Prop shaft seal replacement

mrclean667

Cadet
Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Messages
6
Have a 1999 Glastron with 5.7 and sx outdrive. Noticed milky oil from prop shaft houseing when I lowered the outdrive this weekend.
Going to take it in this week to have that seal replaced. On average how long should it take a volvo mechanic to change that seal. Trying to gauge the cost of this. From what I've read, it shouldn't take more than a couple hours of labor. this this about right
 

muc

"Retired" Association of Marine Technicians...
Joined
Jul 7, 2004
Messages
2,064
Re: Prop shaft seal replacement

That depends, if you have diagnosed the problem (that means pulling the drive and pressure testing it) than Volvo flat rate for prop shaft seal R+R is 2 hours. But that is for a drive that is still under warranty. That assumes 0% corrosion. So most shops will add 50% to flat rate to cover the extra time needed to use heat and chemicals that are required to disassemble and clean the parts.
By definition this 2 hour flat rate covers dropping the lower gear housing, removing the prop shaft bearing housing, R+R prop shaft seal, checking and/or adjusting drive shaft rolling torque, reassembling with a special prop shaft bearing housing shim, taking some measurements with a depth micrometer, take it back apart, install correct shim (yes- your prop shaft rolling torque will most likely be too low because of wear and need a different shim),reassemble and check prop shaft rolling torque(hope you got it right the first time) and reinstall the lower gear housing back on the boat.

Did you notice what wasn’t covered under those 2 hours?
Drain and refill gear lube, add .2 hours flat rate.
Pressure and vacuum test drive, add .5 hours flat rate --- but wait, to do a proper pressure and vacuum test the drive must be off the boat, add 1 hour flat rate to R+R drive.
So if this job came into the shop for warranty repair, Volvo would pay 3.7 hours labor and like I said most shops want to add 50% to that for older products.

Can you find somebody to do this job in “a couple of hours”? Maybe, but you need to understand that they will most likely not check and reset your prop shaft rolling torque (hey it ran fine when it came in so why bother?) or do a pressure and vacuum test. And that might be OK because I have seen other mechanics do the job that way and get away with it.

I will give you one more thing to consider. Is the prop shaft seal the CAUSE of your problem? Or is it a SYMPTOM of milky lube?
Let me tell you a story about what I have seen happen at one of the shops I worked for.
The customer came in with the same complaint you have. The mechanic in a misguided effort to repair the boat popped the bearing carrier out and replaced the seal. (he did it in under 2 hours because that is what the customer asked for and the customer had told him that the internet said that’s what it should cost) the boat came back a month later, it now has milky gear lube leaking from the shift seal. (The mechanic replaces the shift seal in under 1 hour because the customer told him that flat rate is 1 hour and after all the customer is always right, and besides the seal is obviously bad – it’s leaking right?) a month later the boat is back again with u-joint noise. Turns out that the milky lube and leaking seals were only the symptom. The cause was water in the u-joint bellows and when water gets into the bellows, because of the design of the u-joint yoke seal the water will be pumped into the gear lube and make the next weakest seal leak. So now, because the water has been in there so long, not only do the bellows need replacement. But the u-joints and gimbal bearing are shot. Also most of the bearings and some of the gears in the lower unit are bad because they have had water in them for so long. Cost to repair all of this is almost what the value of the boat is.

So I ask you. Do you want to spend a couple of hours for labor and hope for the best? (And that might be all you need) or do you want to spend a little more and get the job done right?

I hope all of this helps you make an informed decision on your boat repairs. Please let us know how it all works out.
 

captmello

Captain
Joined
Jun 30, 2008
Messages
3,826
Re: Prop shaft seal replacement

What a great post muc, I wish you were here more. And I wish you were my neighbor.:)
 
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