Silly ??? Regarding oudrive removal

bkilne

Recruit
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
5
I have a Mercruiser sterndrive, I believe it is an MC 1. I just got the boat back from a mechanic who just replaced the coupling, drive shaft, gimble bearing, and shift cable. I put it in the water once and it over heated, troubleshot to a bad water pump.

I’m trying to remove the outdrive so I can replace the water pump. But I can’t get it off.

I removed the trim actuators, I removed the 6 mounting nuts, and I have the shifter in fwd. I’ve tried pulling, picking it up and dropping, beating, and prying as much as I can without causing damage. There’s just a sliver of a gap that opened up but it will not budge past that.
I don’t think it should be that hard to pull it out considering it was just out recently. Is there something I’m missing?

I’m considering my next step to remove the lower unit first, then see if I can get the upper unit off. Any pit falls to situation?

Also someone I know, who is not an expert on boats but knows a little more than I do, told me I don’t have to drain the oil before I separate the upper and lower unit. Is that true? It’s got brand new oil in it and I would hate to waste it, but it seems to me that the oil in the upper unit would start flowing out as soon as you break the seal.
 

stonyloam

Vice Admiral
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
5,827
If you had a mechanic that did all of that and did not change the impeller, I would be worried did not align the engine to the outdrive. Better ask if it was done, especially with a new coupler. Sure sounds like something is binding there. Double check that it is in forward by looking underneath and making sure that the shift shaft coupling is pointed straight ahead, so that it can slide apart. You can take just the gearhousing (lower) off. Just drain the oil into a clean container and get yourself a pump to put it back in. There is a drain plug on the bottom and a vent on the top.
 

Bt Doctur

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Aug 29, 2004
Messages
19,092
to replace the coupler he had to replace the rear motor mounts, inspect the front mounts for looseness/ wood rot.couplers are destroyed from mis-alignment.
With the alignment correct the drive should almost fall off by itself. Gross mis-alignment will prevent the drive from falling off. Reattach the rams, use wood spacing
between the top of the drive and the transom and CAREFULLY use the trailer button to push drive away from transom.Add additional wood as necessary.
Might also want to check with the mechanic on how he did the alignment and how easy the drive was installed.
 
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