bent prop shaft replacement help!

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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May 10, 2007
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110
Hey guys, the other day my girlfriend missed the outside of a bouey and went inside, ran my boat aground i have a useless prop and a bent prop shaft now. Boat is a 1989 bayliner capri 1950 with the OMC cobra drive/engine (302 v8) I/O

Here are my questions
Can the prop shaft be replaced without having to remove the lower unit (any tips or how-to or directions would be great)? I found some info on it but it is somewhat confusing and there was an assumtion that the lower unit was already removed.

I drained the oil from the lower unit and the upper unit drained too, is that normal?

also after i brought the boat back home it started leaking fluid out of the propeller shaft area, i guess i will need a new lower seal kit?

anybody have a good shape prop shaft they want to sell?? :D
 

Gary H NC

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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

Thats bad luck! If the shaft is bent it can leak oil around the prop shaft seals.
When you drain the lower,yes the upper half drains too.

Posting what drive you have would REALLY help as far as taking it apart..
sorry,missed the Cobra part
 

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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May 10, 2007
Messages
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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

Thats bad luck! If the shaft is bent it can leak oil around the prop shaft seals.
When you drain the lower,yes the upper half drains too.

Posting what drive you have would REALLY help as far as taking it apart..
sorry,missed the Cobra part

Yea its an OMC cobra :)

Thanks for the info on the lower/upper draining how is that suppose to be refilled?? Ive read about it but from what i understood you are suppose to remove the lower and upper screws on the lower unit and pump fluid in, maybe i misunderstood and its suppose to be the one on the top of the stern drive?
 

Rob454

Chief Petty Officer
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Oct 9, 2005
Messages
508
Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

the fill hole is actually right where the upper and lower housings meet.
As for the prop there is a marine salvage place by my house and they have aluminum ones for anywhere from 25$ to 50$. they also have stainless steel ones for about 200.
the upper and lower drives both drain from the bottom plug.
you need at the minimum a driveshaft and seals. hopefully she didnt crack the lower housing.
the salvage place has a lower cobra drive housing if yours is cracked. its brand new. its been there for a long time so I know he will let it go cheap
Rob
 

Gary H NC

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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

I always fill mine from the bottom hole until it starts to run out the middle hole. Then screw that one in and slowly fill it until it shows full on the top dipstick.Always fill with the dipstick just resting in the hole,not screwed in.
It should hold 64 ounces.
After the first run check the dipstick again to make sure its full.
I have always put in 64 ounces and its dead on full..
If its a King Cobra it holds 80 some ounces..not sure exactly but could look it up..
 

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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May 10, 2007
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110
Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

you guys are awesome thanks for all the help! Im gonna go to one of the marine stores today and look for prices and more info :)
 

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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May 10, 2007
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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

rob sounds like you have a sweet hookup ill definently let you know if i need that stuff :)
 

Rob454

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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

yeah no problem. the guy there is really cool. hes a old sailor. little rough sometimes but hes pretty fair.
Rob
 

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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May 10, 2007
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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

yeah no problem. the guy there is really cool. hes a old sailor. little rough sometimes but hes pretty fair.
Rob

sounds about right ;)

so does anyone know if i have to remove the lower unhit in order to pull the prop shaft...and why? Thats the only thing holding me up i think....
 

Gary H NC

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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

I think you do but i'm not sure.If i wasn't out of town right now i could look in my service manual and tell you.I won't be home for another week...:rolleyes:
 

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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May 10, 2007
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110
Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

I think you do but i'm not sure.If i wasn't out of town right now i could look in my service manual and tell you.I won't be home for another week...:rolleyes:

i wont be working on it till maybe monday so if you could let me know when you know that would be great!
 

Liquid_force

Petty Officer 1st Class
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May 7, 2003
Messages
318
Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

sounds about right ;)

so does anyone know if i have to remove the lower unhit in order to pull the prop shaft...and why? Thats the only thing holding me up i think....

Dont' hold me to it, but I'm PRETTY sure you do.
If I'm picturing it correctly -- the drive gear at the bottom end of the vertical shaft sits between the reverse and forward gears, and you can't remove the prop shaft until you get that vertical drive gear out of the way.

lowerunitsketch.jpg
 

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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May 10, 2007
Messages
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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

Dont' hold me to it, but I'm PRETTY sure you do.
If I'm picturing it correctly -- the drive gear at the bottom end of the vertical shaft sits between the reverse and forward gears, and you can't remove the prop shaft until you get that vertical drive gear out of the way.

lowerunitsketch.jpg

thanks that makes a lot of sense i guess i needed to see a good drawing of it. I recall reading something about it needing to be in neutral and something on the top of the lower unit needed to be unscrewed several turns to do it.

So my next question(i will be buying the service manual soon tho), is removing the lower unit very difficult? It looks like there are only a few bolts toward the back(looking at it from behind boat).

And is anything I'll be removing to replace the prop shaft pressed in?? I am pretty sure there is one part that is pressed in because of the need for a pulley puller, but are any of the bearings/etc on the prop shaft pressed onto it?

I was able to find this diagram which for me is hard to read...
W-OMC-Cobra-lower-gearcase-1985-1995.jpg


and just for fun i took a pic of the damaged prop......every boat store i took this dang thing into i got mouths dropping, i wrote the numbers down and stopped taking it in
299402cd3b86.jpeg
 

Coors

Captain
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
3,367
Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

Find an original OMC manual; seloc and clymer suckola.
 

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
110
Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

alright so i found out some more info decided to post it up...

the lower unit does need to be removed to pull the prop shaft, reason being is that the driveshaft from the upper unit connects with one in the lower unit which is 100% of the time engaged with the forward/reverse gear on the prop shaft. Said driveshaft needs to be moved upward to get the shaft out, along with some water tube, and the shifter linkage needs to be removed to.

my next question if anyone can answer it is...how similar is the v6 cobra outdrive to the v8??? Possible to put one from a v6 on my outdrive?
 

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
110
Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

ok guys now i have another question.....

to remove the lower unit do i have to remove the upper unit?? I have been thinking about it it looks like the upper drive shaft slips in no bolts, the water pump doesnt seem like it is anything special but the shift linkage has me concerned how does it disconnect so that I can drop the lower unit?
 

Gary H NC

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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

I'm pretty sure you got to pull the whole drive off to remove the shift shaft from the lower.
I will be home Sunday night and will look in the manual if nobody answers before that.
I also have an extra OMC factory manual that i think covers that setup.
I bought 2 on Ebay when i first bought my other boat. I'll shoot you a PM sunday night or monday...
 

rowlex

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
110
Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

I'm pretty sure you got to pull the whole drive off to remove the shift shaft from the lower.
I will be home Sunday night and will look in the manual if nobody answers before that.
I also have an extra OMC factory manual that i think covers that setup.
I bought 2 on Ebay when i first bought my other boat. I'll shoot you a PM sunday night or monday...

that would be sweet! I am going to buy a manual for mine i'd pick your extra one up but im hoping to start taking it apart monday and will need the info then. Thanks again!
 

Gary H NC

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Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

Good luck! I would go ahead and remove the drive,inspect the gimbal bearing and grease the ujoints,replace the bellows if you have not done that in the last year or 2. Make sure the shifter is in full forward before pulling the drive.
Its just taking off the 6 nuts near the top and pulling the nuts off of the shaft that hold the trim rams to the lower.Then tap that shaft out one side.
I will help you thru what i can when i get home.Have a good weekend!
 

Coors

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Dec 8, 2006
Messages
3,367
Re: bent prop shaft replacement help!

Gary, don't you mean neutral?
 
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