Repitch It Yourself....

[Ron Hill]

Step one:

Measure your prop.

blade one: 9 1/8 to 9 5/6
blade two: 8 1/2 tp 10
blade three: 9 to 9 3/4

I've seen worse... You could smear it with lipstick and test it or....(You want more speed)...you could re pitch it..

Here's the prop....

[Ron Hill]

Put prop in vise.... with the blade you wish to repitch sticking up.

Grab a cresent wrench....

[Ron Hill]

You can bend thme cold...just go easy...I just added 1 1/2 iches here...

It is for this reason, I'm not real "HOT" for the Universal J Prop Concept...props could be repitched in trailers...lead ing edge is accelleration, trailing it top end...in theory...

Can you see the pitch gauge??? Looks like 9 1/4 in the picture, but she ain't 8 1/2 anymore...the gauge slipped when I took the picture...

Give you guys some food for thought here!!1

[racecar100]

Ron:
Where I can buy one of those ptich gauge that is shown in your picture? Thank you Richard

[Ron Hill]

Those are for left hand, small diameter only. I've been selling them for $150.

I'll get some larger ones in the spring...figure about $500 for those, though...

Ron

ADD: To David

The cresent wrench has replaced the hammer and the trailer hitch ball...

[Seagull 170]

Ron is the Cresent method of repitching safe for props made in Aluminium, S'steel & Bronze?
Do any of the above materials need annealing?
Can you give us a list of idiot proof do's & don'ts, just so I don't wreck my pride & joy.

Charles

[Ron Hill]

I've ruined more props in my life than I'd like to admit to...but, with that said, I've made some fast mothers, just by looking at them an "beating the fire" out of them..

Some alumium can be bent with your fingers, other, (Die Cast) will usually break a chunk out of them when bent...

"Hunt and peck"...is the answer...you can always weld stuf back...cut a piece of brass to the shape of the blade, and "Puddle" on the weld...it won't stick to the brass (Aluminum and stainless weld won't stick to brass)...

Most aluminum props can't be cupped too much...more cup, more speed...I use to thin aluminum for Powerboat Magazine tests, when guys used aluminum props...then, they'd paint them black...never admitting I'd repitched them...

The important thing to keep in mind it where you started (Pitch wise) and where you end up...John Castelli would measure his props and have me beat on them...then, He'd ssay, I want another quarter inch here...With him measuring and me beating, we build some fast stuff...(But we didn't repitch in inches, it was 1/8's and 1/4's....)...And we'd being "TUNING" two or three at the same time...

[Dago Fast]

What method do you use to thin the blades on stainless props?

Jim

[Ron Hill]

Those little one inch sander grinders are a good place to start. 5" Orbital air sanders work well. I use 118 inch belt, with a six horsepower motor, but for small stuff that is way "over kill".

Just smoothing the backs of the blades and sharpening helps performance a lot...especially after repitching leaves some humps...

I balance the old fashion way. The heavy blade get sanded on...worked for my dad...works for me...my son does the same!!!

[kws]

I really have to respect a man who is willing to share his knowledge to everyone not just his protege :) :)

[QUINAULTRACING]

love to read the stuff about working on props. growing up we beat them with rocks on rocks :)

[QUINAULTRACING]

forgot pitch guage was in this thread. i'm about 60 and only been in this game a couple of years. one race(melt down) before the 1/2" rule. that winter i drove three hours right to the mans house. had to get one that will due left and right hand swing, because i never know witch way i,m turning, let alone the prop. no but really not knowing anything about props, buy using that guage i begain to see and feel the difference. each prop has a name or number and history. i got to know them like pets. i just bought one of your ?????? props, will need a couple more. what is the best way to buy what i think i need? thank you steve keep beating :D

[Ron Hill]

I'm here everyday or e-mail me a ronhill@espeakeasy.net
All my props are my pets. I'll see one that is thirty years old and I can tell you a story about it. Sometimes, I remember making it. Once you get the feeling that a prop is a gear, then, like you say, you can start "ADJUSTING IT".

When John Castelli and Stan Armstrong mosted to California, they were amazed how we masured things, and beat on them.

Castelli, would measure and I'd beat on his props. He had some of the fastest CSR and 25 SSR wheels in the country as a result...Good props have much in common, once you see (measure) the patterns.

Ar Willard Bay, Utah, Nationals 1973, Clark Maloof, Racer Allen, and Chuck McCabe were measuring props (Utah was high elevation)...I joined in. We measured some props...Seems I bought four from Racer and sold him and Clark two...but I got $300 cash to boot)...While we were measuring, I measured one prop and didn't say much, just put it to the side...

When we got to talking money, I mentioned I'd like to buy that one I'd put to the side...Clark looked at me, talked out of the side of his mouth, as only Clark could do, and said, "That is the prop I MOTORED BY YOU at Prineville...that prop is a pisser, I ain't selling it." I said, "Well, if you feel that way, keep it." (It just had a nice shape, nice area, and cool pitches (Two Blade Smith)...(Wide blade Michigan)..(Clark won DSH in Prineville, OR, I was second)...

At Lake Ming, Bill Jack Rucker Sr. and I were talking props and measuring stuff..Rucker has this narrow blade Smith Michigan that I measure, I just sort of mention as we measure, I might like to buy that narrow blade....Rucker, looks at me, and says, "I bet you would." Rucker bought a couple of wheels that day, but that prop never left his hand.

