ORION HDs out of stock, project "on the shelf"

[orangefj45]

sad news.
i have been talking to AA a lot about the orions and orion HDs and it turns out that they decided to "shelf" the HDs for now. the last one was built just today for a fellow mudder but as of right now, they're no more to be had due to the lack of demand. the HD has been available for roughly two years and only 52 have been sold.
AA is extremely back-logged with production o nthe atlas t-cases and the new rubi-crawler so it's difficult for them to justify stopping production to crank out one or two HDs at a time, especially since some of the parts need to go thru a multi-step manufacturing process. also, it takes quite a bit of time to build one of these cases.
but it's not all bad news. they do have a ton of orion cases, gears and other parts on hand. they also have most of the blank HD parts on hand. so if we can come up with a group of 10 people who want HDs, they will do a short production run to full-fill those orders.

georg @ valley hybrids

 

[mminter1973]

Do the HD's have the same popping out of gear problem as do the regular orions?

I would definatley like to have one but after all the issues popping out of gear on downhills it kind of turns me away.

My brother built an orion with new everything used all AA specs and tolerances along with talking with them on the phone several times and it still pops out of gear on downhills.

 

[D'Animal]

I hope mine was built before they decide to no longer manufacture them.


Or is mine #52?

 

[orangefj45]

Do the HD's have the same popping out of gear problem as do the regular orions?

I would definatley like to have one but after all the issues popping out of gear on downhills it kind of turns me away.

My brother built an orion with new everything used all AA specs and tolerances along with talking with them on the phone several times and it still pops out of gear on downhills.

from what i gather, only one of the HDs has popped out of gear but the owner has not done much about it so i don't know what the issue with it is or if it was a one-time deal.
i have heard no other complaints about the HDs popping out of gear.


i have built a number of the standard orions and only one has popped out of gear. it was an early production case ( below #100 ) that had none of the updates. i'm supposed to get the case back sooner or later so i can go thru it and include all the updates and little tricks i've learned over the last couple of years building them.

at this point, i'm firmly convinced that used/wornm main shafts and linkage issues account for most of the orion issues. i have seen this first hand in quite a few instances.

greenfox has a standard orion in his 40 that i built 3 years ago. it has never popped out of gear and it's not due to the lack of us trying. we beat the snot out of his rig on a regular basis.
d'animal has a stretch of downhill slope adjacent to his property that's notorious for getting orions to pop out of gear. we plan on taking foxs' cruiser down there in the next couple of months to see how it does. i'll keep you updated.

 

[orangefj45]

I hope mine was built before they decide to no longer manufacture them.


Or is mine #52?

they will still manufacture them, they're pretty much "on hold" right now.


technically, yours is #52 although they're sending us the parts to update your standard orion serial #264 to an HD. for now, yours will be the last.

 

[D'Animal]

greenfox has a standard orion in his 40 that i built 3 years ago. it has never popped out of gear and it's not due to the lack of us trying. we beat the snot out of his rig on a regular basis.

d'animal has a stretch of downhill slope adjacent to his property that's notorious for getting orions to pop out of gear. we plan on taking foxs' cruiser down there in the next couple of months to see how it does. i'll keep you updated.

I see an Orion wheeling weekend at my place in the near future.

 

[orangefj45]

I see an Orion wheeling weekend at my place in the near future.

for sure!

 

[petescoffee]

from what i gather, only one of the HDs has popped out of gear but the owner has not done much about it so i don't know what the issue with it is or if it was a one-time deal.
i have heard no other complaints about the HDs popping out of gear.

Hey Georg,
I have one the early HD's that pops out of gear. AA told me to call back in March 2009 to see if they had the fix ready for me. Haven't had a chance to call. Based on your post I will call next week. They have been helpful.

I think my Orion HD is number 3. They made some changes after mine and corrected the issues. The original twin sticks had an issue, they and Neil at FAO, replaced them for free. Neil also replaced a spring and that has helped. Still have one other popping out issue which is the one I am supposed to call them to get the fix. AA has been responsive. When I have wheeled I have put a strap on the shifter so it won't pop out. Not ideal, but it works. When I need to go faster instead of switching to 4 high I shift up to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear.

With that said, since they have corrected the issue on later HD's, the popong out issue has most likely all but gone away. Otherwise you would see a lot of post about it. If 3 out of the 52 made pop out of gear that is less than 6%. That is a prettey small ratio for an issue with an aftermarket part.

Dave

 

[fj40_73]

they will still manufacture them, they're pretty much "on hold" right now.


technically, yours is #52 although they're sending us the parts to update your standard orion serial #264 to an HD. for now, yours will be the last.

so with the serial #25762 what number HD would mine be?

Sad to say I really have not had a chance to wheel since pismo, and it was just ready to roll before that. I have not had much of a chance to test it.
Just wondering if it was after some of the "updates".