87 Sea Ray Seville with Mercruiser 140

[trobin0406]

Hey All

New to the forum and boating all together. I just recently purchased a Seville from a friend who was moving. They said its only sat over the winter but they did have some problems with the outdrive. After separating the upper and lower of the outdrive i found the shaft that goes into the upper unit was worn. I was going to call around to see how much it would cost to remove and replace the shaft but thought i might also look into a used lower. My biggest problem is i do not know what kind of outdrive i have. Some places i see it looks like a Alpha 1 gen 1. But i have read in other forums where it might not be. So i am just not sure what i need to search for.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. I work on cars in my spare time and am wondering how much of a pain it would be to replace the shaft myself. I have heard others say the specialty tools alone cost alot but just thought it wouldnt hurt to ask. I have tried attached photos but the files are to big to attach and it wont accept my google drive URL. If it helps the serial numbers are 6915372 on the top of the outdrive and it says 1.98R and 6783748 on the side sticker on the outdrive.

 

[Bt Doctur]

age would indicate a Alpha1 and that would have 1 nut in front, 2 nuts on the sides, 2 nuts under the cav plate and 1 allen under the trim tab
GEN II is a bolt in front, 2 nuts and bolts on each side and a bolt under the trim tab

 

[Rick Stephens]

Lotsa tools needed. Lotsa knowledge needed, but plenty of material to show how. My opinion, after researching just the tooling for my own needs - buy an SEI or take it to a Merc repair guy for an estimate, or both.

You will spend more on the tools and no guarantee. SEI will give you a three year warranty on their work.

 

[trobin0406]

Thanks for the fast reply!!! I does sound like an alpha 1 based on the bolt pattern. I have done a quick search but didn't understand how to distinguish between standard and counter rotation outdrives. Is there an easy way to tell or based on the mercruiser 140 engine would it be standard rotation?

I also wanted to provide an update since i called a local marine shop. They told me that since the lower splines were worn out that the upper is probably trash and i should replace the whole outdrive for 1500 dollars. After looking at the upper where the shaft slides into looks to be pretty good. But does this seem like the marine shop is correct? Should i try rebuilding or replacing my lower unit first? I want it to work right but didnt want to spend thousands into an outdrive when a good used lower would work or replacing the shaft on my current unit.

Thanks!

 

[Rick Stephens]

It will not be counter rotation. If the prop turns clockwise to go forward, looking from the rear, is standard rotation. Only with dual power do you see counter unless someone did a swap for some ungodly reason. The counter rotation is done in the gear box, not the engine.

A brand new SEI outdrive is ~$1300 and you can install yourself. So the mechanic is spot on there.

If the lower input shaft is worn, the upper gear it splines into would be also. So not a bad quickee diagnosis on the mechanic's part.