mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

[johnny howe]

i have a 1966 950 ss tower of power 6 cyl, when you pull the lower end and replace the impeller, how much of the drive shaft do you lubricate, just the splines at the top or all of it, and what type of grease should i use? bearing grease? thanks.

 

[ajgraz]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

Just the splines at the top, that's where it mates with the crankshaft. I use anti-sieze.

 

[oldman570]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

1^

Just the splines at the top, that's where it mates with the crankshaft. I use anti-sieze.

Same here but do not put any on the very top of the shaft just on the splines.
Oldman570

 

[Texasmark]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

1^
Same here but do not put any on the very top of the shaft just on the splines.
Oldman570

Ditto, any on the top CAN prevent you from getting the shaft seated as far as needs to happen to get the LU to bolt up correctly.....right out of the manual.

Mark

 

[emoney]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

Just enough that you can "feel" it, not necessarily "see" it.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

Well, except as what said on the splines, true, go easy, but on the shaft? I always use waterproof grease on the entire shaft after a new impeller in. Thats a steel shaft that motor, and steel rust right? Water gets in there for sure. And less corrosion the shaft means easy off old, new impeller on. Plus I have busted a rusted drive shaft, and that gets expensive. Go ahead and coat it, aint gonna hurt anything. At least you don't have to deal with saltwater.....!

 

[Texasmark]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

Well, except as what said on the splines, true, go easy, but on the shaft? I always use waterproof grease on the entire shaft after a new impeller in. Thats a steel shaft that motor, and steel rust right? Water gets in there for sure. And less corrosion the shaft means easy off old, new impeller on. Plus I have busted a rusted drive shaft, and that gets expensive. Go ahead and coat it, aint gonna hurt anything. At least you don't have to deal with saltwater.....!

Man I don't know where you are coming from, nor have been, but OMC has been using SS drive and prop shafts for over 70 years and Merc finally realized what you said back in the 1960's giving it 50 years. They don't rust any more....to amount to anything.

Mark

 

[Maxz695]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

Greese the splines well enough not the top of the shaft though. A dry spline will tend to wear and show the wear in no time at all. This will also have a wear effect on the splines in the driveshaft. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but i did work in Transmission reclemation for Boda,Penske, Rollins, Aamco, lee Miles and a hundred others. If you didn,t have a good core you payed the cost of the core. Including the bad splines. Also there must be enough greese left after getting by the carrier seal at the end of the shaft

 

[Chris1956]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

I grease the entire shaft, whether it is stainless or not. I boat in salt water and grease anything I can to protect it. I have greased boat trailer light bulb bases, to protect them.

SS still has iron in it, and can still rust. For an old motor like that one, with a steel driveshaft, grease is a must. Use any heavy grease you have laying around. I use "marine boat trailer wheel bearing grease" for all my "greasy" needs....

 

[Maxz695]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

I agree esspecially with the tail light thing thats what I do

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

I lightly grease the whole shaft except the top Just a very thin wipe for coorosion protection. I put a light coat on everything I can for protection. I use mercs 2-4-C with teflon on everything that needs greased, steering, prop, driveshaft, etc. Expensive but has served me well. I reccomend it. Others I know use OMC's triple guard with good results to. Both are water resistant as are some marine wheel bearing grease.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

Man I don't know where you are coming from, nor have been, but OMC has been using SS drive and prop shafts for over 70 years and Merc finally realized what you said back in the 1960's giving it 50 years. They don't rust any more....to amount to anything.Mark

OK, do what ya want, and I'm far from clueless too.

 

[johnny howe]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

Thanks for the info everyone. i know that the inside shaft doesnt touch anything, but under the black rubber tube,that covers it, it looked like the grease had turne a rust red, i wiped it off and just put some bearing grease up and down it. it looks like the top of the splines are a little worn, is that why it grinds when i first put it in reverse? this was the first time i had a waterpump failure on the water. i had replaced the impellar last year and it allready failed. but i have put about 75 hours on it. is that normal? thanks.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

Me last on this. Mark, I think you are a stand up guy, good info, but when comes too Merc IL6 "stacks?" Man, been a fan them since the 60's. As my Merc Guru here, lives 20 miles away, the famous .."Dr Frankenmerc". He built me a stacked 6, for a 15 foot flatbottom I got. And a "crank up rebuild", cost, $2000. Now what I'm getting at, is L/U's, Mercs, at that age, are probably not original. Many interchange. SO!, heres some pix.. .. and a CLEAN D/S, when the Merc was built. I only have 15 hours it, and broke in under load, the salt water ramp me. Just where this SS L/U,. came from? Who knows, but you tell ME, "DON'T GREASE THE SHAFT"? Pulled the L/U, new impeller...see this mess? A few pix...

 

[Scaaty]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

but under the black rubber tube,that covers it,

Dude, thats the top piece, a rubber grommet I think, that PROTECTS water hitting the crank splines. Also, lately, here, a 60's White stack, sat the marina slip weeks, couple dumb girls owned it, and zero maintenance. It took a tied a TREE, and a Bobcat, you get the L/U off! Grease it, as some, as Bondo always has said.."Any grease is better than NONE!

 

[emckelvy]

Re: mercury lower end. do you lube the outside of the "drive shaft"?

Mercury Anti-Corrosion Grease is sticky as all get-out and works well for coating parts with a tendency to rust, such as driveshafts, etc.

http://www.iboats.com/Mercury-Marine-Anti-Corrosion-Grease/dm/view_id.39258

Scaaty, that driveshaft doesn't look like it's stainless. Some of the older Mercs had a mild steel driveshaft with stainless cladding in the water pump/seal area. So if yours is like that, yeah it's gonna show some rust after use in salt water.

At any rate, it's certainly not gonna hurt anything to coat the driveshaft, especially a non-stainless one. Say "Hi" to the Doc when you next see him, I've got to get down his way soon for a visit, if he's feeling up to it.

On the grinding in reverse, note that since the lower unit uses a "dog clutch", you can't "ease" into gear, it's got to be a quick "snap" motion or she'll grind. It's also possible there's an adjustment issue with the shift cable. If reverse is working OK once you've got it shifted, the lower unit is probably OK. Worn driveshaft splines won't cause that sort of grinding. If they were worn bad enough to cause a problem, the crank and driveshaft splines would be stripped out and you'd be going nowhere!

Impeller life can vary and replacement once a year isn't all that unusual, especially if you're running in silty/sandy water. Better safe than losing your expensive powerhead. Be sure the stainless steel insert (cup) in the pump body is smooth (no scoring) and has no dents that could wear your impeller out prematurely. Also carefully check the stainless pump plate and renew if it's scored or dented.

One other thing I've seen on plastic pump bodies, folks will run the motor dry which builds up a ton of heat and can melt the plastic, sending molten material down into the rubber impeller. This material hardens then chews up what's left of the rubber, in short order.

If your pump housing looks like it's been overheated or you have chunks of plastic hanging down in your pump insert, that's not normal! Best to replace the housing. Never ever start the motor out of the water, even for an instant, since this will severely shorten impeller life.

HTH & Happy Boating.........ed