stuffing tube with or without teflon liner?

[DeltaForceMan]

I've read online that you can run you're stuffing tube with just brass and no teflon liner.. Can someone tell me if one setup is better then the other?

[Kaotic]

I run Teflon in my setups, less friction.

[Doug Smock]

It boils down to personal preference Zack.
I haven't run Teflon in years. Just one more thing to give you trouble, and IME they will.

[tlandauer]

I have both and I like both versions for different reasons. But I think with the liner one has to pay attention to its condition. It's not maintenance free. Over time the windings from the cable shed strands of teflon and it's hard to see with the residual grease on the cable. If left unattended, eventually the cable will catch and twist the tube and disaster will strike.
Just my $.02...

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[Kaotic]

I clean my tube with a pipe cleaner after each day of running then I'll clean the stuffing tube as well. I will leave the teflon liner out until the next time I run it. I grease both inside and outside of the liner liberally. I run my boat 4 times a week at high RPMs and a liner will last me almost a whole summer.

[longballlumber]

I clean my tube with a pipe cleaner after each day of running then I'll clean the stuffing tube as well. I will leave the teflon liner out until the next time I run it. I grease both inside and outside of the liner liberally. I run my boat 4 times a week at high RPMs and a liner will last me almost a whole summer.

By greasing both sides of the liner, do you have the expectation of the liner spinning inside of the brass stuffing tube? If so what is the advantage you see in this method?

Thanks,
Mike

[Kaotic]

No I don't see it spinning inside the stuffing tube, the reason I do it is more for keeping it water tight.

[tlandauer]

By greasing both sides of the liner, do you have the expectation of the liner spinning inside of the brass stuffing tube? If so what is the advantage you see in this method?

Thanks,
Mike

I would like to know as well. I was under the impression that the liner should be stationary. I take the liner out and specifically to clean and wipe away any old grease between the liner and the tube.
I also use pipe cleaner and yes, I realize it can last a long time, my point to the OP was meant as a heads up.



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[photohoward1]

Have not used Teflon in a long time. It will eventually twist and ruin your driveline. Just keep the shaft nice and lubed. Gas and nitro guys as far as I know have never used them.


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[kfxguy]

I don't use a liner either. I'm thinking about doing some back to back testing to see if it's worth any speed. I got some heavy duty stuff the other day to try. When I get time that is. Lol. But for now, no liner is serving me well.

[tlandauer]

No I don't see it spinning inside the stuffing tube, the reason I do it is more for keeping it water tight.

Sorry, didn't see your reply. I guess I was afraid if there is grease in between, it will facilitate the possibility of spinning the liner.
Good to learn something new always.

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[iridebikes247]

I've been using teflon for years and never have had a problem, I don't think I've really worn one out either but then again I use pretty thick lining. As long as the drive line is really nicely aligned you shouldn't really notice any wear where the cable exits the stuffing tube. If installing I have lightly scuffed the teflon and used a medium-acting CA glue and quickly slid into place and haven't had one spin running high rpm. I should mention I stick to SAW, the guys that run oval get more heat in the stuffing tube I think so can't really speak for oval running. For SAW I think teflon is fine.

[Kaotic]

I've been using teflon for years and never have had a problem, I don't think I've really worn one out either but then again I use pretty thick lining. As long as the drive line is really nicely aligned you shouldn't really notice any wear where the cable exits the stuffing tube. If installing I have lightly scuffed the teflon and used a medium-acting CA glue and quickly slid into place and haven't had one spin running high rpm. I should mention I stick to SAW, the guys that run oval get more heat in the stuffing tube I think so can't really speak for oval running. For SAW I think teflon is fine.

When you use CA to hold the liner in place, how long do you leave it in for? What I mean is, do you leave it in permenetly or do you break it loose every once in a while to clean/inspect it?

[johnl6676]

I use both and see no significant difference. In my opinion it is just personal preference. I use a liner with smaller shafts (.150) and no liner for larger (.187). I use the same size stuffing tube on all of my boats. Have had no trouble with either, again just personal preference. Hope this helps.

[DeltaForceMan]

All great info, thanks guys!

[runzwithsizorz]

For those of you that have run both, is the teflon a little less noisy/loud? The quite tree lined lake I run at just echos loudly! The first time I was there, a park ranger came out of his office, and drove over to see
what was causing so much noise.

[iridebikes247]

I don't think I ever remove them or inspect them. I mainly run german cats and all have a year of use on them with their current setup, have never changed teflon. I'm sure if I pulled them out I would notice a little bit of wear. As you already know I'm sure, the stuffing tube and collet alignment is super important and could probably screw up a liner if it was off.

As for the CA glue trick, I think I've used silicone too, anything that just shims the space and makes the fit a bit tighter can't hurt. Cracking it out is definitely easy when its time to remove, just fold the liner with a pair of needle nose pliers.

