Mirage drive axle grub nut housing cracked

My axle shifted forward today whilst out at sea, not a problem once I found the problem, whilst a float I gently tapped the axle back into place to with a fishing weight, whilst up to my neck in water [didn't want to beach land with mirage drive in place] anyway no probs I thought all I will do is tighten it up when at home.

Whilst tightening, I notice the grub nut casing is cracked, anyone else had a similar problem? I've been on the phone to the dealer who sold me the AI, and I've got to send some pics over [the dealer is 150 miles away] I'll keep you informed, my Mirage drive has been babied from new, and has never been roughly treated or beach landed with MD in place, iv'e got to say it looks like a pretty weak area, it looks to me like the entire MD will have to be replaced as its part of the moulding...

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Every day is an Adventure Island day

Certainly you can crack the plastic around the set screw by over tensioning it. Proper use does not require any tension, simply seat the screw into the indent in the shaft. Perhaps the shaft was not properly aligned... pretty hard to do in the water I'd imagine.

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

Thanks Matt, I have looked at the MD again today and the axle was aligned correctly, by sheer luck! as you say to align the axle in the water is impossible, BUT its not that easy in the workshop either from the looks of things, bearing in mind the MD needs to be completely assembled then axle inserted [ i'm sure you understand what I mean] there are no gaps anywhere to put a pair of pliers to turn the axle in-situ, so the only option is to keep guessing the line up, then tap axle back, you could end up doing this several times before you manage to get it correctly lined up, and only then if you have a magnifying glass to look into the hole , wouldn't it be a good idea to have a small nut on one end of the axle so it could be rotated,eliminating the guess work? also with a nut on one end the axle could only slip out one way.

Cheers Roller

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Every day is an Adventure Island day

When I had to replace the spline, I marked the end of the axle with a pencil to know what was the proper way and turned it strait, just before tapping it flush.

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006

No spline on this axle Reconlon, maybe I'm using the wrong word, maybe its a large pin that the flippers rotate on............

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Every day is an Adventure Island day

The largest flat body plastic part that most of the rest of the Mirage drive attach to is the spine (#81181001)

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006