Mirage drive woes--help please

I tried out a friend's Revolution, which has a GT drive, and was amazed at how much less friction the drive had than my well-lubricated V2 drive.  If my V2 drive developed significant problems, I'd upgrade to at least a GT drive, rather than replacing a bunch of parts on my V2 drive.  You might be able to find a used GT drive sitting in the garage of somebody who upgraded to the current drive.
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Thanks but too late. I ordered the parts to replace sprokets, masts, hubs, Idler pulley, chains/cables, and all shafts. Unless I'm missing something, this will essentially be the same as a GT drive. It'll just have the spine, pedals from the V2--which all seem to be in fine shape.

Should be here in a few days. Supposed to rain all week. Maybe I can sling some buzz bombs from the bank between showers...

A quick look and I see that the V2 sprockets seem to be discontinued/out of stock everywhere, and the GT is where it's at.  Yoy may want to consider just purchasing the bits to upgrade to the GT drive?

Guess that's what I'll do. Doesn't make a lot of sense to not replace the two shafts (sprocket and idler) for the fairly low cost. Maybe the hub shaft too. They all have some scoring and wear. Probably gonna be close to $400

Oh well, I'm sure I'll catch a lot more fish now

I tried out a friend's Revolution, which has a GT drive, and was amazed at how much less friction the drive had than my well-lubricated V2 drive.  If my V2 drive developed significant problems, I'd upgrade to at least a GT drive, rather than replacing a bunch of parts on my V2 drive.  You might be able to find a used GT drive sitting in the garage of somebody who upgraded to the current drive.
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The GT parts are essentially the same as the V2 except they have the Delrin needle bearings and the color gray.  So, if your V2 has worn parts, it makes more sense to just upgrade your existing V2 to GT parts as needed (not necessarily all at once). 

FWIW, BlueWRX02 and I swapped everything over on Lingbangers V2 drive in about 30 minutes while it was getting dark on us. 

So...One last Question. If someone reads this before I dive in this evening (waiting on the FedEx man now).

I ordered a drum shaft and can't find examples of how people remove the old one. I tapped on it a little bit but it didn't move. Lacking a press, I'm planning on supporting the back side of it with a socket and giving it a little bit more of a hit. Am I asking for trouble? They're just a press fit, right? Maybe I can get the vise open that far...Hoping the spine will remain in good enough shape to insert the new one. I know the shaft has splines. I might use a little loc-tite just in case there's a little slop from removing the old one.

Doesn't seem like this is a common replacement item. It's worn though, and I wanted to try to repair it as well as possible while i'm into it...

Thanks.

I'll maybe post some pics as I go so as to maybe help out others in the future.

When I did mine I used a large set of channel locks opened up enough to put one jaw on the metal shaft and the other on the spine on the other side.  I wrapped the jaws with towels and gently squeezed till it pushed through.  It took some force but I was able to do it with some effort and a little cursing.  Install the new one the same way.
Also, make sure you get the new one in evenly.  I just measured from the spine to the end of the shaft on both sides and made sure they measured out evenly.

Good luck and post back if you have any other questions.

Interested to see how it works out. I upgraded everything on my old drive except for the chains, and it didnt turn out as smooth as i was hoping. Maybe I did something wrong. There is just a lot of resistance compared to an actual gt drive. I also had to trim a couple spots that were rubbing. Another thing that didnt seem right, is the end of the bearings were exposed and seemed like they would end up just filling with sand and debris. Probably just going to buy a new drive. Let me know if anyone wants an older drive with mostly new parts that might just need a little tinkering.

Update: Going slow taking my time.

•Since I got new hubs, I used one of the old hubs (pointy side up and resting flat portion on edge of bench) to back the spine (shaft backwards in the hole-hard to describe) and hammer the hub shaft out. It worked fine. Same with putting the new one in. I'm within a 32nd or 64th or so of even and didn't want to bang on it anymore--it is tight.

•Idler pully and shaft install-no problems. Though I understand there may be some clearance issues with the hubs that might need to be addressed when I get to that point.

•Front sprocket is fine and super smooth. Rear sprocket was rubbing a bit on the spine. I trimmed the underside of the spine a bit with utility knife to give it a little room and it's better thought there's still a little "catch" in the operation of it. It's not as smooth as the front sprocket. I've had it in and out a few times testing the clearance but I guess I'll take it out again and clean it all out/inspect the bearings and see if I can figure out what it might be. If it continues, I'll maybe switch sprocket positions and see if it happens on the front. After that...I don't know. Maybe run it for a while and see if it smooths out on it's own?

That's all for now. Really hope I can get this operating satisfactorily. This is a last ditch for this older revo. I'm not ready to spend the bucks for a new Outback just yet.

I think I may have found the problem with that one sprocket though neither of them are "perfect", the one with the deep groove is, I think, unacceptable.

I believe the bearings are catching in the groove as they rotate around the shaft and sprocket. The groove appears to be where the seam is for the mold. The bearings seem to pinch against each other or jam-up causing the sprocket to catch. I'll post a couple of pictures below. I know these are not high precision parts but damn. Don't know if I should try to contact Hobie directly or go through the retailer I got it from? Pretty unlikely that they'd be willing to overnight new parts to me. I might try anyway. If they say they'll replace without a return, then I might try to patch this one up with some JB weld and a little sandpaper. What would you do?

I'm disappointed-to say the least. This was almost $400 in parts.

Here's a couple of pics:

Dealer is sending a new sprocket by priority USPS...so probably 3 more days

Don't know yet if I need to return this one-doubt it.

Maybe next year...

Dammit! More problems!

The masts that came with the sprocket/mast set have threads that aren't cut completely. It looks like they took one pass on the lathe or something and then forgot to follow through.
They won't even go into the hole (as you might expect).

I've contacted the dealer and will likely be getting yet another shipment...and a delay.

Frustrating...Was going to go and get a die to cut them the rest of the way but, damn, I paid pretty dearly for those masts!
I might do it anyway just to have the extra parts on hand...

It seemed like it would be such a simple thing to do...

If my V2 drive developed significant problems, I'd upgrade to at least a GT drive, rather than replacing a bunch of parts on my V2 drive.  You might be able to find a used GT drive sitting in the garage of somebody who upgraded to the current drive.

Dammit! More problems!

The masts that came with the sprocket/mast set have threads that aren't cut completely. It looks like they took one pass on the lathe or something and then forgot to follow through.
They won't even go into the hole (as you might expect).

I've contacted the dealer and will likely be getting yet another shipment...and a delay.

Frustrating...Was going to go and get a die to cut them the rest of the way but, damn, I paid pretty dearly for those masts!
I might do it anyway just to have the extra parts on hand...

It seemed like it would be such a simple thing to do...

If you were closer I have a tap & die set we could cut that in minutes.

I may actually be wrong about the threads. I pulled the masts out of the old sprockets and they look similar (square-cut threads, or something similar--shallow/sloppy?). They might just need a little deburring with a fine file or something...My unfamiliarity with these parts is apparent, I guess. I would hate to ruin the new sprockets though. I know one of the new sprockets is not currently useable so it might become the guinea pig.

Sorry for all the posts about this. Hopefully those who want to ignore it will do so. Maybe this info will help others in the future though...

The threads are cut correctly.....shallow just like you received is how Hobie has always made them.