ball bearing strut?

[kfxguy]

I want a ball bearing strut. I was thinking about converting mine. I already ordered bearings. Im pretty sure I can drill them to fit but I'm not so sure they are going to press in if I drill with a 5/16 bit. Ideas? Maybe I can buy one already done? I have a 3/16 shaft. And yes the od of the bearings I ordered are 5/16. Input appreciated.

[siberianhusky]

It's possible, not sure about drilling though, I did one on a lathe with a 4 jaw chuck, drilled undersized then used a ream.
Don't think I'd want to try with a hand drill. Maybe a drill press with a good vise so you can get everything square and held tight.
Think one of my next big hobby purchases will be my own small lathe, thinking a Taig with the milling attachment. Seems to be big enough for everything I have done so far on the way bigger machines at my buddies shop.

[kfxguy]

It's possible, not sure about drilling though, I did one on a lathe with a 4 jaw chuck, drilled undersized then used a ream.
Don't think I'd want to try with a hand drill. Maybe a drill press with a good vise so you can get everything square and held tight.
Think one of my next big hobby purchases will be my own small lathe, thinking a Taig with the milling attachment. Seems to be big enough for everything I have done so far on the way bigger machines at my buddies shop.

I have a mill and lathe. Only a 3 jaw chuck tho. I guess I'll order a reamer.

[siberianhusky]

Jealousy! Do you have a full sized setup or a mini/micro? Looking for some input on the smaller machines, I can get Sherline,Taig and the BusyBee - Craftex brand which is the same Chinese machines sold through I think Grizzly or Harbor Freight (maybe?) in the states.
Those are my choices for local pickup.
Can make my own slide setup for milling using a spare cross slide, that I can do at my buddies place. Or buy the pre made if I go with Sherline or Taig.
The machines are cheap enough, it's the tooling and accessories that hurt!

[RaceMechaniX]

You need to ream the strut and preferably in a fixture where you can center the existing hole. You will likely need to drill with an undersize bit and them ream to final dimension. Hold the bearings in place with some Loctite.

BTW, the 5/16" bearings will not last very long. The small cross-section does not handle radial loads or thrust loads very well.

TG

[kfxguy]

I have the medium sized harbor freight one. I made an adapter to fit an 8" head on it so I can grab large stuff. I also have a rotary table for milling circular stuff. Check out this header flange I was making for a drag bike header I'm building

[properchopper]

You need to ream the strut and preferably in a fixture where you can center the existing hole. You will likely need to drill with an undersize bit and them ream to final dimension. Hold the bearings in place with some Loctite.

BTW, the 5/16" bearings will not last very long. The small cross-section does not handle radial loads or thrust loads very well.

TG

I agree with Tyler. While originally a user of ball bearing struts, I'm no longer a big fan. Pricey, hard to keep in place, and quickly get crunchy in the marine enviroment and need replacing. If well secured in place to keep them from popping out , the outer race often becomes un-removeable without thermonuclear assistance (at least in my experience) and the strut gets thrown in the scrap pile. For their marginal performance enhancement , for me personally, I've gone to lead-teflon and am way happier.

[kfxguy]

I agree with Tyler. While originally a user of ball bearing struts, I'm no longer a big fan. Pricey, hard to keep in place, and quickly get crunchy in the marine enviroment and need replacing. If well secured in place to keep them from popping out , the outer race often becomes un-removeable without thermonuclear assistance (at least in my experience) and the strut gets thrown in the scrap pile. For their marginal performance enhancement , for me personally, I've gone to lead-teflon and am way happier.

I definitely respect your opinion and heed your advice (I think because of you I broke 60mph this weekend :) but I do want to try it. The bearings were like $12 shipped for 10 of them and they are name brand. I can red loctite them I'm and you just heat up to knock em out. I know it may not be that easy but I'm pretty handy when it comes to making stuff. I just wa t to see if I can pick up some speed.....if any. I have a definite GPS baseline on a set of fresh, very consistent packs I run so I want to see if I can best my 62.0 mph run.

[kfxguy]

I guess I'll get a 1/4" strut then......

[properchopper]

I guess I'll get a 1/4" strut then......

If you want, I can send this to you and if you want to use it, send me $15. It has a 5/16 bore + I have some step-down pieces (b-back in a few hours-gotta run now) Nose a tiny bit ruffled but no biggie and can be cleaned up easily(ignore FE30 pic, got in by accident)

DSC05522.JPGDSC05519.JPGDSC05520.JPGDSC05524.JPG

[martin]

I have used ball bearings in a lot of custom struts, I agree with what Tyler & Tony have said re high maintainance & bearings getting gritty fairly quick. But they do spin with less friction in my opinion, I also found that at the prop end to use 2 ball bearings back to back & 1 at the front so 3 bearings in total. ive sometimes put 2 bearings at both ends so 4 in total, if you only use 1 bearing at the prop end they get knocked out pretty quick with the side load on the bearing.

[siberianhusky]

The reason I tried it is I was lead to believe it would work better with a wire drive, didn't have many issues with the ceramic bearings but I think I went wrong with the whole idea of the wire drive. Kind of a PITA and I saw no performance increase at all. Doubt I would try it again. I don't think it had any less drag than a well set up flex cable running in a brass tube.
I run lead teflon on everything except my SV27 which still has the stock bushings, made up a pile of them out of brass tubing as spares. I get the lead teflon bushings from a local bearing and drive supply shop - cheaper that way.

[kfxguy]

Tony, I'll let you know if I need it. I just ordered a reamer tool so if it doesn't turn out the way I want I'll get it from you.

I had planned on running ceramics but I bought some cheaper decent quality bearings to begin with just to make sure I can make it work. Hat to buy $50 worth of bearings for nothing. I was also going to run 3 or 4 bearings like stated above just for insurance. I'm not sure what kind of bushing is in my strut now but its already worn out in 6 runs. I grease the cable every day I run it. Ever time I pull the cable its full of water in the stuffing tube. It also runs up into the boat. I tried a rubber vaccine cap once but it Almost caught fire and filled my boat full of smoke.

[properchopper]

Tony, I'll let you know if I need it. I just ordered a reamer tool so if it doesn't turn out the way I want I'll get it from you.

I had planned on running ceramics but I bought some cheaper decent quality bearings to begin with just to make sure I can make it work. Hat to buy $50 worth of bearings for nothing. I was also going to run 3 or 4 bearings like stated above just for insurance. I'm not sure what kind of bushing is in my strut now but its already worn out in 6 runs. I grease the cable every day I run it. Ever time I pull the cable its full of water in the stuffing tube. It also runs up into the boat. I tried a rubber vaccine cap once but it Almost caught fire and filled my boat full of smoke.

I must be feeling overly generous with my secrets (just kidding) BUT this stopped ANY water from getting into and up the stuffing tube on two boats that had me baffled before I did this

DSC05543.JPG DSC05544.JPG

[kfxguy]

I must be feeling overly generous with my secrets (just kidding) BUT this stopped ANY water from getting into and up the stuffing tube on two boats that had me baffled before I did this

[ATTACH=CONFIG]112594[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]112595[/ATTACH]

Scott told me about that one but I was having a hard time coming to terms with it aesthetically so I used silicone to seal it. Evidently the silicon isn't working lol.