How much play is acceptable in the upper yoke?

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84EdH

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I have an old MC-1 outdrive #5209892 off a 1979 228 mercruiser. The drive is on the stand and in neutral. When i turn the drive shaft, it will move back and forth about 1/2 to almost 3/4 inch before I feel it engage. Is this too much? would this explain a pretty good clunk I hear while docking and shifting between forward and reverse?
 
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dubs283

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Re: How much play is acceptable in the upper yoke?

84EdH said:
When i turn the drive shaft, it will move back and forth about 1/2 to almost 3/4 inch before I feel it engage
Click to expand...

before you feel what engage??

if you are shifting the drive manually while rotating the input shaft, yeah it will take a bit for the clutch to enage the fwd or rev gear because you are turning it much slower than the engine would

the clunk you hear is normal, it is how the drive is designed to work with a proper brisk shifting motion at the remote handle - its when you slowly move the handle and you hear the grind that is bad
 
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84EdH

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Re: How much play is acceptable in the upper yoke?

Dubs, its like this: I grab the end of the drive shaft by the splines and it will move freely back and forth about 1/2 to 3/4 inch, before I feel any resistance in the drive train. It is like their is slop in the either the gears in the top or the bottom. Normally, even in neutral, it takes some effort to turn the drive train, this is the resistance I am talking about.

I have a 2nd drive that is a 1985 MR drive that has none of this play. I dont know whether the "free play" difference in the two drives is something in the design, or whether this extra "play" is a sign of wear on the old drive.
 
Hoosmatroos

Hoosmatroos

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Re: How much play is acceptable in the upper yoke?

You mean by forth and back (in and out) left and right i suppose, thus turning? The backlash seems not wright. You have to determine where the slob comes from. Upper or lower gears.
 
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84EdH

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Re: How much play is acceptable in the upper yoke?

yes, turning right and left, not in and out
 
ktbarrentine

ktbarrentine

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Re: How much play is acceptable in the upper yoke?

I heard of that situation once in an old drive when the splines of the vertical shaft (between upper and lower) were on their last legs. Easy to spot when you split the drive. Other course of action is to remove the top cap and do your CW-CCW rotation check looking at the upper grears. Good luck and keep us posted!
 
Don S

Don S

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Re: How much play is acceptable in the upper yoke?

Bet you are feeling the slop in the impeller, not the gears. Take the impeller out and put the upper back on the lower and see what it feels like.
 
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84EdH

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Re: How much play is acceptable in the upper yoke?

ok Don, I will give it a shot and will post back what I found.

thanks!
 
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