wow this sucks...

[Rob DeAngelis]

twisted driveshaft and melted liner... has this ever happened to anyone??? also the stuffing tube got pushed up into the collet somehow and frayed the end of the tube.... wth???

[dag-nabit]

Yup, many of us.
It seems to be more common with those of us pushing larger props and non-OEM electrics.
My experience is documented here: http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...lly+got+to+run
Upgrading to a larger flex drive or going to a wire drive is one option to reduce the risk.
Kevin

[Fluid]

This is most common on cables which have been:

- neglected (not pulled and dried after each day's run)
- run without enough lube, or the wrong kind of lube
- run for extended run times, heating up the liner
- poorly supported at the motor end - never more than 1/2" of unsupported cable outside the brass liner
- poorly aligned between cable and coupler
- poorly aligned between cable and strut (abrupt bend)
or
- cheap cable or cheap liner

What often happens is the liner begins to melt, grabs the cable and knots it up. Sometimes it's the cable which gives up first. This does not have to happen given good quality cable and liner, correct alignment, good lube, and proper maintenance. Racers seldom have this problem if they watch for the above, and they pull a lot more power than most sport runners.

But then again, anything mechanical can fail.


.

[Rob DeAngelis]

thanks for the info.... on another note i remove my drive shaft after every day of running... grease it with grim lube and check the liner an tube for anything funny... all of it is stock.... the day that it happened i bumped the prop at wot on a floating tree branch... where I messed up is I only checked the prop for dings, and didnt notice my strut moved up a bit... im guessing that made the flex shaft bite the liner and fry everything... BTW thanks again for the info...

[dag-nabit]

Hitting that tree branch also may have started the stock cable to "kink" a bit, then just got worse from there. The strut out of alignment also a good candidate. (as per Fluids info)

Fluid mentions quality cables, here is a brief video comparing Traxxas OEM vs an aftermarket shaft:

Another condition that can be hard on shafts is running in very rough water, if the boat is coming out of the water, unloading the drive line, then loading hard again when the boat hits the water again, this can take it's toll. A good flex cable will take a certain amount of punishment, like occasional jumping a wave, but continuous in and out in rough water can be hard on them.
Kevin

[Rob DeAngelis]

Hitting that tree branch also may have started the stock cable to "kink" a bit, then just got worse from there. The strut out of alignment also a good candidate. (as per Fluids info)

Fluid mentions quality cables, here is a brief video comparing Traxxas OEM vs an aftermarket shaft:

Another condition that can be hard on shafts is running in very rough water, if the boat is coming out of the water, unloading the drive line, then loading hard again when the boat hits the water again, this can take it's toll. A good flex cable will take a certain amount of punishment, like occasional jumping a wave, but continuous in and out in rough water can be hard on them.
Kevin

thanks for the info... where can I get my hands on one of those fancy driveshafts???? I just ordered a stock one for 17 bucks off kintec.... thanx

[jj2003]

Jeff Wohlts has some quality shafts. http://www.rcraceboat.com/

[Snowride]

Mine crapped out only after 4 runs or so. Proper lube and everything was adjusted properly, just a crappy quality cable. Changed to jeffs flex drive (same size as stock) and octura liner and ran all summer long without issue. Here is my story. http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...-Spartan-Build

[GTRhino24]

I've got one of Jeff's wire drives for the stock spartan strut if you're interested. You'd need a coupler, but you can waive goodbye to grease issues once you go to wire drive. Not only is mine still coated after 2 runs, the grease is still blue.

[petej]

I've been running my boats without the liner, they run great, no water in the hull, the cables, tubes are all in fine condition.

Impulse 31, Motley Crew, Electric King of Shaves

[dag-nabit]

I've been running my boats without the liner, they run great, no water in the hull, the cables, tubes are all in fine condition.

Impulse 31, Motley Crew, Electric King of Shaves

Same here, I run some with, some without.

I have a couple original SV27's that never had liners from new, and we run one of our Spartans with a .187 cable and no liner.

The SV27's are going into their 4th season this summer and no drive line issues at all.

The Spartan does tend to auger grease out the back more than any boat I have experience with, but it is so easy and inexpensive to change out a stuffing tube, even if you do wear through one after a few seasons, it isn't a big deal.

Kevin