Alpha 1 gen 1 - sticky lower shift shaft question

[achris]

That oil/diesel looks gross!... Clean it out and fill it up with nice fresh Quicksilver High Performance Gear oil....

Here's a picture of the genuine Merc tool for that job. You did a great job on the fabricating too... Well done. :thumb:



Chris..........

 

[Dima_NZ]

Hi guys. Two more questions, please:

1. My current shift-shaft bushing is old and overgrown with salt build up, but, the oil seal looks good, and the spring inside it is in tact etc. Photo below. Is there any point replacing it? It's not an expensive part, but, if my one is fit for purpose, no point wasting metal and money.

2. When I was cleaning out all the salt stuff, I vacuumed the rubber washer that sits on top (shown in an internet photo). It was pretty mangled anyway, it's not reusable. Do I need it? There's a large stainless washer on top anyway to limit the height of the shoe that drops onto the shift shaft, so I assume this rubber washer just protects the oil seal? If so, Can I just cut it out from some waterski binding rubber? if you happen to have the thickness, OD and ID of this rubber washer, please let me know. Or I can just get one in via a local dealer for $5 I take it the part number is 12-31266
Thank you all in advance.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Noticing the corrosion I suspect corrosion could have shrunk the hole for the seal and or shaft causing the binding

 

[Dima_NZ]

The binding is now resolved completely - I've greased everything up with Quicksilver Special 101, and reassembled it all. The shift-shaft now rotates really free. There's no more "tight turning".

The nature of my question was - is there ANY OTHER reason to replace this bushing? It's functioning as normal "on the test bed", but perhaps there are reasons why this part must be replaced? And I'm definitely missing the rubber washer.

So to address the rubber washer question first - do I need it, and if so, can i cut one out myself using some rubber I have lying around? Or is it important I get the genuine Mercruiser one?

 

[achris]

If you intend keeping the drive for more than a year, replace it. The corrosion on that bushing is quite bad, especially up against the seal.

 

[Dima_NZ]

achris - perfect! Thank you. The bushing is on my parts order list

 

[Bt Doctur]

More important to have the SS washer there above the rubber one to set the shift shoe height

 

[Dima_NZ]

Thanks a million guys! To help other people reading this thread later, here's what I ended up doing:

1. flushed the gearbox twice by using a 1:1 parts diesel and engine oil (running each time for around 30 seconds, with multiple shifts in/out of F/N/R.
2. replaced the shift shaft bushing, filled it with grease from top to protect that little spring inside, placed a rubber washer on top and the SS washer on top of that.
3. greased everything up real nice and assembled all sterndrive parts
4. replaced the shift-plate (I still had the old-style shift-plate with a cut-out switch with a long arm and a roller) so I get a new srping, new-style shift-interrupt switch and shift-assist assembly
5. tuned her in the water on a calm spot and now, I can shift in/out in any direction all day without any issues

Seems thew new parts (shift plate and related sub-components) in addition to a really good clean of all parts in the lower leg unit did the trick.

Dima