Prop and drive cable loss.

[KartRacer]

Recent incident resulted in loss of the complete drive cable and prop. Have an idea on how to prevent the loss in the future. Since there is so much knowledge on this forum i thought I would ask about solutions that have been tried and either succeeded or failed before I try to reinvent the wheel.
So lets hear from everyone and any solutions you may have or have tried.
Thanks in advance!

[driftah]

you can get a collar to go on flex between coupler and stuffing tube bud.dubro and other companies make this type...

[KartRacer]

you can get a collar to go on flex between coupler and stuffing tube bud.dubro and other companies make this type...

Yeh that is an axle collar for plane landing gear, any thoughts on the RPM being an issue. Also still need to maintain 3/16 gap between stuffing tube and coupler?

[Fluid]

As long as the collar is attached tight up against the motor coupler, rpm shouldn't matter. The default gap between the strut and drive dog is the width of the cable. A short flex cable in a brass stuffing tube may get away with less, but the downside is: if the dog grinds against the strut you lose speed, gain heat and can stress the cable. The gap between the motor coupler and the stuffing tube should be small, generally no more than 1/2". Less is fine as long as alignment is good.


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[jcald2000]

Be careful of the 3/16 wheel collars, I bought a pack of 4, only 1 was usable, the rest were too large a bore causing the cable to kink when snugging down the set screw. This would damage your drive line.

[sampit]

I had the same problem, lost two set last week, not sure if this will work but i have used a small piece of tight fitting 3.7mm silicon tube, just over the flex just behind the motor couplin.

[KartRacer]

All great reply's. so if I had a aluminum collar made with close tolerances, narrow and small diameter, this would be ideal?
I had 3/16 gap on drive dog to strut and stuffing tube to motor collar. So it sounds like the motor collar gap is not necessary. Makes since, just didn't think it through. The tube and motor collar are fixed. Duh!

[srislash]

So can we assume that the motor coupler let go?If so what kind of coupler is it?I ask because I have had issues with the SS Fightercat/HOR ones not getting tight enough.But alas there is a fix.

I had the same problem, lost two set last week, not sure if this will work but i have used a small piece of tight *!**fitting 3.7mm silicon tube, just over the flex just behind the motor couplin.

You know Sam,that may just do the trick as long as there is room for a decent size piece of tube.

[Southwest]

This is a old question and the answer is used small diameter water line hose and cut a piece about 3/16" in lenght and slide it over the cable or solid shaft. Now it will need patience as but pays off in the long run. I have never lost any in the many years of boating. BTW- cable- solder cable end that goes into coupler that has set screws so set screws don't damage cable and better set, do away with set screws and get couplers on OSE that are 3 piece units and don't look back. Don't over tighten!!!!!

[NativePaul]

FastElectrics.net

[KartRacer]

It was an OSE coupler. Problem is rudder hit underwater rock! Probably prop also. Cannot assume that any coupler would have held the drive cable. Just want second line of defense.

[Southwest]

Just gave what i use and no situations were mentioned on my part. Collar won't do it either, they will do alot of damage to stuffing tube if all things go to h@@@ in a hand basket. Best advise is to stay away from rocks and like us here in IA, rivers are dry beds and lakes a suffering from drought.

[iamandrew]

an INLINE RUDDER

stopped me from loosing my setup once with me genesis!

[KartRacer]

clamp image

How about something like this, aluminum and of proper size to clamp. They work great on Kart axles with tons of side load.
axle-collar-silver4-l.jpg

[Peter A]

Rule 1, dont hit rocks, that is guaranteed to break your boat! Rule 2, set up a cable that won't lose prop if cable breaks. I make an adapter to take cable and stub shaft and solder together. The adapter is in front of strut and will not allow the prop to be lost if cable breaks. Yes it means to remove the flex cable the strut has to come off but it gives some security. Good engineering is hard to beat though. But of course there is always the chance that things can still go horribly wrong!! Oh yeah locking collars are just one more thing to be out of balance too!