Sundowner88L
Cadet
- Joined
- May 9, 2012
- Messages
- 10
Re: Torque/ Alpha 1 problems
This is a little off the main topic here but you guys are asking about what is a drive shower and what it does. Just like someone above said, it is a tube that is mounted on the drive and picks up water and showers the drive to help keep it cool. Very simple piece with no moving parts and very easy to install.
Let me explain it in a different way. I am sure most of you here have a pickup or SUV of some kind. Most of them come with what is called a towing package which includes several things that makes your truck tow a load better. One of those things is an extra transmission oil cooler. It looks like a mini radiator that is mounted in front of the main radiator just behind the grill. You can plainly see it if you look through your front grill of your truck. Now the oil from the transmission passes through the big radiator like all other cars and trucks on the road to cool the fluid to make your tranny work like it was designed to work under normally driving conditions. The additional mini radiator or transmission cooler is used inline with the the big radiator to help give you extra cooling for when the tranny is under above normal uses like towing big loads, for instance, your boat on the trailer on your way to the boat ramp for a day of playing. So it is designed for extra cooling. Now with that said your stern drive was designed to be cooled by the water around the case and the water coming up through it feeding the engine for cooling. The drive shower simply showers your drive with more water when you are under way. Some of you may not know it but the upper part of the drive is not in the water when you are on plane. So there is no cooling of the gear oil in the drive except for the bottom half that is still in the water and what ever cooling is done by the water pickup for the motor coming up through the inside of the drive. The shower is just an extra way to help keep your drive cool while you are running. In theory it helps keep the temp of the gear oil cooler which means the oil does not break down as easy like if it was running at a higher temp. There as this gives you better lub and less friction of the gears inside the drive.
No you do not have to have one.
Your boat will work just fine without it but your truck will also work just fine without the extra transcooler that came with the towing package but you may get more life out of the tranny and sterndrive by using these additional cooling items to help keep the oil cooler when in use. Who knows you may add years to the life of your drive as long as you keep it serviced and use the drive shower. Longevity is the idea which in turn saves you money and that is why they have drive showers. It is up to the captain of the vessel to use or not to use a shower just like it is up to a truck owner to pay the extra money for the tow package on their truck. It is all about piece of mind that you are cutting down the stress on your unseen parts inside your tranny and sterndrives. It has been argued for year why manufacturers do not put them on their drives from the factory. I would bet it is cost but to each his own I say. If you want one then go get one and if you don't want one then don't get one. Sorry if I was long winded but this to me explains it better for most to understand what a drive show is and what it does.
This is a little off the main topic here but you guys are asking about what is a drive shower and what it does. Just like someone above said, it is a tube that is mounted on the drive and picks up water and showers the drive to help keep it cool. Very simple piece with no moving parts and very easy to install.
Let me explain it in a different way. I am sure most of you here have a pickup or SUV of some kind. Most of them come with what is called a towing package which includes several things that makes your truck tow a load better. One of those things is an extra transmission oil cooler. It looks like a mini radiator that is mounted in front of the main radiator just behind the grill. You can plainly see it if you look through your front grill of your truck. Now the oil from the transmission passes through the big radiator like all other cars and trucks on the road to cool the fluid to make your tranny work like it was designed to work under normally driving conditions. The additional mini radiator or transmission cooler is used inline with the the big radiator to help give you extra cooling for when the tranny is under above normal uses like towing big loads, for instance, your boat on the trailer on your way to the boat ramp for a day of playing. So it is designed for extra cooling. Now with that said your stern drive was designed to be cooled by the water around the case and the water coming up through it feeding the engine for cooling. The drive shower simply showers your drive with more water when you are under way. Some of you may not know it but the upper part of the drive is not in the water when you are on plane. So there is no cooling of the gear oil in the drive except for the bottom half that is still in the water and what ever cooling is done by the water pickup for the motor coming up through the inside of the drive. The shower is just an extra way to help keep your drive cool while you are running. In theory it helps keep the temp of the gear oil cooler which means the oil does not break down as easy like if it was running at a higher temp. There as this gives you better lub and less friction of the gears inside the drive.
No you do not have to have one.
Your boat will work just fine without it but your truck will also work just fine without the extra transcooler that came with the towing package but you may get more life out of the tranny and sterndrive by using these additional cooling items to help keep the oil cooler when in use. Who knows you may add years to the life of your drive as long as you keep it serviced and use the drive shower. Longevity is the idea which in turn saves you money and that is why they have drive showers. It is up to the captain of the vessel to use or not to use a shower just like it is up to a truck owner to pay the extra money for the tow package on their truck. It is all about piece of mind that you are cutting down the stress on your unseen parts inside your tranny and sterndrives. It has been argued for year why manufacturers do not put them on their drives from the factory. I would bet it is cost but to each his own I say. If you want one then go get one and if you don't want one then don't get one. Sorry if I was long winded but this to me explains it better for most to understand what a drive show is and what it does.
