Hobie 180 Drive - Sprocket Teeth

Took my drive apart for some cleaning and found 5 sprocket teeth missing.






This has been an issue for me for a long time now, and this drive is now out from under warranty. Unlike the older V2 drives, with the 180 if you shear off teeth like this you cannot replace the sprocket for 20$, you have to REPLACE THE ENTIRE SPLINE which is 305$.

After doing this a bunch of times I have a good idea of what's causing it. The teeth always shear off in the same locations, on the ends. This is when the pedals are near the end of their strokes and the fewest teeth are in contact with the chain and have to bear all the force. I tend to use almost full range of the drive and put a lot of force all throughout the stroke fighing heavy current and traveling long distances. I'll be retiring this drive for guest use and moving on to a warrantied drive and my main, and will be using more shorter strokes centered mid-range of the drive. I can't see how Hobies engineers don't know about this.

This drive stats:
2.5 years
Over 600 miles
Five different splines (4 from sheared teeth, 1 I destroyed the internals)
Broke off a pedel at the shaft
Broke the idler cable twice

Yeah the new drive is not as durable. My old V2 never had an issue. My new MD180 has sheared off teeth at the very end like you described and showed. The cost of the replacement is extremely high! I would love to find a usable solution.

Yeah the new drive is not as durable. My old V2 never had an issue. My new MD180 has sheared off teeth at the very end like you described and showed. The cost of the replacement is extremely high! I would love to find a usable solution.

I'm willing to bet a lot of other people have done it as well, they just don't look at their drives or maintain them regularly.

Seeing this makes me want to hang onto my V2 drives for as long as possible. I've sheared a few sprocket teeth on one of them, broken a couple masts, idler cable a few times, but that's over a five year span of use (two years of which were primarily in lakes).

How many teeth are there supposed to be on each sprocket on the 2017 MD180 drive?  I know I've sheared at least one tooth on one side. 

How many teeth are there supposed to be on each sprocket on the 2017 MD180 drive?  I know I've sheared at least one tooth on one side.

I couldn't tell you how many teeth there are, but reducing the range of the strokes stopped the teeth from shearing... After taking a hard look at the drive, whenever the peddles are at the maximums of their ranges the least amount of teeth are taking the force. So if you're putting a lot of force on the peddles when theyre at the end of their ranges you're likely to start shearing teeth off - starting on the ends then working it's way toward the middle at faster rates as less teeth take more force.

.... you have to REPLACE THE ENTIRE SPLINE which is 305$.

Five different splines (4 from sheared teeth, 1 I destroyed the internals)

So in less than 3 years you've spent over $1500 on just drive repairs? Crazy. Not that you're crazy, that's just crazy statistics wise.
In the 5 years I owned my Hobie with V2 Drive I didn't have to do anything more than general maintenance, bending a few masts back into shape after ramming stumps, and replace a broken fin.

.... you have to REPLACE THE ENTIRE SPLINE which is 305$.

Five different splines (4 from sheared teeth, 1 I destroyed the internals)

So in less than 3 years you've spent over $1500 on just drive repairs? Crazy. Not that you're crazy, that's just crazy statistics wise.
In the 5 years I owned my Hobie with V2 Drive I didn't have to do anything more than general maintenance, bending a few masts back into shape after ramming stumps, and replace a broken fin.

I will not sit in a Hobie without the warranty. Every issue I've ever had has been covered under their warranty so I never paid for replacments. I run the kayaks extremely hard in difficult conditions where I rarely see other people in kayaks. I'm out there to destroy not have a leisure day on the water.

workhard continually breaks drives at a significantly higher rate then everyone.  Must be those crazy conditions!

Just joking around  When you bang the drive until it hits its maximum range it can break the teeth.  Try increasing the number on your drive so the pedals sit farther away.  Do so until your stroke doesn't hit the max length.  This will reduce the breaking of teeth for the future.  You can still get the maximum stroke without it hitting the end of the gears.

Thanks.  I'll do that and adjust the stroke.

Looking at it a bit closer yesterday, I believe there are 9 teeth on each so I have only sheared 1 tooth off of one side and I did that over a year ago.
Now my problem is that I can't get the chains adjusted properly.  Whatever I do, the rear chain is too loose, even when tightened down as far as it will go.  I even swapped the front & rear chains and the rear chain is still too long.  Bizarre.  I'm now going to get some stainless steel washers to act as spacers. 

workhard continually breaks drives at a significantly higher rate then everyone.  Must be those crazy conditions!

Just joking around  When you bang the drive until it hits its maximum range it can break the teeth.  Try increasing the number on your drive so the pedals sit farther away.  Do so until your stroke doesn't hit the max length.  This will reduce the breaking of teeth for the future.  You can still get the maximum stroke without it hitting the end of the gears.

I was putting hundreds of miles in every summer often fighting current approaching 3knts for long periods of time.The drives just aren't made to be cranked the living shit of like that, otherwise the pullies and sprockets wouldn't be made out of plastic.

Not trying to argue. However, lots of people take their hobies out in rough conditions and fish regularly. I dont think it’s the conditions but possibly the user. I like to think that I fish consistently (3-5 days a week when the season is in swing) and fish varying conditions depending on the species. I have only broke a reverse cable on 180 and a idle cable on previous models(6 years of use). In rough conditions, if proper technique is heard then they should last a long time with minor issues.

No one I know has had as many issues as workhard has claimed. Either he is a physical specimen unlike anyone ever to fish from a hobie or he is extending his stroke too far and sheering the teeth.

Not trying to argue. However, lots of people take their hobies out in rough conditions and fish regularly. I dont think it’s the conditions but possibly the user. I like to think that I fish consistently (3-5 days a week when the season is in swing) and fish varying conditions depending on the species. I have only broke a reverse cable on 180 and a idle cable on previous models(6 years of use). In rough conditions, if proper technique is heard then they should last a long time with minor issues.

No one I know has had as many issues as workhard has claimed. Either he is a physical specimen unlike anyone ever to fish from a hobie or he is extending his stroke too far and sheering the teeth.

Come up and fish with me.

Let’s make it happen! Would love to learn new areas and pick your brain about truffles as we

he is a physical specimen unlike anyone ever to fish from a hobie 

Do you even squat bro?

I concur that the V2 drive with the GTT add-on was the pinnacle for Hobie engineering from a reliability perspective.