HELP!! I'm haveing a horrible time trying to get the drive shaft-flex shaft- into the inner sleeve in the aluminum tubing for my outdrive. This is my first build of this type and not sure if it should be this hard to do. I don't want to break anything!!

Please post pics of what you have so we can try to help.

sorry forgot the pic..

The bend angle is WAY too severe. This will not work even if you do get the shaft in it. It will break due to stress. You have to make the bend very gradual from engine to drive.

* go in the Magazine section of this site and look under BOATS in the PRODUCT REVIEWS... you can see many builds in this section...look and see how the stuffing tubes are bent and installed...you can see just about every step in boat building in these sections.

Thanks for the info. I'll start fresh.

Well i dont know if this helps or not . but ive just finnished my fist build of a 50 inch cat .

and a good way that i bend the tubing for flex shaft is to use a lenth of flex shaft and the teflon liner inside the tube and then bend it ither by hand or over a round edge ... that way it dosent get enny kinks in the tubing . and yes you cant have to much angle no 90 degree angles.haha:woohoo: .....

That is a good technique. I always bend the tube with the flex cable inside it. Sometimes it also helps to heat it up to soften it. You heat it red hot with a small torch and let it cool before bending it. This only works WITHOUT a teflon liner inside of course! In most cases though it is not required to heat the tubing to bend it.

the way i bent the shaft worked great. i used a tubeing bender for brake lines. smooth bends no kinks, just bent it too sharp. and i did try to install the flex shaft first and even then it didn't go in more than a 1/4 inch. GRRRRR Hulk mad!! I'm getting a new shaft insert and flex shaft soon, hopefully second time will be a charm!!
thanks for the input.

If you run an aluminum tube without a liner, your flex cable will chew through it in the first few runs and it's a lot of work to replace a drive tube. Use brass instead. I like the K&S 3/8 tube with .029 wall. It's the same I.D. as 11/32 thinwall tube. It's a little harder to bend, but it works great.

I agree with Steve on using the brass tubing. Typically though, we use 5/16" K&S thin wall tube. You can use a piece of 11/32" as a sleeve when crossing through the hull's bottom (on cats and hydros). This way the sleeve is laminated to the hull, yet the 5/16" tube can be removed and replaced easily should it be required in the future. You simply solder the 5/16" into the 11/32" to prevent it from turning inside.

In my experience, if your tube is correctly arranged and lined up, and you keep the shaft well lubricated, you can go a VERY long time before having to replace the stuffing tube. I have never had to replace one unless there was a problem with the setup. That you learn with trial and error! In my opinion the 11/32" thin wall tube's ID is a little too big to be used as a stuffing tube alone...it allows for too much "slop" of the 1/4" flexshaft. 5/16" is a very good fit and that is the reason that probably over 90% of boaters use it. It has the same ID as the Teflon liners. For the record, Teflon liners are typically installed in tubes with an ID of 11/32" and the liner itself has ID of 5/16" .