1975 888 mercruiser outdrive-rebuild or not?

[Bcrowe]

Hey all once again am looking for some advice/guidence. I think I have completely shelled my outdrive(or rather it was trashed before i got ahold of it).
I drained the outdrive lube and there was less than a quart in the outdrive so i refilled it. the prop was barely turning so I increased to throttle to see if it would turn any better. this was done on muffs in my driveway. Anyhow, it didnt make a difference. I am considering tearing down the drive to see what all is damaged.

My question is it worth my time to tear it down due to its age. second if I do tear into it is the rebuild a job that a person like me with no experience can do. I have lots of engine expreicnce but no drive experience. Will I need any special tools. I have the original manual for the drive.

If it isnt worth the time/effort to rebuild what sould i replace it with. I have a ford 302 for an engine.

Any help you can give would be wonderful.
Thanks in advance,
Brad

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 1975 888 mercruiser outdrive-rebuild or not?

Hey all once again am looking for some advice/guidence. I think I have completely shelled my outdrive(or rather it was trashed before i got ahold of it).
I drained the outdrive lube and there was less than a quart in the outdrive so i refilled it. the prop was barely turning so I increased to throttle to see if it would turn any better. this was done on muffs in my driveway. Anyhow, it didnt make a difference. I am considering tearing down the drive to see what all is damaged.

My question is it worth my time to tear it down due to its age. second if I do tear into it is the rebuild a job that a person like me with no experience can do. I have lots of engine expreicnce but no drive experience. Will I need any special tools. I have the original manual for the drive.

If it isnt worth the time/effort to rebuild what sould i replace it with. I have a ford 302 for an engine.

Any help you can give would be wonderful.
Thanks in advance,
Brad

Not worth the time & effort to rebuild....
The tools to do a rebuild are over 1K themselves....
You can get a new aftermarket drive by SEI for about $1200....
Use the old parts from your drive for the 'assembly' kit, especially the intermediate shift shaft.....
You need a Alpha 1, Gen 1 with a 1.5:1 ratio....

 

[Bcrowe]

Re: 1975 888 mercruiser outdrive-rebuild or not?

Thanks Haut Medoc,
just making sure i understand you correctly the 888 is the same as the alpha 1 gen 1? i dont want to accidentally get the wrong drive...also you mentionend the intermediate shift shaft and other parts off of my old drive. is there any chance that those parts could have gotten ruined when this drive came apart? im tempted to take it apart and see what all is wrong with it..but wouldnt know what i was lookin at anyhow.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: 1975 888 mercruiser outdrive-rebuild or not?

It's the little shift lever, front, center.....
You cant take that off unless you have separated the upper & lower cases.....
It's held on by a cotter pin...
You will need the ss washer that fits over the shift shaft & the nuts that hold the cases together.....
The shaft is the only merc specific part, the rest are hardware items....
Like I said, the tools to pull it apart will set you back a couple hundred....