Quick newbie question about Stinger Sleeve Bearings

[FE Wannabe]

I am in the process of converting my Proboat Apache Cat to flex drive and I am doing it the same way that Steven Vaccaro did his BlackJack with the 1/4" brass tubing in the outdrive with a 3/16" Stinger Sleeve Bearing slipped into it.

I am wondering am I supposed to epoxy the Stinger Bearing in the 1/4" tubing or leave it free spinning?

Thanks in advance for the assistance,
Brad

[G Doggett]

Leave it free so that it can choose to spin or not that way there is less friction.
Graham.

[FE Wannabe]

Thanks for the help.
I was kinda thinking that is should be free spinning since it is called a bearing not a bushing. Thanks for the confirmation!
Brad

[Steven Vaccaro]

Sometimes the bushing will spin to much. If thats the case, a touch of ca will stop it from spinning. Than f you need to remove it you can use soldering iron to heat it quickly to break the bond.

[FE Wannabe]

Welcome back Steven, I hope you and your family had a great vacation. Thanks for your input. I think I may CA the sleeve bearing after all, because of the 3mm gap I left between the bearing and the drive dog. I think the bearing might move too far back and forth if it wasn't CA'd.
Thanks again,
Brad

[Fluid]

Do not glue in a sleeve bearing! It is designed to "float" between the shaft and the strut, providing a reduction in relative rotational velocity between the three parts. It needs to be well lubricated, and needs a few mm of end play. This type of bearing has been used in fuel boats for many years with great success. I have been building my own for several decades and I use them where there is an appropriate application.


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[FE Wannabe]

Final decision - do not glue

Do not glue in a sleeve bearing! It is designed to "float" between the shaft and the strut, providing a reduction in relative rotational velocity between the three parts. It needs to be well lubricated, and needs a few mm of end play. This type of bearing has been used in fuel boats for many years with great success. I have been building my own for several decades and I use them where there is an appropriate application.


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Fluid,
Thanks for your response. I will not glue the sleeve bearing to the brass tubing and leave it to float.

Brad

[Steven Vaccaro]

For a racing app, I'm sure Jay is correct.But I run my recreational boats for 5 to 10 minutes, at somepoint during the runs, the bushing starts making an awful noise. It requires more grease. I find it much less work to glue it.

[FE Wannabe]

Well guys, I guess "I will just play this one by ear" literally , and if it starts making too much noise I will CA it.

[G Doggett]

Sorry Steven, but I am with Jay on this one.
If the sleeve bearing starts to make a noise it is suffering from lack of lubrication.
Gluing it is just fixing the sympton not the problem.
The sleeve should have holes in it to hold the lube, I often cut small slots at 45 degrees with my dremel instead.
Lots of lube on the flex cable should find its way down to the bearing for several minutes as the spiral wind of the cable should act like a crude pump ( remember the Archamedes pump from science lessons at school ? )
If the cable is a loose fit in the liner however this principal will never work.
With gas and nitro boats this set up will work fine for races up to 1/2 an hour long.
Graham.