Preventative Maintenance on 20 Year Old Alpha One?

[jgrant911]

My 1995 Maxum 1800SR has a 4.3LX Alpha One drive (#0F605187, 4bbl, non-Vortec, 180hp) which has performed flawlessly over my 20 years of ownership. The boat is only used in the summers, primarily for skiing, wakeboarding and cruising the lake. Even though it has spent 99% of its life in fresh water it has had a closed cooling system equipped since new. The unit has only 560 hours on it.

Each year I have personally done all the basic recommended regular inspection and maintenance (lube, oil, filters, tune-ups, winterization, paint touch-up etc.) but have pretty much adhered to the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule. It has never been serviced or repaired by a dealer but shows no symptoms of requiring any specific repair. I am thinking of doing the Vortec heads and 8 bolt intake mod as a winter project this year, but that will be another post.

The purpose of this post is to seek advice from the experts as to what additional preventative maintenance might be warranted after 20 years of service. I am not worried about the engine itself as I have lots of experience with the GM 4.3 V6 (having owned and maintained 2 trucks with this engine). I am more interested in suggestions about issues I might anticipate or components I might want to investigate more fully in areas like the exhaust manifolds and the stern drive assembly.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Jim G.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

In the years you've owned it, have you taken the drive off to grease the ujoints and gimbal bearing and make sure water hasn't gotten into the u-joint bellows?

How are the bellows? I'd think after that length of time they'd have cracks in the ribs...

 

[jgrant911]

The leg has never been removed. On this drive the U-joints and gimbal bearing have external grease nipples. Visual inspection of the bellows and other rubber parts shows no cracks or other signs of wear. Because the boat is trailered and dry stored 11 months of the year I have probably dodged the bullet on those issues so far.

Have been going thru a ton of posts on Alpha drive maintenance in the past few days and I think it's time to pull the leg and do a complete inspection this fall.

Thanks!

Jim

 

[FreeBeeTony]

What about the water pump impeller? That's never been changed either?
I never heard of an external grease nipple for the u-joints...

 

[jgrant911]

Sorry, forgot to mention, water pump impeller changed 2 years back...

 

[crazy charlie]

Overdue to replace all rubber .I hope you are able to get the drive off.There has to me some rust where the splines enter the back of the motor after 20 years.It does not take much to bind up the shaft.Lube up the ujoints Good luck!! Charlie

 

[jgrant911]

Yeah, getting a good look at all of the rubber bits would be my main motivation for this work. Because of the minimal exposure to salt (only a few times and only in the first few years of its life) and pretty compulsive flushing/washing/cleaning over the years I'm hoping everything comes apart pretty easily. I will be using lots of liquid wrench to pre-soak nuts and bolts before going in with sockets and wrenches!

Thanks!

Jim

 

[flipbro]

20 years on original bellows...Wow its definitely time Jim

 

[bigbob_FTW]

20 years on original bellows...Wow its definitely time Jim

I've never gotten over 7 years.