Well the newest Rap4 rod measures 3.178 inches, only .018 longer than the stock rod. Cup seal end to mounting hole center line is the same at 3.00 inches +/- .005. Length, in this case, is not the cause of the "rod" problem. Too much "clearance" between the tip of the single wire ratchet spring and the axle tooth it is designed to prevent from rotating on the pressure stroke of the rod, allows the axle to rotate with the ratchet just enough to require too much rod travel before the ratchet reaches a tooth to "snap in".
The rod end may hit the inside wall of the cyclone housing before the ratchet reaches a tooth thus interfering with a complete cycle. May not be a problem in semi auto, but under high rof it becomes more evident.
My biggest objection to the aluminum rods is weight. Increasing the weight of the reciprocating mass is counter productive when trying to achieve successful faster cycle rates of anything, nor does it help reduce wear. The stock rod works just fine at least to 23 cycles per second. Plenty fast enough IMO..LOL

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Courage can exist only together with your fear.

oh tons. the new ones are perfect

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You got a war face?!?LEMME SEE YOUR WAR FACE!!!

Hm... looks like I'll go with this set-up. If you Ogers seem to like it, that's all the convincing I need! And it looks like it might save me a couple bucks... literally!

The static weight of the aluminum rods may not seem like that much more than the stock rod, but trying to push even a slightly heavier load 20+ times per second places an increasingly greater demand on the cyclone air delivery system.
I know, I know...many of us are using an aluminum rod at greater than 20 bps without issues. We must have plenty of air driving our cyclones. Sometimes more than we need. But my test shows that cyclone air usage can have a negative effect on velocity consistency. Granted, this is only one test and as I state in the read, more tests of this nature should be done before we accept the results as a general rule.


Cyclone's effect on consistency ( 1 2 3 ... Last Page)

So if we go by my test, setting up the cyclone to require as little air as possible to meet the demand (load) and doing what we can to lessen that load makes good sense... lighter rod=good, heavier rod=not so good. Problem is that the cyclone when used with a QEPH will use all the air you give it... weather it needs it or not. In this situation, the cyclone does not give change$. Some of us believe (including myself) we can influence the air volume the cyclone receives with the FVA and/or feed tube size. The ideal situation is to set up the cyclone to require as little air as possible to meet the demand and then give it only the air it needs. IMO, no matter how smooth and easy your cyclone works, it uses no less air until you give it less air. Balancing or restricting the air delivery (supply) to only what is needed to meet the load/cycle rate (demand) insurers against unnecessary air usage that may reduce velocity consistency. To that end a separate small reg of some kind for the cyclone would be of great value.

Sorry bout the rant gang. I just think that as we tune for maximum cyclone performance, the relative weight of the moving components should not be over looked.

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Courage can exist only together with your fear.

The problem I've heard with RAP4 stuff is the inconsistency of their products. Which becomes hit or miss with whether or not a product functions or not. The person who I talked to about this said that they measured the stock rod and the RAP4 rod and saw a significant difference. The RAP4 was longer and caused miscycles consistently. Popped the RAP rod out and stock replaced and worked like a charm.

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SilentDeath12886's Compilation of A-5 Projectshttp://www.a5og.net/5-photo-gallery/...tml#post125307
The E-bolted A-5http://www.a5og.net/5-mods-upgrades/...tml#post108414
The X7 egrip retrofitted A-5 http://www.a5og.net/5-mods-upgrades/...tml#post122941
The old A-5 http://www.a5og.net/showthread.php?t=5009
The 98c backuphttp://www.a5og.net/showthread.php?t=5893

Doesn't surprise me a bit SD. Even the kit they sent me just doesn't have the same quality look and feel as all the others I have tested. It does however function properly. The rod they sent me spec ed out fine and gave me no probs.
I have however seen cases with other top brands where the spring setup was actually the culprit, but the aluminum rod got the blame when the rod spec fine. Just something to watch out for I guess.

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Courage can exist only together with your fear.

Thanks guy for all the help and info! Glad I could bring up a worthy topic!