When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

[laxray]

Last year we picked up a ski boat with a 4.3l alpha one outdrive. We got it for a steal and transfered it to our boat slip from the person we bought the boat from. It is a 1994 celebrity with 300 hrs. Long and short of it is, it ran great last summer. We cleaned up the thing this year and took it out 2 Sundays ago and all was good. The next Friday we went out and 10 min in the prop stopped spinning. I did many test and tried to diagnose all I could. In the process we found the drive oil resivoir which had been knocked out of it's holder and had fallen back out of site. It was empty!!! Fingers crossed, we called a friend and used their boat launch to pull it out of the water. Got the thing home pulled the prop and it did not appear to be be spun. Pulled the top off of the out drive and this is what I found.

.

My question is at what point do you just buy another outdrive, How do I determine if the lower half of this puppy is worth it or just to count my losses that I can swap parts myself and start with all new lower end?

Any help would be great Thanks in advance.

 

[thumpar]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

Just get an SIE. The cost to repair would be more. They come with 3 year warranty.

 

[achris]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

...My question is at what point do you just buy another outdrive, How do I determine if the lower half of this puppy is worth it ....

Right about now.

As the lower and the upper share the same oil, any metal in one will end up in the other. As you can get an entire new drive, with 3 years warranty, for about $1500, it's just not worth trying to rebuild anything.

If you know the ratio, great, if not, post the drive serial number and we can check what it was when it left the factory. (1994 4.3LX is likely to be 1.81:1)

1990-2007 Mercruiser Stern Drive Complete Drive Assembly - 1.81 gear ratio - New Aftermarket - iboats.com

 

[laxray]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

SIE ? Stands for ? Sorry just trying to figure out my options.

 

[achris]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

Sterndrive Engineering Industries.... That's also the maker I linked you to on the iboats shop...

 

[laxray]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

ok right under mercruiser I see 1.84R then 0F174988 would that be the serial number?

 

[achris]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

ok right under mercruiser I see 1.84R then 0F174988 would that be the serial number?

That will be the ratio (1.84:1) and the serial number. As Merc changed the tooth count on the lower (just slightly, to reduce gear noise) the 1.84:1 is replaced by a 1.81:1... Don't worry, use the same prop, you won't notice any difference....

Chris..

 

[Watermann]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

Speaking of gear noise, I have to wonder what the death of that bone dry outdrive sounded like and to not be noticed until all of the gear teeth were stripped clean.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

dosent make any noise when the gears melt. once they get that hot there soft as butter and just flatten out.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

2 guys were racing each other wuth BlackMAx O/B`s near staten island,ny. both found "old greybeard" . the other guy had the whole lower ripped away, this guy broke the nose off the crank, shattterd the driveshaft , reduced his "High 5" to the size of a large grapefruit and left the prop shaft looking like this

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

this one complained about a bad vibration

 

[achris]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

2 guys were racing each other wuth BlackMAx O/B`s near staten island,ny. both found "old greybeard" . the other guy had the whole lower ripped away, this guy broke the nose off the crank, shattterd the driveshaft , reduced his "High 5" to the size of a large grapefruit and left the prop shaft looking like this

And here I was thinking that was the new propshaft design... :facepalm:

 

[achris]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

this one complained about a bad vibration

Really??? I can feel half a dozen ribbons of seaweed on my drive.... Vibration drives me crazy. I gotta stop, reverse up for about a boat length and clear them off....

 

[theoldwizard1]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

... any metal in one will end up in the other.

If I saw any metal shaving on bearing/shafts/gears or even significant metal in the oil or on the magnetic drain plug, I would just go with a whole rebuilt assembly.

 

[ricohman]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

this one complained about a bad vibration

Hahahaha!
Hilarious!

 

[agallant80]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

this one complained about a bad vibration

Wow. I am assuming that is a bravo and the outer prop is covered in line.

 

[Bondo]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

Wow. I am assuming that is a bravo and the outer prop is covered in line.

Ayuh,.... That's an Alpha, 'n that's All rope/ line,...

 

[redneck joe]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

I've used SEI with very good success.

 

[79Merc80]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

2 guys were racing each other wuth BlackMAx O/B`s near staten island,ny. both found "old greybeard" . the other guy had the whole lower ripped away, this guy broke the nose off the crank, shattterd the driveshaft , reduced his "High 5" to the size of a large grapefruit and left the prop shaft looking like this

I actually did this to a 115 inline 6 Merc outboard

 

[achris]

Re: When do you decide to buy a whole new outdrive?

2 guys were racing each other wuth BlackMAx O/B`s near staten island,ny. both found "old greybeard" . the other guy had the whole lower ripped away, this guy broke the nose off the crank, shattterd the driveshaft , reduced his "High 5" to the size of a large grapefruit and left the prop shaft looking like this

I actually did this to a 115 inline 6 Merc outboard

We have an annual white-water event where a lot of the engines propshafts end up looking like this.... Search 'Avon Decent'. The Avon is a local river... and it's got lots of rocks and snags in it. The event is around 124kms, and some competitors kayak it, and some 'power boat' it... It's actual quite exciting...

I did the search, and some of the photos are quite 'interesting'.... Have a look... (the power boats are limited to 6hp)

Gallery | Avon Descent

Chris.......