tonybell wrote:
I'm sorry but I'm beginning to think these Mirage drives are Crap & not worth the money & leave you in a dangerous position when they go wrong. I tighten the screws as tight as allowed, but there's a limit. it's even forcing the barrel out of shape. What am I supposed to do?
Tony, you did the right thing by bringing this up on the forum. Keep in mind this old system was replaced over 5 years ago with the "V-2" units. As Matt suggested, the best way to extend the useful life (and reliability) on these older style sprockets is to use a good marine grade epoxy on both the sprocket mast holes and screws.
These things don't happen suddenly; you can almost always prevent problems with regular inspections. Now that you know what to look for, the mast-sprocket interface should examined every outing to be tight and wobble-free. Any sign of looseness means failure is pending.
Together with proper installation, the epoxy solution will fix your problem without having to purchase the newer sprockets/masts. Here are a couple of links that show more detail:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=44147&p=186164#p186164viewtopic.php?f=11&t=33741&p=135853#p135853The only updates to these links is
1. Epoxy the screw (as mentioned above) instead of Loctite
2. If you have the mast style (there were a few) shown in the second link, file off the bridge between flat spots. This will insure that the screw doesn't hang up on the bridge, preventing a full seat.