MD180 drive squeak

My drive developed a slight squeak while pedaling 2 weeks ago. Last week it got considerably worse. What to do?

2017 Hobie Outback.

Lubrication.

Use the Hobie Lube or a light silicone spray up into the sprocket areas to get into the bearings. Alos at the drums and idler bearings.

roadrunner did a nice piece on drive maintenance awhile ago:

MirageDrive FAQ: https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=60

Lubrication # 1 of 3: https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=12577

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Thanks, Matt.

I'll give it a go tonight.

Hate to tell you this Trojan but lubing it up is not going to work. You are going to have to tear it down and re-grease it. Same thing happened to mine and dowsing it with lube did nothing to resolve it. My problem was that I had been beaching it with drive in and fins up and ended up getting grit and sandy mud inside where bearings are and no amount of lube will fix that. You have to take it down clean it good and then grease it up again. Smooth as silk now and you can bet I pull drive and paddle in now. The longer you wait to grease and clean it the more wear and tear it will do to the plastic bearings. The bearing sufaces on mine were fairly rough from grit and I had to sand them smooth again before greasing. Sucks because it is a brand new 2018 Outback and I had only used it maybe 5 times. My guess is that you have same problem I had.

MD180 Drive? I'm not aware of a way to disassemble the 180 easily for lubrication due to the attached line systems running through it.

To clean a gritty drive we usually recommend cycling the drive in clean water to flush it out.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

I tried flushing with water matt but by that time all the grease had been flushed out as well and it was still FILTHY and gritty inside. There is a youtube video that explains the procedure pretty well and it is actually pretty easy just a little time consuming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XCgb8Sjbi0

As Matt says, for a squeak, a little light oil (I like Breakfree) or silicone spray should do the job. I like to hit anything that rotates plus chains. Squeaks are pretty common and have nothing to do with sand. If you're putting sand in your drive, of course that's a different matter. You'll be able to feel the grit right away.!

As for the video, the author did a nice job of demonstrating the rebuild. My only criticism is that he likes his grease too much. The bearings should be greased with marine axle grease after about 700 to 1000 miles, but everything else should have a light oil applied every 3rd or 4th use -- no disassembly required. Notice his gunky chain for example. Light oil does not muck up a chain like that -- the chain should stay clean so the crud does not grind up the sprockets. Pedal adjusters need no lube. IMO, no exposed surfaces should have grease (messy and a debris magnet).

I got the Hobie lube and sprayed it in the small gap between the chain and the tip of the blue arrow in my photo. It did nothing. I wake up the next day and rotated the pedals by hand and the squeak is gone. Letting it sit overnight made a difference.

Thanks so much for the youtube video. Haven't watched it yet, but I have a feeling i'm going to need it sooner than later.

Glad you stopped the squeak but I can almost guarantee you it will be back again after you use it in the water. If it does than you know what the problem is.

jeffreydc - You were wrong. I didn't have to wait until I used it in the water again. Just got home from work and its squealing like a pig again.

I guess its time to watch that video and learn how to do surgery on my 1.5 year old MD180 drive.

My previous photo pointed to the wrong end. Here is where the squeak is coming from:

I figured that. I picked up some Lucas Marine Grease at Lowes and used that. It is very highly rated and I packed that bad boy full. Contrary to what others have suggested it is IMPOSSIBLE to flush out sand and grit from the bearings due to the seals on each side. Once you take it apart you will probably be shocked at how much crap gets forced in there. Good luck to you and let us know how it works out. Mine is smooth as silk again so hopefully yours will be too.

I'm in deep.

I've got almost the whole drive torn down. I didn't remove the idler pulley or fins, but everything else.

Found my problem. Right where the squeak is coming from there are 15 plastic roller bearings. Several of mine are squared off.





The only sand I found was under the sproket covers (24:35 in the youtube video) and it wasn't too dirty anywhere else. There was almost no grease present.

Matt- Can I purchase new bearings? I'm dead out of the water now and my wife is pissed that I've got this thing spread out all over the garage.

Oh it can be done - I've done it (for a customer who beached it and got sand stuck in the sprockets) and it took me a couple of hours to do. It was fiddely, but doable. Not something I'm keen to do again so I always emphasize to customers how important it is to not beach the drive

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Kayak Fishing Specialist: SLH
https://slhobie.com.au

We don't have the bearings as spare parts. The assumption has been that it is not something we would recommend taking apart, so have not yet stocked any. This is coming to us as an assembly from offshore, so no quick way to get these.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Great video of the guys doing the breakdown and reassembly. I'm not a pro and maybe Hobie can chime in, but I personally wouldn't use anything but silicone grease on plastic bearings (like Super Lube). No idea what's in that green stuff the guy in the vid is using.

Maybe Matt can let us know the size and plastic type of the bearings in case someone wants to DIY replacements for flat spotted parts.