After mounting the tabs and the turn fins, I prepped the stuffing tube for the remounting of the strut.
The factory "grease" in these things is STICKY! Way too much so.
I took a pipe cleaner and bent it in half, then twisted it together, and put some solvent on it. Chucking it up in my drill, I ran it up and down inside the stuffing tube until it was cleaned up. You wouldn't believe how much smoother the flexshaft turned!
I use either Pro Boat grease, or a special mixture, neither of which cause that much drag.
The "teflon" (not convinced that's what it really is!) extended a bit too far into the strut, so I used a 3/16" reamer and trimmed away a bit of the aft end of it. I also ran the reamer through the bushing to help debur it.
You have to inspect the flex cable and bushing fit very carefully. Sometimes they are great, other times they are sloppy, or the cable isn't straight in the stub-shaft, etc. Use your best judgement to figure out where to go from here. OSE makes some FANTASTIC upgrads in this area. Take advantage if you need to.
My flex and the fit in the bushing was OK for now, and the flex was straight, so I'm just going to run the factory stuff. Haven't had one fail yet, and I've ABUSED them, so it should hold up fine. Biggest drawback to the factory flex cable is that the propshaft is a tad on the short side aft of the drive-dog, so longer hubbed props are more difficult or impossible to fit. Shouldn't be a problem with my intended application, which will likely be limited to P-Ltd action.
Darin E. Jordan - Renton, WA
"Self-proclaimed skill-less leader in the hobby."
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