OMC Stringer electric shift 1971 no forward gear shifting!

[fazerpaul1970]

Hello guys, here's the deal.. This Saturday I'm gonna drive 450 km (one way) to pick up a lower unit for $160. The seller says it was on a Searay with a 190 hp V8 engine and was working without a problem when it was taken off the boat.

So, I'm really hoping this will be a good decision.. time will tell! :der:

 

[VE8EV]

That's a long way to go but I guess it's cheaper than the alternatives! Bring along a multimeter so you can test the resistance of the shift coils before you take it home.

 

[fazerpaul1970]

Okay.. here's the bad news.. The seller of the lower unit contacted me two days before I planned to pick it up. He said he already sold it and messed things up with another drive, too bad for me! :-(

But, I found a guy in Belgium who tells me he knows where to find a complete outdrive for 350 euro. This week I plan to go to him and have a look at it.

Thanks for the good advise to check the coils! I also myself thought this was a good idea.

I'll let you know what will be the outcome of this second chance.

By the way.. is it easy to swap the whole drive unit?

 

[southkogs]

If it's identical - HP and Steering - then it's real easy. If it's not the same HP, you may have to swap your upper gear case (which isn't that hard). If it's different steering, that could get a little tricky. But still very doable.

 

[fazerpaul1970]

Thanks for your information!
The seller of the complete drive has sent me some pictures today. It looks like it's gonna fit my boat, what do you think?

 

[southkogs]

Your drive is 235HP; do you know what the HP of this drive is? I think the lower units would be the same (which is what is important to you) ... the upper might not be geared right.

Do you know if it's been pressure tested? You want to make sure the drive is water tight, and that it does actually shift.

 

[fazerpaul]

Okay people, back on track after a dull winter season.

The drive I picked up last fall looked to be in nice shape. I measured the coils and they both gave good readings. Further I tested the actual shifting by turning the prop shaft by hand. The clutch worked in both directions so I bought the drive.

Last weekend I repainted the drive and mounted it onto the upper unit on the boat. I checked the wiring and replaced the knife connectors with crimp connectors for a solid wire contact.

BUT.. again failure shifting in forward gear! I can turn the prop shaft by hand in the counterclockwise direction using a little effort.. I measured and checked the wiring and cross checked forward and reverse circuits. The prop shaft will only hold in the clockwise, so reverse direction!

I guess that this outdrive also has a broken forward spring..

Yesterday I managed to get a third lower unit for 90 euro's or 100 dollar on eBay Germany, I really hope this one will work properly.
If not, I'm gonna take things apart!

 

[fazerpaul]

YES! I'm finally back on the water with the old Tullio Abbate V8 and the shifting works great.

I had to use parts from two lower units to build the one that is on my boat right now. I had some stress with 8 or 10 bolt swivel housings and fixing a damaged shift wire, but in the end it worked out well. :joyous:

Now I only have to check the oil level of the intermediate housing, because there is some minor leakage from the steering gear axle. At the side of this axle there is a plug with a cap on it. On warm summer days sometimes a bit of black oil is leaking from the plug. What is this plug for anyway?

Do you guys also know what type of oil goes into this housing?

Any help highly appreciated!!

Paul

 

[VE8EV]

If I'm understanding you correctly, the steering shaft doesn't penetrate the oil reservoir in the intermediate housing so the two are not related. Post a picture showing exactly where the leakage is coming from.

Regardless, everything above the lower unit just gets regular 90W marine gear oil. On the older stringers you have to suck the oil out of the intermediate housing through the fill hole and pump it in the same way (newer ones have a drain plug at the bottom).

 

[VE8EV]

And congratulations on getting it running, have fun! Here in the far north our summer is running out very quickly, we actually had snow this week :grumpy:.

 

[southkogs]

... we actually had snow this week :grumpy:.

That's just painful.

Congrats on getting' it going!!

 

[fazerpaul]

Many thanks for your answers!

I actually might have found the cause for the leakage.. Last week I checked the oil level of the upper unit and when I opened the filler plug (with the dipstick), oil came out instantly! So the oil level was far too high and the pressure inside the unit (while standing in the sun) was causing the leakage.
So another problem solved.

Summer in Holland is not running out, the nice and warm weather simply won't start this year, sucks a bit now the boat is finally ready to go, haha!

By the way, do you know what is the max rpm for my old Ford 302 (or 351) engine? I mounted a good 19P stainless steel prop and now the engine rpm's at wot are just 3200, while it reached 3800 rpm with the damaged aluminum prop. There is nothing to read on this prop, but it looks like it has less pitch.
But 19P to me seems a standard size and I expected the engine to turn it without any problem.. hmmm?

Thanks and enjoy the water! ;-)

 

[southkogs]

Max RPM on that engine was 3800 to 4200 RPM. So, you're closer with the Aluminum prop.

I'm not sure what the original prop would have been. I think they were 14" or 14.25" in diameter, and somewhere in the 16 pitch range starting out - but it varied drive by drive. All my documents say "see your OMC dealer."

 

[fazerpaul]

Thanks again, southkogs! Finding another prop in Europe is quite a challenge.. but I'm gonna try.