Rzx2 driveshaft damage

[jarrod]

So was pulling a tube yesterday on the lake, normal easy day......hear a noise, shut it down. Start the motor, won’t engage. Check and prop is missing. This part of the lake is 50ft deep by the dam, no debree or stumps (in channel)......can you guys tell if this is broken or is there some couples that connects.....needless to say had to be towed.....have 71hrs if no issues to date on boat

[BrentP]

Yah dude. There is supposed to be a threaded end on there for a bolt. That’s new to me... that’s a lot of steel to sheer off like that.


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[jarrod]

I knew there was more shaft, the groove in the pic was what was throwing me off.....4th v-drive and never had a driveshaft issue. Shaft seems straight, it’s not rough at the end.......odd

[bsreid]

It’s odd for a tige but very common for a Nautique. Having the larger engine and towing a tube might have put some torque on the shaft but nothing that should brake it. I would be calling the dealer and having this replaced under warranty.

My question is why are you on your 4th v drive? Maybe there is something that is causing both of these.

[jarrod]

Meant 4th v drive boat

[BrentP]

Did you have some kind of major torque prop back there? Or was it the stock prop?

[jarrod]

Stock prop

[bsreid]

I know the supplier for Nautique and their drive shaft failure problem quoted it was just due to a bad batch. My guess if this is something similar.

[jarrod]

I mean maybe a bad batch, but mine’s a 2017......takes this long to fail?

[UNSTUCK]

If its a 2017 it could have the 1 1/8" shaft or does it have the 1 1/4" shaft? Whats the noise you heard just before you shut it down? Could you have hit something in the water?

[Bamer]

If he hit something hard enough to shear off the shaft, the strut would be bent too


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[jarrod]

No chance i hit anything.....where i was it is 40+ft and clear....by the dam. As far as the noise /feeling, i know now it was the shaft breaking loose with prop leaving the boat under throttle. I’m not sure the diameter of the shaft as i have it in storage waiting for the dealer to open tomorrow......shaft is straight as an arrow.....must be a weak point of some kind. Boat has been perfect otherwise.

[UNSTUCK]

It's an interesting brake for sure. I didn't think it hit anything. From the picture there doesn't appear to be any twist in the shaft. The key way still looks very straight. Maybe just the perfect combination of events. Hard pull on the tube. It hitting a wave, the boat hitting a wave.

Seems I recall Jason saying he broke a couple shafts while doing some testing, which I believe helped lead to the 1.25" shaft. I think he was running the 575 motor. Is that what you have?

[talltigeguy]

It’s odd for a tige but very common for a Nautique. Having the larger engine and towing a tube might have put some torque on the shaft but nothing that should brake it. I would be calling the dealer and having this replaced under warranty.

My question is why are you on your 4th v drive? Maybe there is something that is causing both of these.

I think this is my first sighting of a Non-Nautique shaft breakage. Nautique had a 'bad batch' of shafts that continued from 2013-2018. All of those years are affected. They kept blaming it on a bad batch of shafts, but seem to have finally figured it out. There have not been any Nautique breaks recently, but there have literally been hundreds of G23's towed back to the dock for just this.

[MikeB313]

First I've seen of a driveshaft shearing off like that. What motor do you have?