Piano Wire Drive vs. flex shaft drive

[louispetrocelli@gmail.com]

He everyone first time posting here. Don?t even know if I am doing this right but I just got into the hobby. I have built a 4S Stealthwake hulland a 6s Spartan hull. 1700kv motor in the spartan with a flex shaft drive and a 2000kv motor in the stealth wake with a piano drive. I have noticed my piano drive has virtually no resistance and runs much smoother than the flex shaft drive. I was wondering if it?s worth it to attempt to put a piano wire drive in the spartan.

[fweasel]

If your Stealthwake is stock, it's not actually a piano wire, but a solid prop shaft setup. Yes, less friction, no trim angle adjustment, difficult to grease and service. Piano wires are definitely lower friction than flex cables, but they're fragile and need a very straight driveline angle. You might be able to retrofit one into the Spartan, but the act of adjusting the trim angle at the strut is now resisted by the solid steel wire, like a spring, and can put more pressure on the bushings inside the stinger/strut assembly... which leads to friction and premature wear.

The Spartan has a number of stock design flaws that if addressed, can improve its performance. Converting to a wire drive is not where's I'd focus my time and resources on that particular hull.

[louispetrocelli@gmail.com]

Thanks for the input. I just wanted to see if anybody did it before and if so what their motor setup was like and pros and cons. I have uprgaged everything on both boats to a naueseating length and have bought into the hobby way faster than my wallet would have liked and just wanted best performance out of my drive shaft on the spartan because I have a smaller piano drive on the stealthwake and that thing is a rocket ship on 4s with a 50mm prop

[fweasel]

If you're set on spending the money, Jeff Wohlt will build you a wire drive for the spartan. https://www.rcraceboat.com/spartanupgrades.html My advice, it's a waste of money and effort on that boat.

[louispetrocelli@gmail.com]

Maybe you?ll be saying I told you so but I?m dead set on proving you wrong because the piano wires if housed properly will not be a waste of money.

[louispetrocelli@gmail.com]

I have the stealthwake hull sitting very fat and low in the water because I sprayed the entire front with foam and put a sound system in that allows the boat to double as a boom box lol .062 piano wire spinning a 45mm prop at 41,000 unloaded rpm?s which is prob around 32-35k I?m sorry but the piano wire drives are the farthest thing from a waste of money. Hell I?ll put the 51mm prop on there and see if she can fly or that actually might snap the drive lol

[sciesielka]

In regards to the wire drive in your Stealthwake, did you maintain the straight stuffing tube and the stock negative angle on the prop shaft? Or did you run a wire drive into a strut or stinger to adjust the prop angle?
Asking because I have a Stealthwake with a Jeff Wohlt wire drive but it still has the straight tube and negative angle as stock. I have a second Stealthwake where I put a flex shaft in with a stinger so I could adjust the prop angle. I couldn't do a movable stinger with a wire drive.

[TRUCKPULL]

The biggest problem with wire drives is;
Not if they will break, It is when they will break!

The fatigue in the wire will cause it to break.

Larry