Funny, I'd had one like it, and I sold it to Rich Fuchlin at DePue. (It was more pitch than I could use at the time)...Rich ran it for a long time on his D Looper...

Harold Berghauer use to say, "You never sell a Smith Wheel, as it will work on something, someday." I on the other hand, would work a Smith Wheel to what I needed...then sell it.

Ioften wonder who bought the most Smith Wheels...I know I bought a lot and resold many...I was like a distributor for Smith Wheels...I'd bet Jerry Waldman bought the most...I'd bet Alden Thornton bought the most DeWalds, with Bowden second.

A good prop, is like cosmetics to women...I'm selling HOPE, HOPE they can win with that prop!!! That is why my new classes will have a claimer price on props...A Sportman can buy a winning wheel off another Sportsman's boat!!!

[QUINAULTRACING]

need to do this in outboards. i'v got props i know, but only two i sleep with. with this rule i could have a harem :D :D :D steve

[76BARRON]

Knowing that pitch,diameter,cuping are some of the major factors. How much of a factor does blade thickness play? Will blade thickness affect top end or accelleration or improve across the board?

[Ron Hill]

It is much like LIMBO, "HOW LOW DO YOU GO?"

When an outboard loses a blade, you change the prop for the next heat..when an inboard loses a blade, anything can happen, and usually does happen, all of which are bad...

Thin them keep and eye on them, thin them some more...

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Reading about all these props and measurements makes me wish I still had my prop box and a few props for the racing room. The lid of my prop box was painted like the Lone Star Flag. Harry Bartolomei got it with the rest of the stuff we sold him.

My Dad was the prop guy and he spent a lot of time studying and measuring props. He had a log where he would measure across the top, the middle and toward the hub and make notations of what he thought about them. He would have a big ol pot of gumbo simmering, him Jack Chance and me would be drinking beer, and he would be holding a prop in his hand like a jeweler looks at a diamond. He always knew which was the right one for the course, the motor and boat.

[Dago Fast]

Ron,

Can you tell us what to use to check the balance of the prop?

Dago Fast

[QUINAULTRACING]

more??? what do you lay your blade on while adjusting? steve :)

[Mark75H]

I bet he uses some thing like this:

http://www.rundquist.com/images/stuhr.jpg

[QUINAULTRACING]

after using rocks. i wouldn't even guess. looks like some kind of pipe bender (adjuster). steve thanks :)

[Dago Fast]

O.K., and how do you operate that aparatus?

[Ron Hill]

Heavy blades goes down...not rocket science...

My material of choice is brass with a little heat...but have used rocks, door handles, trailer hitch balls ain't bad... A five pound block of lead is really pretty cool and use a brass/copper hammer...(Bigger the better, but small tip (circle), if possible...

Much of the time, on one offs, just figuring out what pitch you want, and then figuring a way to bend it...

Wayne was saying how his dad measured props...Smith, Hopkins, Hill, DeWald...Brinkman, Titus. Sidor...Peters, Anderson...all their props got pitch....

Truth is, Bob Davidson was probly the best propeller man in the WORLD and he never sold a prop until they quit racing...Bob lived in San Bernardino, less than 2 1/2 hours from Parker...They'd load their stuff up, (Dick, Dale and Scott all raced.) and they'd load up Friday night, and a daylight Saturday they'd be testing....Saturday night they'd be home for dinner.....

When they sold their J Stuff to Irv Julian, his kid won everything and every prop they had was better than any prop in Region 7....

No one keeps track of things, but Dick may have the most competition record, next to Wartinger.....They weren't pretty props, and they did have Smith, Hill and Hopkins wheels....but they thinned, hammered, measured and hammered....If they ruined a "C" wheel, they made an "A" out of it, ruin an "A" they made a "J"...

When the Davidson's quit racing Boat racing lost a great family. dick davidson showed me more about my props than I knew...

Most guys thing they can work on motrs or boats but they think props are "BLACK MAGIC"...

I say they are gears...only connection between the water and the horespower is the prop....

Buck Parrish gave me one of his four best AU wheels in 1955. I had loaned Bobby Parrish my "A" block and Bob ran it at the 1955 Nationals at Devil's ake and got third, with two seconds...He let me test all FOUR LOUIS BAUMANN Kamics...I said they wer all great...Buck said, "Well which one do you want?" I said I'll take the one on my boat...as I really didn't know one from the other and even though he was giving me a great prop.....I had heard prop stories all my 11 years....I figured, I'd keep the one on the boat...

Buck...said, "OK..Thanks for loaning Bobby the block" ...which at that time, they had not returned.....I didn't get my block back until I beat them with my number two motor....

Anyway, what Buck did tell me, and I've watched this since with a keen eye...He said, "I notice that on take off the best props shoot a smaller stream of air out the back, the flow of water looks more like a JET"...He said he didn't know why...He just saw there was a difference....

Now, you got something else to thing about...

[QUINAULTRACING]

ok ron, thiner blades, RPMs come up faster. i know that is very short for thinking all weekend. steve :)

[smittythewelder]

I don't know about black magic, but here's something that always seemed odd to me. The Papa Smith props I've pitched-checked always had a wow in the leading edge; as you run the pitch checker across the blade, the pattern might be something like 10 1/2, 10, 10 1/2, 11, 11 1/2, 12, 12 1/2, 13, 13 1/2. What's the deal on that odd reading, about 1/2-3/4" in from the leading edge?