Locked up upper?

[southkogs]

Well RATZACRATZA!

I've been doing a bunch of maintenance and odds and ends stuff since my boat overheated a couple weeks ago. In that thread, when i pulled the upper (to my great surprise) there was a bunch of water in the gear case. As I understand it, one should be able to turn those gears by hand (or wrench) somewhat ... and I can't seem to get 'em to move. I now can't tell if I've locked up that upper.

Since I've got the impeller out, and the drive off ... can I just put the upper on the trunions to engage the ball gear and see if it turns? Or will that damage anything?

I've got another upper gear case that's been in reserve and a third that was kind of there for parts. But I've been told it's probably too much for a novice to handle rebuilding the upper gear case. Sound correct?

 

[fincastle]

I've got to think if you are still unable to turn it by hand with the impeller out, a bearing has gone bad. The friction of the impeller is what makes it difficult to turn by hand.

 

[southkogs]

I would normally agree, but this one was (at least I thought) working just fine before I took it off. Kinda' why I wanted to test it out if it wouldn't hurt anything. There was no indication is was in trouble until I drained the lube out and saw water. Now suddenly I can't turn it by hand.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

put a big pair of channel locks on the ball gear. Don't use the starter motor to smash it to bits if it won't turn manually.

 

[southkogs]

Thanks Howard ... that probably answers that. (Tried the channel locks already) I've got another spare upper that I really haven't looked at. That's what I'll be doing this week.

 

[southkogs]

So ... finally had some time to monkey around with this. The spare upper is (which was on another drive I had for parts) is locked up too.

So I messed around with the one that had been on the boat. In messing with it I wound up (accidentally) letting bearing housing and pinion gear out (for humor picture me with the classic "oh carp!" look on my face). I'm assuming that speaks to some of the reason as to why I had water in the upper gear case, but I'm way in over my head at this point.

With the pinion gear out, the upper gears are moving just fine (easy and smooth). The pinion gear itself won't budge. Since it's all out (and I have the pieces), is it possible for a mediocre mechanic like me to service the bearings and pinion gear and reassembling?

OR ... if I disassemble the other upper gear case that I have, and find that the pinion gear moves fine, is it possible (again for a mediocre mechanic like me) to swap 'em?

A couple photos of what I'm talking about in case I have terms wrong:

 

[southkogs]

Okay - doing a little reading last night, the bearing assembly gets swapped as a unit (if I'm reading right). It seems to be available for purchase (pricey ... but available). I can't tell about sealing up, if I'm able to do this or if I need special tools yet?

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

the OMC way involves special tools any time either gear, or a bearing is changed. However, if someone has experience setting up gears and tapered roller bearings e.g. setting up a truck differential, the setting up of two gears and bearings with machinists blue and using rolling torque to determine the setup probably would work. Is that something someone can learn off the internet or out of a book - I hope not - it's something any mechanic learned in trade school but it involves a fair bit of guided practice in my opinion.
Maybe it could be learned off of youtube, I don't know. But if you get it wrong, you'll turn the gearbox into scrap pretty quick.

 

[southkogs]

Thanks Howard. I wanted to make sure I understood properly, but that's what I expected based on what you've said before.

... But if you get it wrong, you'll turn the gearbox into scrap pretty quick.

... LOL, at this point I'm not sure that's too far off from where I currently am.