Super Jet Bendix boom and TBM flywheel carnage

Location
Oregon
so Ive been chasing this electrical gremlin down since my last surf ride, i had a sporadic spark and the ski ran like Pooh.
I thought it was the in line fuse inside the e box as the wires where corroded and frayed, fixed that and thought it was ready to roll as it ran good on the trailer. its possible that both issues happened at the same time but, idk.
i thought i had good spark went out to ride some surf and it ran very bad started looking around couldn't find anything that gave me the spark so i thought i spun the flywheel. pulled the cover at the beach to find shavings in there put it back together and headed home. i still thought i spun the wheel until i took the cover back off to pull the flywheel and found the Bendix was still engaged to the flywheel.

you think i can still use the wheel? i figured i can have it checked for balance and go from there, any thoughts?
who makes the best bendix...... OEM?
how do i keep this from happening again? I had the bendix out and greased it about 6 months ago looked fine then.
any signs i can look for to prevent this from happening again?
 

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a good used oem bendix is better than a new aftermarket one...that sux dude...looks like you have an undesired lightened tbm wheel now...you can trust jetmaniac for good used/new parts.
 
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JetManiac

Stoked
Site Supporter
Vendor Account
Location
orlando
Wow, that sux!!!

I think your flywheel will be just fine, but that sux all the same. Did you have water intrusion?
 

Matt_E

steals hub caps from cars
Site Supporter
Location
at peace
The magnets on the TBM are epoxied behind that inner metal ring, so I think the flywheel will still work fine.
 

OCD Solutions

Original, Clean and Dependable Solutions
Location
Rentz, GA
Would you use the flywheel as is or would you put it on a lathe and clean it up a bit first? My only concern would be returning it to balance.
 

D-Roc

I forgot!
Would you use the flywheel as is or would you put it on a lathe and clean it up a bit first? My only concern would be returning it to balance.

X2!!! if it is out of balance kiss your seals and front bearing good by. if the seal leaks, oil will get in there and bung up your new bendix keeping it engaged and the problem starts all over. I tryed to re balance a flywheel that looked like that and it cut into the magnets almost right away. TL flywheels are better because they have no magnets to pickup debris and take out the stator.
 
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Location
Oregon
Wow, that sux!!!

I think your flywheel will be just fine, but that sux all the same. Did you have water intrusion?
yes it does, no water intrusion, i flat landed off a big wave and the motor died/stalled and started immediately after, by itself, I assume this is when it let go. i figured it was a spark issues and it was. the flywheel had all kinds of garbage messn with the magnets and covering the stator, not to mention the Bendix being engaged.
i only wish i would have taken the cover off sooner as the wear would not be as bad.
Ive looked for a new OEM Bendix and can't seem to find one any advise?
why is it all the Bendix's Ive found are A/M?

X2!!! if it is out of balance kiss your seals and front bearing good by. if the seal leaks, oil will get in there and bung up your new Bendix keeping it engaged and the problem starts all over. I tried to re balance a flywheel that looked like that and it cut into the magnets almost right away. TL flywheels are better because they have no magnets to pickup debris and take out the stator.
totaly...if you check my post it says I'm going to check it for balance and go from there. any ideas on where to take it for balance?
 
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Location
Oregon
I'm going to contact an old buddy of mine that builds race car motors I'm sure he has a way to check the trueness of the wheel.
hopefully its salvageable.
if not i guess ill have to find another one.
 

D-Roc

I forgot!
what is the hub made out of? Is it one piece wheel? I had my issues on a RAD purple 61x flywheel. The inside looked exactly like that and i decided to run it. that was when all my problems started. i had the bendix stuck on, seal leaking, bearing wear out etc. all could be connected to each other by a bad flywheel. i was building a machine base in a machine shop at the time and i brought it to work with me for them to look at it. he could not balance it but he could spin it and make it true to the hub and check it that way. my flywheel was not true at all. when he made a cut, it went into the magnets on part of it and was still cleaning up the damaged surface on another side. They have very precise machines and i assume they know what they are doing with measuring and truing. he brought it back to me and said he did not know what has happend to this flywheel that made it like it is but he said that it was junk. yours could still be fine and is just messed up a bit, but mine just looked a bit messed up too so i tryed it. If it is bad you will loose your seal and that can get your bendix stuck on and then grenade or let some parts fling out and get sucked into the inside of the wheel etc, etc. some sort of balance check and if it is still true would be ideal. if you have a crappy old motor then maybe try it. It is and expensive part and if it is now a defect, it can take out even more expensive parts in a short amout of ride time. in your pics it shows some black grime....and lots of metal, if you had no water intrusion, where did the grime come from, some may be from your bendix that you greased and spun at 7000-8000 rpm and some may be from a seal leaking a bit. I think you at least found your spark issue, lol. keep us posted.
 

Watty

Random Performance
Location
Australia
I've seen and heard of a lot of TBM flywheels that have done this. For some reason, the bendix always lets go and destroys everything else. It's more common than you think.
 
Location
Oregon
the crank seals have about 20-30 gallons of fuel on them. the motor is defiantly not "cheep/old" there was no grime just a fine coating of aluminum all over everything,
i only put grease on the bushings, cleaned the bendix and added a few dabs of grease on the bendix so there shouldnt have been much grease that spun off.
here are some pics after i cleaned it up. i used mass air flow sensor cleaner, it worked well.
ill let you know how the balance goes. ill also contact Tim B to see what he thinks.
 

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D-Roc

I forgot!
nice, that cleaned up well. i was able to keep my stator too. i hate bendix's. i have taken them apart and know whats in them and cleaned them etc etc. they just suck. any moisture from a leaky cover is bad for them and all they need to do is not engage or stay engaged and they f-you big time. haha. hope your tbm is still good, i poured my old flywheel into the concrete machine base so no one would ever use it again.
 
Location
Oregon
nice, that cleaned up well. i was able to keep my stator too. i hate bendix's. i have taken them apart and know whats in them and cleaned them etc etc. they just suck. any moisture from a leaky cover is bad for them and all they need to do is not engage or stay engaged and they f-you big time. haha. hope your tbm is still good, i poured my old flywheel into the concrete machine base so no one would ever use it again.
hah...that thing must have givven you a hard time.
I think mine was just old,the ski is a 96 after all. i bought the ski second hand a few years back and it was pretty clapped out. ive kept an eye on the bendix periodicly removing and inspecting it. last time i was in there was after i hit a big boat wake and blew a crank seal. so when i was in ther i made it a point to look the bendix over as i know they go out and i knew if it did my flywheel would most likely suffer. apperantly there really isnt any way to tell if it is ready to go.
well, it happends.
all thats left to do now is fix it and go see if i can break it agian:splatt:
its all part of the deal.

quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by Matt_E
The magnets on the TBM are epoxied behind that inner metal ring, so I think the flywheel will still work fine.
+1



clean it up and run that :):):):)er!


will see im leaning towards that, ill do a little diggn around and detailed inspection, mostly so i can have piece of mind.

ive spun an aluminum flywheel back in the day on my 550 all i did was use valve lapping compound to re seat the wheel on the crank and moved the stator closer to the cases, for clearance and it lasted. this is a little differant as the weight lost is further out from the center line, but im trying to stay positive.
 
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shawn_NJ

Chasing waves.
Location
Daytona Beach
I had a 2month old SBT bendix that had no moisture exposure blow up and destory a 2month old $500 OEM stator and fw.. I will NEVER run a non new OEM bendix ever again.
 
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