stuffing tube and strut question HELP :)

[mrd72]

So after a few runs on my 56" Genesis, i had a failure with the stuffing tube and teflon liner. It looked like the stuffing tube was flush with back of hull and the teflon liner extened into the strut. It turned into a burnt glob of plastic and spun the whole tube out from its epoxy setting. My question is, do I extened the brass tube with liner into the strut? it fits perfectly in a few inches, or do I set the brass stuffing tube flush again with the hull and just extend the teflon liner into the strut like it originally was? Perhaps the problem happened because the teflon spun inside the tube causing heat and failure? any info would help tremendously.strut1.jpgstrut2.jpg

[jaike5]

brass in the strut, lose the teflon. A little silicon on the face of the strut when mounting.

[mrd72]

Im guessing i need a slightly smaller diameter stuffing tube then?

[LibertyMKiii]

Im guessing i need a slightly smaller diameter stuffing tube then?

If you ditch the liner then you would want to step down on the tube size.
This means you may need to sleeve the tube where it fits into the strut.

You can check out the OSE store for proper tubes for the flex cable you have and what tubes will slip fit on each other to step it up to the size to fit snug into your strut.

[jaike5]

Don't know your cable and stuffing tube diameter. Rule of thumb, if using a brass liner you go one size larger than what fits your cable tight, but moves freely but no play.

[fweasel]

A brass stuffing tube should only extend past the hull 5mm or so with that type of articulated drive system. If it extends too far, it can cause the flexible joint of the drive to bind. If the brass is small enough to extend into the drive tube, it will dramatically limit the amount of trim adjustment, possibly preventing any adjustment altogether. I don't recommend extending it into the drive. With drives like the ones on the Genesis, when I do choose to use a liner, I extend the liner into the drive tube, but take careful measurements to make sure it stops short of where the flex cable transitions to the solid propshaft portion.

With that said, my 56" Genesis uses 1/4" flex cables and a brass stuffing tube with no liner. On my hull, and several I've seen pictures of online, the stuffing tube exits the hull at too steep of a downward angle. When the drive is trimmed at a neutral angle, it puts a severe bend on the flex cable right where the stuffing tube ends, which can cut into the flex cable winds, or in your case, overheat and melt the teflon liner. Since you have to replace the stuffing tube, I would bend the new tube so that it exits the hull at a perpendicular angle to the transom mating surface. I would replace the stuffing tube on the other side also, fix both sides at the same time. The end result will be less friction and heat, longer life from your drive components, and possibly even a bump in speed.

I cut the brass stuffing tube ends off with a dremel cutting wheel close to the exterior hull surface on my boat. I actually made the cut at a slight angle so the bottom half extended further out than the top half. It greatly reduced the friction on the flex cable when positioned at a neutral trim angle.

[mrd72]

ok thanks for all the information. I have a some thinking to do. As far as installing the stuffing tube back into the boat, I see where some recommend using JB weld/epoxy and someone said I should just use GOOP adhesive since it wont be so brittle and easier to remove in the future if need be. I havent seen too many people suggesting GOOP, but this is coming from TFL. It was originally installed with a black semi hard type of glue, but dont know what was used. it seems harder then a RTV but softer then a epoxy. Any thoughts?

[fweasel]

Worrying about having to remove the stuffing tube in the future means you're doing something wrong on this go around If the hole through the transom has too much play in it, I would prefer to use an epoxy with less give. I most often use West System G-flex epoxy or standard JB weld.