Zelos 36 gets hot Stuffing Tubes

[IRON-PAWW]

HI all.

My Zelos 36 is completely Stock except for the OSE upgraded flexes. I've polished those for extra smoothness. Running 6S. After a 3-4minute run my stuffing tubes are hot to the touch. I measured 75F after todays run. Motors around 135 running CnC 4314's. Esc's not hot at all. Took the time to properly align the motors with the flexes. Plenty of grease in there. Tubes have discoloured slightly due to the heat. Can't think of what to try next. Does anyone else get hot tubes.

[fweasel]

75*F? Did you mean 175*F? If it's not an alignment issue, the only other cause of friction in that area that I can think of would be flex cables spinning in the wrong direction, to explain heat on both sides. Do the winds of both cables make a ^ shape pointing towards the bow when viewed from behind?

[Fluid]

Are the Teflon liners spinning? Without lube between them and the brass they will generate a lot of heat. A long shot that both sides would spin, but with good alignment and grease on the cable there aren't many options.


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[IRON-PAWW]

Oops yes 175F. Teflon seems ok - doesn't seem to have melted - But I was worried about that.
Yep the first thing I suspected was that I'd put the cables in the wrong sides. But no - they're correct. They do create a v pointing toward the bow when viewed from behind (inward spinning rotation). Checked against all my other boats with single drives to make sure I had that flex spinning the same way as well.

Boat is new with only 3 runs to its name. Maybe you are right Fluid and the teflon is spinning as well. I'll pull the liners again and get some good grease between them and the stuffing tube. I can't think of what else it could be. The motor mounts are fiddly as hell - but I'm pretty happy with how I got them lined in the end.

No vibration when I bench test or faulty off-centre collets. Checked all that.

Thanks for your thoughts guys. Appreciate it.

[boatsrnew2me]

Oops yes 175F. Teflon seems ok - doesn't seem to have melted - But I was worried about that.

Maybe you are right Fluid and the teflon is spinning as well. I'll pull the liners again and get some good grease between them and the stuffing tube.

why would you want grease between the liner and the tube?? thats encouraging it to spin . i had a liner spinning in my spartan , what i did was to pull the liner and put a wrap of plumbers tape (ptfe)around it and spun it back in so it was tight . i say spun it in because you cant just slide it back in the tape will bunch up .

this worked for me and the liner doesnt spin anymore .

i was also told you could put a dab of glue on the liner housing and re install but that sounded to permanent to me .

[Fluid]

...Boat is new with only 3 runs to its name. Maybe you are right Fluid and the teflon is spinning as well. I'll pull the liners again and get some good grease between them and the stuffing tube. I can't think of what else it could be...

I wasn't meaning to suggest putting grease between the Teflon and the brass, just mentioning that high heat could be generated since there isn't any there. As above, you do not want the Teflon to spin. A tighter fit is what you want, lube only on the cable.


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[CraigP]

One of the reasons I'm not a fan of the liner. Teflon is very bad for compression set, a property of elastomers and plastic where permenant deformation occurs after pressure is applied, over time. If you notice on the teflon stock you buy, it has a curve in it. That's the compression set from putting the teflon on a reel during manufacturing. This doesn't go away. If you pull your teflon tube out, you'll see it still has a curve to it. I still have a teflon liner in my DF29 Mono, because I bought it used that way. But it is very short, about 5". It doesn't seem to have any issues, so I don't fix what's not broke...

[fweasel]

For the record, I said ^ pattern when viewed from behind and you said V. V is backwards. ^ is correct. Left cable winds should slant upwards from left to right. Right cable winds should slant upwards from right to left, this is what creates the ^ arrow when viewed from behind.

[IRON-PAWW]

Gahhh...

Sorry Fluid.. I totally misread what you said. I thought you *did* mean putting lube in between the teflon and the brass tube - that's why I was saying that. I stand corrected.

Fweasel: Semantics of description. But thanks for making it clear - it can easily be confused & has to be done right. To use your terms it is better described as a ^ shape when viewed from behind. This is the way I have it installed.

So what I need is to somehow stop the teflon from spinning - if indeed that *is* what is happening - and see if that helps the problem.

Thanks guys. I will see what I can come up with.

[REDLINE1]

Gahhh...

Sorry Fluid.. I totally misread what you said. I thought you *did* mean putting lube in between the teflon and the brass tube - that's why I was saying that. I stand corrected.

Fweasel: Semantics of description. But thanks for making it clear - it can easily be confused & has to be done right. To use your terms it is better described as a ^ shape when viewed from behind. This is the way I have it installed.

So what I need is to somehow stop the teflon from spinning - if indeed that *is* what is happening - and see if that helps the problem.

Thanks guys. I will see what I can come up with.

Or switch to wire drives and never worry about cables again

[fweasel]

I haven't had issues with the liners moving in my Zelos, but when it is a problem in my other boats, the Teflon tape method described above has worked perfectly for me.

[IRON-PAWW]

No I haven't had this issue in my other boats, so it's a first for me. I suppose on 6s the Zelos 36 drives are getting up some rpm..... but not a commonly reported issue by the sound of it.

I'll give the ptfe tape a shot I think and see if that makes a difference.