Hot stuffing tube, Normal?

[Shaun78]

Is it normal for it to get hot? teflon liner doesnt seem to be spinning/binding? running castle 1520 with Seaking 180 on 6S. Runs ok with M445 but 645 seems to be binding (heavy Rt side lean and get punch her)

[dag-nabit]

No, not normal.

JPriami experienced the same problem when running large props.

The unconfirmed theory is: the torque from the large prop is causing the flex shaft to "corkscrew" in the stuffing tube causing excess surface contact and friction.

Back off to the smaller prop, or perhaps consider trying one of Jeff's .187 flex cables to see if that helps.

Kevin

[GeoVW72]

Agreed, not normal, but it does happen

That theory sounds good, but it happens even in stock configurations.
What I have found is that the teflon liner spins excessively in the brass tubing, I'm guessing that's because of how smooth the interior bore of the tube is, perhaps it's hydroformed?
Anyway, in recent running I found teflon flakes in between the liner and tube, an obvious sign of wear, after the boat had some of the same issues.

I have found that greasing the liner in the tube will "mask" the issue, but not cure it.

[Shaun78]

I did grease the liner but it still did it, Ill try that again tho

[Snowride]

As mentioned jpirami had the very same issue when running larger prop/motor. This is why I elected to stay close to stock motor size and run a stock prop. He was looking to have some custom flex shafts made up but never heard back on this.

[dag-nabit]

As mentioned jpirami had the very same issue when running larger prop/motor. This is why I elected to stay close to stock motor size and run a stock prop. He was looking to have some custom flex shafts made up but never heard back on this.

JPriami did make up a piano wire drive for his, but sold the Spartan after a few runs on the new drive. I believe he was pleased with the performance of the piano wire drive.

Jeff Wohlt offers aftermarket flex drives in .150 and .187 diameter flex cable. And will also do up piano wire drives, I do believe.

http://www.rcraceboat.com/

The .187 can be run without the Teflon liner, but you do need to replace the collet to accommodate the larger flex shaft.

Kevin

[GeoVW72]

I did grease the liner but it still did it, Ill try that again tho

Hmmm...
Are you running the stock liner or did you get some new teflon?
I found that the old stock liner was rather soft.
They have made a rolling change to some stiffer stuff like octura.

old stuff on the left, new octura on the right

Though Jeff did think that we were already pushing .150 a little hard, and the traxxas cables don't seem to be the best IMHO.

[Snowride]

Is that octura stuffing tube a direct replacement for the stock spartan one?

[GeoVW72]

Is that octura stuffing tube a direct replacement for the stock spartan one?

Yep, direct replacement, just cut to length.
It's what traxxas has moved to.

[Snowride]

Thanks, will order some.

[martin]

If you let the teflon liner coming out from the stuffing tube come out 4-5mm past the stuffing tube on the motor end. You then slide a piece of appropriate silicon tube over the stuffing tube & over the liner as you do when doing this same mod to stop water coming up the tube. This piece of silicon tube also stops the liner from going round in the stuffing tube where it grips onto the tube & liner. Martin.

[Brushless55]

Hmmm...
Are you running the stock liner or did you get some new teflon?
I found that the old stock liner was rather soft.
They have made a rolling change to some stiffer stuff like octura.

old stuff on the left, new octura on the right

Though Jeff did think that we were already pushing .150 a little hard, and the traxxas cables don't seem to be the best IMHO.

nice bro, and I agree a larger prop wont cause this issue, it's called traxxass

[Snowride]

Well I smoked the tube/drive wire pretty bad yesterday. I did not bother removing the drive wire and lubing it as I had only 1 run ( 8 mins) since it was last lubed. Towards the end of this run it started making noise like it was cavitating so I brought it in and found some seaweed so I thought this was the issue and returned it to the water. Punched it and it seemed to go better but was still a little noisy and regardless, I hit the low voltage cutoff after about 30 seconds. Brought it in and opened the hatch to disconnect the batteries and there was smell and smoke.

Got home took it apart to view the damage. Holy crap, wire was twisted, a few small pieces of liner was all that was left, got so hot it melted part of the motor tray and servo bottom.

Big question is. Did I do myself in by not lubricating after every run or are the original components just crap? By upgrading the parts should this be reliable? I already have the octura liner from OSE on order and a couple of new reinforced drive wires mentioned above on this thread. Good thing about the motor tray is they are only $4.95 so I ordered 3 just in case.

[Brushless55]

holly crud!
possible issues was to much play in the shaft?

[dag-nabit]

Wow!

That drive line really gnarled up on you, and on the stock prop too.

As for greasing frequency, on most boats you don't have to grease the flex after every run, but early reports on the Spartan were that the grease seemed to wash off the shaft very quickly.

Because of that some of us have installed an extra "floater" grommet between the strut and transom to help seal the shaft and retain the lube. A piece of "larger" diameter silicone tubing or similar could also be used.
http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...=extra+grommet

That said, IMO with a teflon liner installed that amount of damage should not have taken place after two runs on a lubed flex cable. So I'm thinking there were other factors at play, and quality may well be one of them.

Kevin