[siberianhusky]

I've never run teflon, never will, actually re did the stuffing tubes on the only rtr boats I have just to get away from it.
I just think it's something to fail, another added bit of maintenance.
Plus there is more drag with it than without, your flex coils up slightly inside the stuffing tube and only contacts the stuffing tube at a couple points along it's length when under load. Can't see how there would be less drag with more contact area, just doesn't work that way.
Think I've been playing with boats about 35 years or so, still have my very first boat, never worn out a brass stuffing tube or flex cable without teflon.
And none of my boats leak any water up the stuffing tube.

[Fluid]

More wasted bandwidth on an over-discussed topic because the Search function was not used.



https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ghlight=teflon

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ghlight=teflon

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ghlight=teflon

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ghlight=teflon

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ghlight=teflon

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ghlight=teflon

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ghlight=teflon

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ghlight=teflon



and on and on....



.

[DeltaForceMan]

Weeeeelllll ssooooorrrryyy.... :)

[flraptor07]

No liners, never will, one more thing to go wrong. I have seen melted teflon on a high RPM boat, and I don't think you'll see many saw guys using teflon or most serious racers. Also I've never seen or heard of a stuff tube wearing out from not using teflon.

[keithbradley]

I don't think you'll see any saw guys using teflon or most serious racers.

What would give you that idea?

[flraptor07]

What would give you that idea?

Just what I've been told in the past, and what I've seen in other boats.

[NativePaul]

I have only tried a flexshaft without a PTFE liner once, with most of my previous boats being PTFE lined flexies and some being wires. When I built my JAE.21FE I used the Zipkits hardware and followed the instructions in having no liner, knowing it is done often in the states I gave it a go but found it to be very noisy after the first run and it needed re-greasing not after every raceday as I had heard, but after every heat. Running several classes and doing duties for several more classes it took too long as I have better things to do on my race days than grease up my shaft and tube 3 times so I redid the layout and swapped to a wire drive in the end.

Most of my recent boats have been wire drives and I do prefer it to flexies where it is practical (to have a large radius curve in the drive), but I will continue to use PTFE lined flexies where I need a tighter bend, but I will never run an unlined flex again.

Mine being such high maintenance may be because my heats are longer than they are in the states at over 5 minutes each vs <2 minutes, or it may be because I am spinning higher RPMs than most in the states, or that my smaller props don't make the flex coil up to get the smaller contact points referred to above (if that is a good thing, my gut tells me that those smaller contact points must be at a higher pressure and the drag at least as much). Whatever the reason, when it comes to flexies there is not enough difference in drag (if it exists at all, and in whatever direction) for me to discount the ease of use of a water lubricated PTFE lined flex shaft, which just needs taking out, drying and oiling after a raceday, then putting back in for the next raceday.

I have never worn out or melted a PTFE liner, I used to check them in pre-season maintenance but stopped after a while as it seemed pointless when I never saw any significant wear, typically my boats don't see more than 5 seasons of racing and many of them are redesigned and replaced with a new version after a lot less than that, I don't really have a local Lake I can use any more and rarely run outside of races now so I probably do only 50 runs a year per boat, if my PTFE was going to melt after 250 runs I would never find out. I guess a sport boater that lives on a lake, runs most days and will never get their boat damaged from buoy strikes or boat rubbing and doesn't have to compete with that new hull that just came out, will have different values wanting several thousands of runs.

[keithbradley]

Just what I've been told in the past, and what I've seen in other boats.

I think you have it backward. There are always exceptions, but when it comes to 100mph+ boats, I think the majority are running Teflon.

[DeltaForceMan]

You know what... i think the search function can take a back seat to new users.

[Doug Smock]

I think you have it backward. There are always exceptions, but when it comes to 100mph+ boats, I think the majority are running Teflon.

This is based on what?

[Jeff Wohlt]

I do like teflon for the wire drives. I do not always use it but it does keep the wire from rubbing on the brass and possibly wearing the wire. IF you set wire drives up right it basically should hardly touch any wall of the stuffing tube so your resistance is less than a cable trying to go straight when wound up....that is why they are better for most--- but not all hulls. For the Spartan 6s we are having better results with the 078 wire drives than the cables. In the old days we would sand our cables to make them smoother. Never hurt strength but we also did not have the power we have today.

[Shooter]

I use teflon liners in all my boats with very very thin lube. IMO, the clearance with the 1/4" brass and 0.187" flex (no teflon) is excessive.

[Chilli]

This is based on what?

It ain't the IMPBA record books. We've run with four of the six guys that hold current records over 100 mph in Liz City and I don't know any that use teflon. Then again you're the records director so what would you know??... LOL

To the OP, use what you want. Both work fine. I've run both. IMO- Run without. One less thing to worry about.

To runzwithsizorz's, My flex makes a racket when I give the throttle a little goose after first plugging in to make sure everything is working. I've never noticed extra noise when the boat is in the water and there is a load on the prop.