Mercruiser Alpha 1 Gen 2 HELP...

[jyamaharider713]

Ok so i own a 2005 maxum 20ft bowrider boat that has a 5.7 mercruiser with alpha 1 gen 2 drive it says SE 116 on it. We have owned this boat for only a few months. The kid we bought it form claims he just replaced the whole outdrive not long before he sold it. The prop was new and lower looked perfect.

We were out on the lake tubing yesterday and were probably half throttle and the out drive just make a nasty noise. We immediately shut the boat down. Checked the prop nothing in it. Then went to fire It up and was making a knocking noise from the drive. We limped it back to the boat ramp and pulled the boat out. When we were driving it back you could feel it skipping. When we got home we pulled it all apart and found the gears in the upper half to but destroyed. Missing 2 teeth on the higher gear and tons of metal shavings within all of the oil. I’m not sure what the story is with the gears. Maybe he didn’t replace the upper? I’ve done some research and looks like a rebuild with upper gears is going to run $500 ish plus my time. I’m trying to get some opinions on what to do. Some people say that if your upper gears are shot you should just replace the entire unit ? Entire units are like $1600 ish. What would cause these upper gears to go like that. We really don’t beat the boat. We do load it up with 8 people usually maybe to much weight? The other thing we noticed was when you would put it in forward reverse it would kind of clunk a little didn’t sound like grinding or anything just a little bump into gear? Some people said that’s normal? I’m going to check how many teeth are on the gears in the boat now. Maybe he didn’t put the correct ratio of gears?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[alldodge]

The PO of the boat didn't do the regular maintenance. The gears were run without oil or water got in. If the regular maintenance is done there is no issue with the drive many years.

Drain the lube and you will probably find metal in the lower and if so it to needs to come apart or replaced.

 

[JASinIL2006]

If the drive says SEI 116, it's a replacement for Mercruiser's Alpha One Gen 2 by SEI Marine Products. These have a pretty good reputation as a less expensive bolt-on replacement for Mercruiser drives. (The quote you received was probably for another SEI drive; a true Mercruiser would be at least $1000 more.)

I recall something about SEI drives having a really good, no-questions-asked warranty... it might be worth contacting them to see. You'd probably need to have the serial number for the drive on hand, if there is no paperwork for the drive with the boat.

 

[Rick Stephens]

I would also say that if the damage is because the oil level was low, the warranty may have a caveat to it about that. May be covered though, they are pretty good on warranty issues.

 

[harringtondav]

Drain the lube and you will probably find metal in the lower and if so it to needs to come apart or replaced.

Yes. Any pitting on the lower's bearings, shaft needle brg. surfaces or gears means they must go. By the time you add up the cost of new gear sets and other innards in both hsgs., plus the special tools (shimming tools are a must), replacing with complete SEI hsgs. may put you $$ ahead.

You can recoup some of the cost by selling the your empty housings on eBay.

 

[Scott06]

SEI does have a 3 year no fault warranty so I would recommend you contact them as I’m sure they can look it up off serial number, possibly they transfer warranty to new owner?

clunk going into gear is normal for a alpha that has a dog clutch.

You sound reasonably handy handy if no warranty is left easiest and quickest is to buy another drive.

New SEI will be cheaper than Merv but you can
fjnd used ones as
well

 

[jyamaharider713]

Good news. Contacted the owner I purchased the boat from and he still had the original paperwork from when he purchased the drive. It was bought on 3/25/16 so falls within 3 years! Going to contact the company today and see what they can do for me! Thanks for the help everyone! I will let you know how it goes.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Great, hope it works out. (You might want to ask the previous owner if there is any other paperwork related to the boat that he didn't give you, and get that at the same time...)

 

[jyamaharider713]

They approved my warranty request. Packing up both pieces and sending them back!!

 

[vetplus40]

Nice to hear some good news...…..

 

[JASinIL2006]

Awesome! Nice to hear a happy ending!