barmonkey

Hello all, Just looking for some info/advice...

After lubing and installing the flex cable for my Miss Vegas the drive shaft broke loose from the cable...I'm really happy this didn't happen while it was running at the lake...would have lost my newly sharpened and balanced prop!

It looks that there is about 1/2 inch that the cable will slide into the drive shaft...Should more cable be inside the shaft, or did it break in there?

Would the 1/2 that is there be enough to get me by until the new shaft arrives? (of course I would use the plastic prop)

If repair is possible, should I just heat the cable and shaft with a hobby torch and solder it as one would solder a clevis to a pushrod.

Thanks for any help!

avenge

Same thing happend to me years ago with my 1st gen. vegas. I just soldered with silver solder and she was good to go.

advanced builder

same here,my motor mount striped out put in threaded inserts ,one insert was not flush raised my mount up 1/16 ,broken cable ,time for a rubber iso mount

wurster

Make sure its cleaned really goood then solder it back to gether as Avenge said it sould be as good as new.[:-]

barmonkey

Thanks for the replies all...I'll be attempting the fix this afternoon.

I will clean the cable well and maybe use a little heat to burn off any residue. I plan to use some silver solder and a torch for the actual repair.

One thing that remains unanswered, is how deep does the cable actually go inside the prop shaft? Like I said before I only have 1/2 inch to work with. I am not sure how much cable broke off in there. The break seems pretty clean, so i suspect that that 1/2 inch is correct.

P.S. ... I am pretty sure that I weakened the cable to shaft connection by not having enough gap between the strut and the propeller. This caused it to bind as the torque shortened the cable. This may also explain why my motor was stalling.....?

avenge

When cleaning it use alot of flux to clean cable and the stubshaft. Heat the cable and the shaft and it will change color. When it does change color that is when you know that it is ready for solder. Hope this helps barmonkey....[8D]

barmonkey

All suggestions all helpful!

I sprayed the cable and stubshaft (thanks for the proper term) with carb cleaner, wiped them down, let them air dry and hit them with the torch to burn off wahtever. I wiped them down again and are now soaking in carb cleaner. I will probably wipe down with alcohol and then pre-tin the cable. It will need a bit of work with the Dremel to fit back in the stubshaft.

barmonkey

OK, I did not pre-tin the cable...I just knocked down some burrs on the cable and lightly hit the inside of the stubshaft with the Dremel. I wiped the cable off with some carb cleaner and then some flux. I tried to get the solder (Stay-Brite silver solder) to leach into the stubshaft but it didn't want to go. I ended up putting some solder into the stubshaft and then inserted the cable. I used a bit too much solder...kept the assembly hot with the torch and wiped away the excess with a towel. A damp cloth would have been better than a dry paper towel BTW [&:] I made shure there wasn't any solder on the shaft or cable, and then dunked it into some water. I then rubbed the shaft with some very fine sandpaper to clean it up and make sure there wasn't any solder on the outside.

Some solder leached into the shaft about 1/8 inch outside the stubshaft. I don't think this will be an issue because the stuffing tube is pretty straight for a few inches before it bends up into the hull. Other than possibly being out of balance, I'm pretty certain that the operation was a success!

I will test with the plastic prop, although I am certain it won't break free again...which may be a good thing or bad thing....