Hobie Mirage Drive, Stripped Gear and crushed roller bearings

So I had a squeak for maybe a month in my drive, I beached my drive in sand the other day and then had a catastrophic drive failure in the back fin. Front fin still worked but the back had a crushed roller bearing under the cone and most of my teeth were stripped the instant it seized up. Had to paddle the outback... (its got a 3 year warranty and I am in the process w my hobie rep to get a replacement spine)

A buddy named Troy helped show me how to take it apart and put the roller bearings back in place but a couple were destroyed and I maybe had 3 teeth left and the drive would skip gears. I tried to peddle it like this and the rest of the teeth were quickly lost along with losing more rollers.

I couldn't find the correct replacement roller bearings and I kind of hate that design of plastic rollers that were pitting the plastic inside of that cone and the spine.

I found out that a 1" pvc pipe fits in there as a bushing. I cut a 1/4" thick ring of the pipe and a 1/4" of the bell end that the pipe fits into. I needed to reduce the size just a tiny bit so I snipped some of both pipes so that they could tighten a little more to fit around the spine, but still inside the cone.

I greased them up and am able to move the unit as it should for now, obviously not as smooth as the roller bearings but I think it should work fine enough until I get a replacement spine. during this process I also knocked out the roller bearings from the other side of the spine. These things are just a total pain in the ass to deal with, they are so tricky to get back in place, I ended up using some grease to hold them in place.

For the stripped gear, my buddy showed me that screws could be drilled into the spine to make teeth for the chain to engage with so I figured I would try that. I used a pilot hole while the chain was in place, and used some stainless steel screws. I backed the screws off, removed the chain, and sank the screws in farther and cut them off to act as teeth. Sanding them so there were no sharp edges.

I only replaced the three center teeth with screws, with a gap of chain in between them. This leaves at least 2 screws engaged on a full peddle.

They didn't want to fit nicely as one of my screws was off, but I evenly tightened down on both sides and the chain slipped into place around the new teeth. I tried to tune the fins to be aligned but its not perfect.

I also had an issue with my idler cable being too stretched out. So I added an over sized nut as a washer so I had enough thread to tighten everything down. I am also using my non-turbo fins for now as I am worried about the force on those gears.

Just trying to get some key words in here so maybe some1 in the future can search for this as a DIY guide to trying to fix these Hobie peddle drives redneck engineering style.

Will test it out this weekend and report back, would appreciate any thoughts or additions to mirage drive repairs!

more pix

I absolutely loathe seeing these posts about the 180s. I picked up a 2020 OB with one and it only been out 4-5 times and had broken roller bearings in same spot. I ended up making my own to replace instead of pulling warranty on it. I still haven't taken that drive out, I just use my V2 GT and that thing is solid. Gimme a bit and I can dig up a link for rod stock for the bearings.

I have also had issues with the 180 drive. I bought a piece of 1/4 inch Delrin and cut my own bearings. The scoring on the spine eventually ruined those and I sent the drive in to Hobie for a new spine and bearings a couple of months ago. It came back way too tight on the drive cables so I backed the nuts off a bit so I could flex the cables and it has worked well since. There was a post on the Hobie Forums about the overtightning of those cables.

I went through similar issues with the 180 for a couple years before I went back to the GT drive…too many weak points in that spine/sprocket area.

Speaking of stripped gears, it still befuddles me why Hobie uses plastic for the part that gets the most stress.

Like you, I took an old sprocket and inserted cut stainless steel screws as teeth…haven’t used it yet (mainly as a backup) but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I might just purchase an older drive for longevity. I talked some1 down to the price of a new spine, so if my warranty fails that will be my first option. A backup might be nice as well.

I have also had issues with the 180 drive. I bought a piece of 1/4 inch Delrin and cut my own bearings.

I have 2 GT drives, no 180, but you might want to try nylon bearings instead of delrin. Nylon is indestructible and it is considered self-lubricating, so no need to add grit-trapping grease. On my GT drives, nylon bearings without lube are quiet, while delrin bearing with gobs of grease constantly squeak.

The only issue with nylon is that it expands ever-so slightly (about 2%, or so I've read) when it gets wet. So, if it is a very tight fit for the delrin bearings, use 1 less when you switch to nylon.

Oy. Took me a minute ha.
Here's what I used to make new bearings.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FN15II/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_fabc_HG041ZDDB2A35V46EKMH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

OK so tried it on the water today.

PVC Bushings worked great! So did my stainless steel teeth!

The only issue I had was at some point my stretched out Idler cable snapped, but I didn't even notice as I was trying to have good form in my kicks today.

Limit of crab, ocean was too rough to give rockfishing an honest effort but still stoked!

(using some rope as an idler cable for now as shown in a previous thread http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=93308.0, but will get a new one this week)

Sorry to hear about your drive. I have a 180 too. I do an annual tear down and rebuild each winter and so far no issues other than the known rust issues in the cables that creep up after a couple of years. Just replaced the idler cable this year after 4 seasons and I always carry a spare chain.

For putting the roller bearings back in to place, using a high quality grease is essential. Can’t see how you could rebuild the drive any other way. I use Yamaha marine grease to coat the housings and “stick” the bearings to it. For the full rebuild, I follow this YouTube tutorial step by step:

OK so tried it on the water today.

PVC Bushings worked great! So did my stainless steel teeth!

The only issue I had was at some point my stretched out Idler cable snapped, but I didn't even notice as I was trying to have good form in my kicks today.

Limit of crab, ocean was too rough to give rockfishing an honest effort but still stoked!

(using some rope as an idler cable for now as shown in a previous thread http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=93308.0, but will get a new one this week)

Rope didn't work very well for me, but bungee cord works great in place of the idler cable. I've been using bungee cord all year, with no significant problem. On rare occasion, it pops off the pulley, but it's easy to slide it back into place.

Rope didn't work very well for me, but bungee cord works great in place of the idler cable. I've been using bungee cord all year, with no significant problem. On rare occasion, it pops off the pulley, but it's easy to slide it back into place.

Thats a good idea, as long as the bungee is stretched enough that it will pull the other side. I just ordered a new idler for now.

For putting the roller bearings back in to place, using a high quality grease is essential. Can’t see how you could rebuild the drive any other way. I use Yamaha marine grease to coat the housings and “stick” the bearings to it. For the full rebuild, I follow this YouTube tutorial step by step:

thanks for the link, Def need the grease to stay in there, I just grabbed some plumbers grease for faucets and its leaking out now but it worked to keep those damn rollers in place. If they continue to fail I will switch them all out to greased bushings.

For putting the roller bearings back in to place, using a high quality grease is essential. Can’t see how you could rebuild the drive any other way.

I don't know about the 180, but on the GT I don't use any grease and never had much trouble getting it assembled.

I just put my 180 drive back together using the Goss rear part with ceramic bearing that Poopsmith recommended. Turns out I could have replaced that without dealing with the middle of the spine and getting those little bearings back in place. Total PITA -especially the long bearings on the pedal to shaft connection. But I got them in with no special insert tool and no sand-attracting grease. But it took awhile.