Using wire drives

[ezhitz]

Hi
I am building a new sport 20 hydro to run in LSH using a ul1 motor and was thinking about wire drives. Is there any advantage to use one or should I stick with a .187 flex like I have used in the past. If I do go with a wire drive do you have to use a ball bearing strut or can you just use bushings.

[oscarel]

Regular strut is fine, you'd want to make it as straight a run as possible.

[photohoward1]

Jeff Wohlt. Makes them. Just google his name. He is good at answering emails too. I am going to try one on an 8s rigger. I run them successfully on my p sport and q sport


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[ezhitz]

Thanks I will contact Jeff I assume .062 wire would be good enough on ul1 power.

[oscarel]

OSE sells Jeff's wire drives too. .062 should be plenty for ul1 power. I have 4 boats with wire drives, a p mono with .078 and a t sport hydro, t cat and gas mono all with 1/8" drives.

[ezhitz]

Good to see OSE has them. Do you run a full length stuffing tube or just enough to go through the hull.

[oscarel]

Good to see OSE has them. Do you run a full length stuffing tube or just enough to go through the hull.

All of mine have full length stuffing tubes.

[ezhitz]

Ok thanks. Do you know what size K & S tubing is used for .062 wire.

[Jeff Wohlt]

4S works great with 062. Liner or not but for hydros you can then get by with much smaller stuffing tube...which cuts drag. I use 1/8" ID stuffing for .062. I do like teflon for smaller wire drives. Quiet and keeps from metal to metal but you also must maintain lube. Much better than cables in most hulls but hydros especially. You can drop me a note if you need any other info. I think OSE still carries mine.

[Jeff Wohlt]

Also, I like the bend in the stuffing tube more to the motor end and leave it straight as it goes to the strut. Always better to set your strut close to where it should be then do your tube. I like the teflon on small wires because at the motor end you leave a little bit extra teflon by coupler so if you get some flex or wobble in it then it will not rub on the edge of the brass and possible cut on the wire...same as what I do on the flex shafts when I set them up. But I generally set mine up to be dead center coming out of the stuffing tube to the coupler to eliminate any rubbing. You can't beat the efficiency of a wire drive over a flex shaft. Hope this makes sense.

[nichismo]

Hello Jeff, its very liberating to see someone with your experience and resources you provide to the hobby providing also directly relevant, and valuable information in a very timely manner. Recently setting up my first boat and undergoing the maiden voyage, I had a ton of trouble in configuring my respective shaft setup (.25" flex shaft with a 3/16" step down, scale hydro). I was using just a typical Octura coupler and despite my best efforts to solder the end of the shaft, the coupler kept slipping very early on after hitting the water. I was getting pretty clueless until I remembered seeing your "Big Dog Couplers" a little while back..... needless to say ill be ordering one along with a new flex cable and I highly doubt Ill have issues like these anymore :)

I too have been really intrigued by wire drive setups recently, and want to go with them for my upcoming projects. However im pretty much solely building hydros and I know with these it can be difficult as the motor needs to be far foward. My question is, for a 1/6 scale hydro and perhaps 56mm sized motors, would a 3mm sized wire be sufficient? Also, for the setup I mentioned previously (1/4" cable), is it possible to use a teflon liner with this cable sized? oiling the shaft has been a PITA and id love to give teflon a try.

[NativePaul]

All of mine have full length stuffing tubes.

Just enough to go through the hull, and a few mm extra on the inside to slip a piece of silicone tube over to seal it.

[ezhitz]

Thanks guys for the input I need to decide how long wire I need and go from there.

[Jeff Wohlt]

Well they come 16" so usually that is plenty to use and cut off but I do make them longer if needed. The 1/8' scale guys like the .098 in the hydros. Yes, you can run just a couple inches of stuffing tube but have only seen that once and it was set up in a rigger and was awesome but then again, he was from Germany and Lehners first sponsored racer and that was 15 years ago but we had a long conversation about it not being supported. He proved it when he was lapping people...just smokin fast! (Madison,WI races with our old friend Doug....God rest his soul)

[Jeff Wohlt]

Hello Jeff, its very liberating to see someone with your experience and resources you provide to the hobby providing also directly relevant, and valuable information in a very timely manner. Recently setting up my first boat and undergoing the maiden voyage, I had a ton of trouble in configuring my respective shaft setup (.25" flex shaft with a 3/16" step down, scale hydro). I was using just a typical Octura coupler and despite my best efforts to solder the end of the shaft, the coupler kept slipping very early on after hitting the water. I was getting pretty clueless until I remembered seeing your "Big Dog Couplers" a little while back..... needless to say ill be ordering one along with a new flex cable and I highly doubt Ill have issues like these anymore :)

I too have been really intrigued by wire drive setups recently, and want to go with them for my upcoming projects. However im pretty much solely building hydros and I know with these it can be difficult as the motor needs to be far foward. My question is, for a 1/6 scale hydro and perhaps 56mm sized motors, would a 3mm sized wire be sufficient? Also, for the setup I mentioned previously (1/4" cable), is it possible to use a teflon liner with this cable sized? oiling the shaft has been a PITA and id love to give teflon a try.

Thanks for the compliment. I have sold many to the 1/5 scales group as well. The 098 is a great size for your project. Actually the wire drive was really based around hydros years ago. Andy Kunz was a big part of it and hated cables....we learned that most cable failures were happening from the inside out...holding water and rusting until they broke. Certainly motor power has changed. I would assume you would be using low kv and high Volts. I have never build a boat with motors close transom. I see where some did for mono hulls. I like my motors up front...there are other aspects to why we ran motors forward in hydros....torque. We wanted that forward on the front sponsons. There is really no reason to braze a cable anymore with the great retainer fluids available today. If you do not solder or braze it the right way you end up just weakening the cable from heat. Ed Hughey and me have had many conversations but his have been proven as one of the best... but eventually a cable will break. I know his method but I still go for the Loctite when I can and the wire drive proves the strength of loctite ...I use my own methods (bore size and the Number of the loctite is key)...you will always get a % of failures but many of failures are how they are installed. They are not hard to work with. I have some 062 wires still working from guys that bought them 6-8 and even 10 years ago.

Will be glad to help you however I can...just drop me an email.