Need help with my CA M15A4 Gearbox

[GreyCoyote]

So I bought the RIS carbine - the one with the extendable stock and the dummy AN/PEQ case that mounted on the RIS. My plan all along had been to redirect the battery connector wires from the foregrip to the rear of the gun; I'd even purchased a Crane stock and Crane battery off eBay.
However, since I've never owned an AEG before, I failed to understand that the gearbox of the gun might be different from those that run their connectors to the stock rather than the foregrip. So to my disappointment, after painstakingly disassembling the gun, I found that the connector cables ran out of the wrong side of my gearbox. See the picture:


Below is another picture of a CA gearbox I found online - this is the kind I need.



Below is my gearbox again; I assume that the rectangular slot pictured below is where I'd like my connector wires to be running from.



I'm scared to open up the damn thing. Any suggestions?

[Skladfin]

oh god this is your first time isnt it

take it to a gun doc and make him do it, believe me, no one ever see a good result on their first time.

[GreyCoyote]

Aye, I'm the F.N.G. Any estimates on how much a job like this might cost me?

[Crunchmeister]

Yeah, the first time into a gear box is a scary thing. However, rewiring to the rear is fairly easy. You could go to www.mechbox.com and watch the assembly / disassembly video of a V2 gearbox. That would be of great help.

However, if you're not comfortable doing this, your best bet is to take it to someone that knows what they're doing and have them rewire it for you. Or even better, if you could be there while it's being done, you could learn a lot about mechbox work in general.

Too bad you're so far away. I could help you out. I've rewired a couple of mechboxes in the last weeks and getting ready to do another one in the next few days as soon as I receive parts I ordered.

BTW - since when do Classic Army make black gearboxes?

[Crunchmeister]

Not sure now much help this may be to you, but this is how the wiring runs inside a mechbox wired to the rear. I just happened to have one with a cracked shell open and on my work bench...



Sorry for the shitty image quality. I snapped this really quick with my iPhone and uploaded it right to Facebook.

[GreyCoyote]

Believe me, I've got no idea. There are a few things about this AEG that I find rather... odd. Like the "Made in Hong Kong" sticker that was plastered across its side when I first removed it from the box. It's probably nothing, though...

I'm going to check out those tutorials, and I've contacted a couple of the gun doctors in my area.

[Crunchmeister]

Hong Kong? CA are made in Taiwan... That is odd indeed. Is it the regular series metal CA, or a Sportsline ABS gun?

[GreyCoyote]

It's the regular metal CA series. The Armalite M15A4. I don't like where this is going. Lots of possibilities going through my head, none of them good ones. That's not a V4 Armalite gearbox, is it?

[Crunchmeister]

Unless someone else can confirm that standard CA guns are made in HK, I'm thinking that you got hosed on this deal. Can you post a picture of the receiver and its trademarks? It should have all the correct Armalite trades on the left side and Classic Army on the right side, laser etched into the receiver.

[shifty51]

mechbox.com is king

http://www.mechbox.com/m4m16/rewirin...2-mechbox.html

[GreyCoyote]

The paint of the trademarks seems to be fading a little, though the photos don't show it. And while the matte finish on the lower reciever remains intact, the finish on the upper reciever scratches very easily and went permanently shiny when I rubbed it with a dry kleenex. Go figure.

This doesn't look good, does it?

In addition, while the gun as a whole is built pretty solid, smaller parts seem pretty flimsy. The front sight moves too easily, the sling post is loose, and the magnet on the dust cover came off in my hand the first time I tried opening it.

[LeGROS]

I have done the same thing on a TM product, and that was also my first time I have open a gearbox. So don't worry it easy... Have a big box where you could work in! So if there is something fall, you found it in the box... Have a camera close to you and take few picture to remember you where was every thing! www.mechbox.com was my guide to understand what every pieces doing what!! Have fun and donT be scare off it!

TIP use a screw driver and place it on the back of the gearbox so it will take care of the spring to jump off!

Have fun and learn!

[Crunchmeister]

Well, the reciever looks like genuine CA right down to the trademarks. And the upper and lower are made of different metals, so they do appear slightly different. Your trademarks appear to be laser etched as they should be, and not paint, so they should be shiny and not uniformly coloured.

As for HK, I just checked my CA's box, and it's made in HK as well. Seems like I was mistaken about the Taiwan part. Seems like you have the genuine deal there, although I haven't seen a black CA mechbox before. Might be a new thing for them following suit with everyone else that seems to be going black for their mechbox shells these days. I just did a google search and found other black CA mechboxes too. Looking into the port on your mechbox, it appears to have the standard yellow CA piston, and should also have the standard yellow CA tappet plate too. So I think you're ok and this is a genuine CA.

[GreyCoyote]

Thanks, Crunch. That's a relief.

I got a reply from one of the gun doctors in Toronto, told me the whole rewire and metalwork would cost me between eighty and a hundred twenty dollars. I think I'll sit on it for a while, until I've got a real job and some real income.

[kalnaren]

I always thought CA guns were made in Hong Kong...

Originally Posted by GreyCoyote

That's not a V4 Armalite gearbox, is it?

Nope. Like any other armalite, it's a V2 mechbox