame?

I sideswiped some tree foliage with my P4A, and it fell into bushes 50 ft. below that broke the fall. The props weren't broken, nor the landing gear, and no cracks show. It still flies okay and the gimbal functions but it's not quite right.

On closer inspection I see that the gimbal is cocked slightly to one side where it emerges from the aircraft body. The camera does not point straight ahead but aims (yaws) slightly left of center. When I move the gimbal around with respect to the body it feels like something is broken inside. I suspect it is the vibration absorber between the gimbal and the aircraft body. It might be called the gimbal base plate. The part is available as a replacement part from various sellers, cheapest on Amazon at under $10 with prime shipping.

So I have DJI Care Refresh and am debating whether to just send it to DJI Repair for repair or replacement or whether to order the part and see if replacing it fixes the problem. There is also some unusual sound coming from the gimbal when I power up the drone and rotate it at various angles to test the gimbal action. So it's possible there is damage to one or more of the gimbal motors.

Anybody have experience with this?

 

[Nick Mendocino]

I popped the gimbal/camera assembly off the drone and found the part that was damaged by the impact. It's the vibration absorber, which consists of two steel plates connected at four corners by soft rubber thingies that provide cushioning and vibration isolation in all directions. The part connects the gimbal base to the lower part of the aircraft. I found them on Amazon for under $10 with prime shipping. The only part that actually was damaged was one of the rubber bumpers, but the price is cheap enough and I get 2 sets of 4 screws, 2 steel plates and 4 bumpers for the price.