Servicing Your Hobie V2 Drive

Dear Ncka Commuity and Allen (Otobepelagic),

I just installed a new chain on my older (2013?) HobieV2 Drive and noticed that compared to my new 2016 drive, it feels stiffer and doesn't have the smoothness of the newer drives.
Allen, I remember talking with you about sharing your experience about servicing the Hobie V2 drives. On an annual basis, what kind of serving do you do to make sure that the drives last a long time and continue to be efficient?
Would you be able to do a write up about of key things to do to keep the Hobie drives working. Also, I now carry a open/box end 7/16 wrench with me in my tackle box ever since I had a cable slip off and couldn't tighten the 7/16 nut.

Any other key things that others want to share. Once you are out in the water, you can be kinda screwed if something happens to the pedal drive.
Looking forward to learning more as I have not done anything except change some of the 7/16 locknuts and install a new chain/cable.
Aloha,
Michael
da Bruddahj

There's a long 3-part discussion on the Hobie forum, which covers what lube to use, showing where to lube, and various adjustments/fine tuning. Here's one part, which includes links to the other parts:

https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=12576&_ga=2.206226001.358124626.1533605144-1261064409.1533469557

IMHO, it's worth upgrading to the GT drive. Then, if you replace the delrin bearings with nylon, you never have to lube anything.

Dear Ncka Commuity and Allen (Otobepelagic),

I just installed a new chain on my older (2013?) HobieV2 Drive and noticed that compared to my new 2016 drive, it feels stiffer and doesn't have the smoothness of the newer drives.
Allen, I remember talking with you about sharing your experience about servicing the Hobie V2 drives. On an annual basis, what kind of serving do you do to make sure that the drives last a long time and continue to be efficient?
Would you be able to do a write up about of key things to do to keep the Hobie drives working. Also, I now carry a open/box end 7/16 wrench with me in my tackle box ever since I had a cable slip off and couldn't tighten the 7/16 nut.

Any other key things that others want to share. Once you are out in the water, you can be kinda screwed if something happens to the pedal drive.
Looking forward to learning more as I have not done anything except change some of the 7/16 locknuts and install a new chain/cable.
Aloha,
Michael
da Bruddahj

"Once you are out in the water, you can be kinda screwed if something happens to the pedal drive."

That's what your paddle is for!

Mahalo Bruddah (Nowhereman) for the Hobie Cat posts. They were very helpful!!!
I think that I have the new cable on too tight and will try to loosen them and do a lube job. I don't use the older V2 as it is for my 2013 Tandem Oasis, mostly use it for crabbing now or to take someone else out. The newer 2016 Revo drive is so much smoother and is my main fishing kayak right now.
When you think about it the pedal drive is the single most expensive part of the kayak.
Makes sense to take care of it.
Aloha,
Michael
da Bruddah

The cable which runs over the idler pulley on my Mirage Drive has several cracks in its plastic cover.  However, I can't see any deterioration or fraying in the cable, either at the point of the cracks or at the ends of the cable.  Should I replace the cable because of these cracks, or are the cracks not a problem?

Are there posts on this forum or elsewhere which discuss how to adjust the fins on a V2 Mirage Drive for maximum speed and efficiency?

I recently pedaled a kayak with a new GT drive, and was amazed at how much more easily it pedaled than my V2 drive.  It felt frictionless.  Do GT drives get stiffer as they get older, or do the bearings continue to reduce the amount of friction in the drive as the drive gets older?

The cable which runs over the idler pulley on my Mirage Drive has several cracks in its plastic cover.  However, I can't see any deterioration or fraying in the cable, either at the point of the cracks or at the ends of the cable.  Should I replace the cable because of these cracks, or are the cracks not a problem?

Are there posts on this forum or elsewhere which discuss how to adjust the fins on a V2 Mirage Drive for maximum speed and efficiency?

I recently pedaled a kayak with a new GT drive, and was amazed at how much more easily it pedaled than my V2 drive.  It felt frictionless.  Do GT drives get stiffer as they get older, or do the bearings continue to reduce the amount of friction in the drive as the drive gets older?

I've got exactly those same cracks on the idler pulley cable on my (GT) mirage drive. It's been like that for a couple of years with no problem, so I'll wait until it breaks. You can pedal just fine without that cable anyways, so you won't be marooned should it break on the water.

A guy who goes by "Roadrunner" on the Hobie forum has done some careful tests, and he determined that for maximum efficiency, you want to keep that thing that screws into the "clew outhaul" fairly loose, so that there is some "play" in the trailing edge. I'll see if I can track down those posts. In any case, anything written by Roadrunner on the Hobie forums is worth reading---I think he knows more about the mirage drive than any Hobie engineer.

I've been pedaling the GT drive for quite a while now, and the only issue I had was some squeaking. The delrin bearings they use require lube, and I could never get that right. So, I ended up replacing all of the delrin bearings with nylon (which is considered "self lubricating"), and have never had any noise issue since. There is no reason I can see that it should ever get stiffer---after many hundreds (if not 1K or more) miles of pedaling my GT drive, I've noticed no loss of performance. The upgrade is well worth it, IMHO.

I've been pedaling the GT drive for quite a while now, and the only issue I had was some squeaking. The delrin bearings they use require lube, and I could never get that right. So, I ended up replacing all of the delrin bearings with nylon (which is considered "self lubricating"), and have never had any noise issue since. There is no reason I can see that it should ever get stiffer---after many hundreds (if not 1K or more) miles of pedaling my GT drive, I've noticed no loss of performance. The upgrade is well worth it, IMHO.

Where can you buy nylon bearings for a GT drive?

I've been pedaling the GT drive for quite a while now, and the only issue I had was some squeaking. The delrin bearings they use require lube, and I could never get that right. So, I ended up replacing all of the delrin bearings with nylon (which is considered "self lubricating"), and have never had any noise issue since. There is no reason I can see that it should ever get stiffer---after many hundreds (if not 1K or more) miles of pedaling my GT drive, I've noticed no loss of performance. The upgrade is well worth it, IMHO.

Where can you buy nylon bearings for a GT drive?

Just buy 1/8" 6/6 nylon rod and cut to length. It's pretty inexpensive stuff and incredibly durable. The only trick is that in each case, you want to use one less nylon bearing than the default number of delrin bearings that Hobie uses, since nylon expands ever-so-slightly when wet. In fact, Roadrunner suggests using one less (delrin) bearing when servicing the GT drive---there's no extra slop or any issue like that.

Here's a more detailed post on the nylon bearing swap procedure for GT drive:

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=83435.msg947335#msg947335

End of threadjack (for now...)