Thrust bearing between dog and strut

[stadiumyamaha]

Does anybody do this? Seems like a good way to not have to worry about gap.

[TRUCKPULL]

That would be a good way to break your drive cable.

Thrust Bearing goes between the motor and the collet, then leave a gap between the drive dog and the strut.

The gap is needed because the cable will shrink in length under load.
The Thrust Bearing is to save your motor bearings from lateral thrust.

Larry

[NativePaul]

Kind of, I use a pair of teflon washers as thrust bearings at the strut of my wire drives. I have not had luck with small thrust bearings staying together at high speeds, and don't want the drag of ones bigger than my strut in the water. I don't want to take the thrust at the motor, not only to save the motor bearings, which doesn't really concern me never having had one fail, but mainly because the thrust going up the wire will bend it more than it needs to and force it against the stuffing tube creating friction.

[RaceMechaniX]

Thrust bearings should be placed at the motor side when using a collet on the motor side and normal flex cable. Some racers will put a secondary Teflon washer between the strut and drive dog , but the gap must be dead on.
Thrust bearings or bushings need to between the strut and drive dog for a square drive set-up although not many FE guys use square drives.
Thrust bearings or bushings can be placed on either side for a wire drive, but at the strut end does reduce the tendency of the shaft to want to buckle under thrust force.