best flex shaft lube?

[DeltaForceMan]

Hey friends, I use pro boat grease on the flex shaft for my old revolt 30.. Now I'm building a custom delta force vee hull and I want the best for it.. If there is anything better please let me know. By the way I'm a sport boater I don't race, not sure if this changes anything but just putting that out there.

Thanks,
Zac

[Doug Smock]

http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ght=shaft+lube

[RCBoaterGuy]

Zac - See attached, think you'll find that most swear by it.

Kintec has it for $3 - 1/2 what everybody else charges.

Found it in the Revolt 30 & UL-1 sections.

Hey friends, I use pro boat grease on the flex shaft for my old revolt 30.. Now I'm building a custom delta force vee hull and I want the best for it.. If there is anything better please let me know. By the way I'm a sport boater I don't race, not sure if this changes anything but just putting that out there.

Thanks,
Zac

[Fluid]

Zac - See attached, think you'll find that most swear by it....

This statement is based on what evidence? I think you'll find that 'most' do not.....just sayin'. Doug's link says it all...no 'best' lube exists.

[NativePaul]

Do you have a liner or not? What do you use for stub shaft bearings? I favour using water as a lubricant, as I run PTFE liners and lead/teflon bearings or internally lubricated ball races with my flexies, water is a very low friction lubricant for PTFE, and rather handily there is a plentiful supply of it without having to do anything when running a FE boat.

While water is a good lubricant for PTFE it has none of the corrosion inhibitive properties that most lubricants have, so you have to remove your flex shaft when you are done running, and spray it with, or dunk it in your favourite water dispersant before you store it away to avoid corrosion.

If you run straight metal on metal whether it is an unlined flex or a brass sleeve bearing you will need a different lubricant better suited to those materials, and it will have to be thick enough to not get washed away by the ever prevalent water. What that is though I have no real idea, as I have very limited experience with unlined flex and have never used a sleeve bearing. The only time I used an unlined flex, I used a commercial rc boat flex grease that is popular with gas boaters in my area, but I did not like the results and decided to change the driveline rather than test different greases, oils, and mixtures.

[tlandauer]

This statement is based on what evidence? I think you'll find that 'most' do not.....just sayin'. Doug's link says it all...no 'best' lube exists.

Of all the valuable lessons I learned from Fluid ( thank you sir) , two things stick out in my memories and they have nothing to do with motors, props, hulls and anything "boat" wise.
First lesson was to use a bit of anti seize compound on the collet, it prevents metal to metal galling and you can tighten it up much more than without the magic grease.
Lesson number two was using Automotive gear oil in tubes w/o the liner. As good as the Grim Racer grease is, it is not the same as the gear oil. Read the link Doug posted: #32 and #35 posts.
One thing I don't do is senseless bench testing, so I have progressed a bit....

[johnl6676]

I have been a sport boater for over 35 years started with nitro and now all FE. I have always used a small amount of pro boat grease from the tube to lube my shafts. I use some shafts with Teflon but most without and never had a problem. I think its more personal preference and really doesn't matter as long as it is lubricated. Whatever makes you feel good about what you are doing will work, again as long as it is lubricated. Gear oil will surely work however I can't stand the smell it is awful, and gets on everything. LOL. (I am a retired automotive technician with over 50 years experience).

Also posted on http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ght=shaft+lube

Just my opinion!

[siberianhusky]

Any type of water resistant marine grease or oil. My mix is a blend of marine grease and outboard motor gear oil. There are as many opinions on this as there are members on here.
BTW I'm about positive that Aquacraft grease is a type of CV joint grease, I can buy something that looks, feels and smells exactly the same for about 5$ for a 400 gram tube.
Whatever it is it is not something special AQ had formulated, just a re branded off the shelf product that they charge way too much money for!
LOL the stuff I found is Canadian Tire house brand CV joint grease. Maybe I should print up some fancy labeling, get some 3oz jars and make a killing reselling it.

[RCBoaterGuy]

This statement is based on what evidence? Posts I've seen on this forum.... Did a lot of reading long before becoming a member.

OP said "I'm a sport boater I don't race"... the replies I've seen so far (including Doug's link) are from racers looking for every extra ounce of performance / speed they can get. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't SAW race's for those looking for maximum speed in a measured distance??

All but one of the boats I've used it with did not have liners, 1st with liner was PB SW26v3 BL last Sept. Not stock motor, 2000Kv on 3s (22,200).

Saw a thread here on OSE recently... Liner vs. no liner, the no's said they get chewed up by the flex, if true, then seems to me grease would help prevent that.

BTW: grease is not just a lubricant, it's also to keep the water out, but you already knew that

My2C

This statement is based on what evidence? I think you'll find that 'most' do not.....just sayin'. Doug's link says it all...no 'best' lube exists.

[pistol18]

I respect all the experienced opinions here as well.
My .02 is that I have 2 jars of grim lube and a tube of proboat lube, ALL came to me in trade with boats and I haven't had to buy anything since. All lubricate well and seem to keep water from coming up the drive tube into the boat.

Also, I'm a sport boater, no racing near me(unfortunately) and have Teflon liners that came with my rtr boats.

[ray schrauwen]

I remember back in 05 or 06 it was the Nats in MI and I was in Alan Naymans room whilst he prepped one of his boats for the next day. What a ritual he had with first using a light sticky lube that he let sit so it penetrated and then a coating of grease. At the time it seemed like overkill but, he usually did quite well. I digress...

I've used PB, Grim, Teflon Super Lube and recently an old tube of Mercury OB grease I got for free. Ditto: As long as it keeps the water out, I'm good.

The only thing I'll do next is get a mini grease gun, maybe a PB gun so I can inject some grease into the strut before the cable goes in.

[tlandauer]

It is worth to point out that if the stinger is of the TFL variety, no matter how much grease one puts in the line water still gushes in!!!
OTOH if everything is set up right, one needs only little grease to keep the water to a minimum.

[Shooter]

While water is a good lubricant for PTFE it has none of the corrosion inhibitive properties that most lubricants have, so you have to remove your flex shaft when you are done running, and spray it with, or dunk it in your favourite water dispersant before you store it away to avoid corrosion.

Sounds strange I know, but I've been using thin silicone oil in all my teflon lined stuffing tubes for years. Easily lasts (4) heats, and it keeps the flexshaft from rusting.

[fidelity101]

For those of us with twin engine setups running TFL stingers...what's the best way to minimize the amount of water coming in AND keep things lubricated? My boat has 1/4" tubes so I can't run the STS-187's like I do on my larger boats. They allow me to push grease down the shaft after every run which may be overkill but I believe it keeps the water out. I was trying to find something similar but OSE is out of the Graupner Tube oilers (http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...?prod=grp-2997)

After every day of running, I remove the shafts, dry them off with a paper towel, grease them up using Speed Grease and slide them back into the boats for storage. But if I'm going to run one of my boats 10-12 times in one day, am I incorrect in assuming that I need to add grease or oil to the shaft between the 1st and 12th run?

[tlandauer]

Which TFL stinger are you referring? The mono one like the one on the Pursuit? or the cat stingers.
On the mono stinger I sealed the gap between the barrel and the back plate.
On the cat stinger I haven't found a way to keep water out, I am very very surprised that water keep coming in, because there is no gap and the brass tube goes into the plate and the barrel at least 1/4" with the liner going in even further. Then the barrel is screwed onto the plate?? Any idea I would like to learn.
For now I pull my cables out of my twin to lube in the hopes to block some water intrusion, but honestly, it will come in as soon as the boat is moving, and I have no space for a tube between the collet and the stuffing tube since I used a MBP clutch-type collet.