"bent" prop shaft on 1996 90 hp Johnson .. HELP

Hit bottom and damaged my prop... eng was vibrating noticably.. pulled prop and checked shaft.. using a dial indicator.. I was getting .004 variance while slowly turning shaft. I was told this was too much .. that .002 was max. anyway ,it seems to me this is an odd way to check for runout as there is always some latterel play in ANY output shaft in a gearbox with bearings,gears,seals etc. IT is somewhat difficult to determine if I am seeing a "bend" or just variances due to normal gear and bearing wear.I would think the shaft would need to be chucked into something that would eliminate any latterel play to get a correct indication .. Is this shaft considered "bent"??.. If I use it with a new prop will .004 really tear up seals bearings etc? I am a good auto technician[I do it professionally] but I am NOT well versed in outboards although I can do most repairs I need to do on them. What are my options here? I thank you all in advance for any good advice given here!!! bob

Re: "bent" prop shaft on 1996 90 hp Johnson .. HELP

I to had a bent shaft; you can tell by taking the prop off and turn by hand. If it is bent, it will cause you more problems in the long run. I took my shaft to the local machine shop, they straighten it and it only cost me $ 20.00 instead of $ 245.00 NEW. He did say that there was a chance that it would brake when he tried to straighten it, I told him I was willing to take that chance.

Re: "bent" prop shaft on 1996 90 hp Johnson .. HELP

Skyhigh,thanks for the reply.. You were able to "see" a bend in the shaft. I can't on mine. I am trying to find out if I need to get this shaft repaired for .004 variance. Its good to know it can be repared reasonably if I need to. thanks again bob

Re: "bent" prop shaft on 1996 90 hp Johnson .. HELP

Ive seen some that were bent pretty bad and had run for years. I'm not sure that .004" is something to worry about. Here's the phone number of the shop that does ours -- 941-955-5246, ask for Tommy, he'll know.<br /><br />Good luck!

Re: "bent" prop shaft on 1996 90 hp Johnson .. HELP

DHadley... great info as always... I'll give him[Tommy} a call.. thanks!!!! bob

Re: "bent" prop shaft on 1996 90 hp Johnson .. HELP

Hi Osprey 175<br /><br />Being no expert at all, I just wanted to add that if you put on a new propeller you will find that far from all new propellers are 100 % centered at all. I never heard of any problems with that. And we are talking of something that can be seen with bare eye, which should be more than 0.004.