Carkington
Recruit
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2012
- Messages
- 2
My first post here so go easy on me. This is a long story and I hope whoever has the answer can get all the way through it. Sorry for the novel.
I own a big heavy fiberglass boater-home. The boat is a Carver, 1980, fly bridge with a MCM 260 and alpha gen one at 1.47 to 1. I think the original drive (1980) was an MR and it was replaced with alpha gen one before I got the boat. The engine is a pretty new repower. I take good care of this boat and chase albacore tuna with it in Oregon. If you know what that is then you know that I am running 30 to 50 miles offshore on day trips and running this boat pretty hard. As a result I spend alot of time making sure it all works as I intend to fish many times and do it safely. No one that sees it believes it is 33 yrs old.
Had it for 10 years now and I do most of my own wrenching. This is not my first boat and I own a pretty complete set of MC outdrive tools. I am not afraid to use them.
For most of the time I have had this boat the outdrive has been a constant source of fun times. It was damaged by water intrusion when I got it (JB welded stripped out oil vent hole) and rebuilt by me shortly afterwards.
After 8 years or so of fighting the old POS drive I decided to buy a new one and completely replace it. I found on the web a complete Mercruiser Alpha gen one drive with a one year warranty. I bought that drive from a dealer on the east coast who will remain nameless until I am convinced that they are as unscrupulous as I think they are. This was in Jan 2011.
The drive worked great and much quieter, easy shifting no issues. It came in a sealed up shipping box with Mercruiser stamped all over it, warranty paperwork, s/n stickers and it looked like exactly what I ordered. I did not pressure test the brand new out of the box drive. At the time I was thinking "why did I struggle with the original drive for so long?" We had a very memorable season in 2011 with very little wrenching or cursing and lots of whacking and stacking of the longfin tuna.
Fast forward to this march. I drained the drive oil to find water contamination. Then I pulled the drive and found water in the u-joint bellows.
Yeah I can see you all shaking your heads and reaching for the pint of beer.
I took the drive off and quickly discovered rusted bearings and waterlogged oil throughout the drive. The gears looked perfect. Many of the bearings were black and the races were worn. I decided to buy a reseal kit and replace all the bearings and seals. This is where it gets weird.
When I got into the lower 1/2 and pulled the fwd gear bearing race I discovered that the bearing was not the same as in the rebuild kit. What came out of the drive was 25520/25580 and what was in the kit was M80849/M804010. Yeah those are the bearing trade #'s not the MC part numbers. What this means is that the MC bearings are 3.5" outside diameter and the ones in the drive are 3.25". So my new shim set for that bearing does not work. I can buy those bearings at any bearing supplier. But I can't get shims without a mercruiser part #.
I decided to call MC tech support. They looked up my drive SN OA857192 and gave me the same part #'s I had in hand for the rebuild. Further they told me that the SN was for an MC alpha one 1987 "service drive" that was used for the tech training center and that the drive was built in March 08 and invoiced 19 march 08. They had no idea where it went after that. As far as the strange bearing in the forward end of the bullet they had no idea.
I then called the dealer that sold it to me. The service tech on the phone kicked me up to the owner as soon as I asked what did you guys send me anyway? Saying "I'm not touching this one". As soon as I got even part of this story out the owner of the company became very defensive and began to spew some easily detectable BS. It sounded well practiced. He claimed that he ordered the drive from MC and shipped it to me when he got it from them.
Ok the drive was built in 08 and I bought it in 11. Where the hell did it live in those three years? What exactly do I have on the back of my boat? The upper has a Mercruiser decal on it with an laser engraved serial number. It looks legit. The bottom 1/2 has no SN or other marks. I did notice a zinc that wraps around the prop shaft and the bearing carrier looks different than what I remember from the last Alpha I went through a few years ago.
A friend who is a lawyer when he is not fishing is looking into this. We sent a 'demand letter' to the dealer asking for the merchandise they advertised and that I paid for. Once I decide this guy is a POS I will gladly post the name here so no one else here gets scammed.
My problem is that I need shims to set the backlash on the fwd gear. And I need to reverse the exploded view on my workbench so I get after Mr Charlie tuna who will be here in three weeks.
I don't want this to become planet of the TUNA so we have to get out there and keep charlie in check before he takes over ala planet of the apes.
I did find the fwd gear bearing in a parts listing for a gen II drive and the shim set that goes with that bearing. I ordered one set of shims in the hopes that I will be able to shim that lower unit and get back in the game. The drive shaft housing is already done with no issues.
Oh and I found a bad spot on the bellows which is now replaced. Gimbal bearing is now new too if you were wondering.
I own a big heavy fiberglass boater-home. The boat is a Carver, 1980, fly bridge with a MCM 260 and alpha gen one at 1.47 to 1. I think the original drive (1980) was an MR and it was replaced with alpha gen one before I got the boat. The engine is a pretty new repower. I take good care of this boat and chase albacore tuna with it in Oregon. If you know what that is then you know that I am running 30 to 50 miles offshore on day trips and running this boat pretty hard. As a result I spend alot of time making sure it all works as I intend to fish many times and do it safely. No one that sees it believes it is 33 yrs old.
Had it for 10 years now and I do most of my own wrenching. This is not my first boat and I own a pretty complete set of MC outdrive tools. I am not afraid to use them.
For most of the time I have had this boat the outdrive has been a constant source of fun times. It was damaged by water intrusion when I got it (JB welded stripped out oil vent hole) and rebuilt by me shortly afterwards.
After 8 years or so of fighting the old POS drive I decided to buy a new one and completely replace it. I found on the web a complete Mercruiser Alpha gen one drive with a one year warranty. I bought that drive from a dealer on the east coast who will remain nameless until I am convinced that they are as unscrupulous as I think they are. This was in Jan 2011.
The drive worked great and much quieter, easy shifting no issues. It came in a sealed up shipping box with Mercruiser stamped all over it, warranty paperwork, s/n stickers and it looked like exactly what I ordered. I did not pressure test the brand new out of the box drive. At the time I was thinking "why did I struggle with the original drive for so long?" We had a very memorable season in 2011 with very little wrenching or cursing and lots of whacking and stacking of the longfin tuna.
Fast forward to this march. I drained the drive oil to find water contamination. Then I pulled the drive and found water in the u-joint bellows.
Yeah I can see you all shaking your heads and reaching for the pint of beer.
I took the drive off and quickly discovered rusted bearings and waterlogged oil throughout the drive. The gears looked perfect. Many of the bearings were black and the races were worn. I decided to buy a reseal kit and replace all the bearings and seals. This is where it gets weird.
When I got into the lower 1/2 and pulled the fwd gear bearing race I discovered that the bearing was not the same as in the rebuild kit. What came out of the drive was 25520/25580 and what was in the kit was M80849/M804010. Yeah those are the bearing trade #'s not the MC part numbers. What this means is that the MC bearings are 3.5" outside diameter and the ones in the drive are 3.25". So my new shim set for that bearing does not work. I can buy those bearings at any bearing supplier. But I can't get shims without a mercruiser part #.
I decided to call MC tech support. They looked up my drive SN OA857192 and gave me the same part #'s I had in hand for the rebuild. Further they told me that the SN was for an MC alpha one 1987 "service drive" that was used for the tech training center and that the drive was built in March 08 and invoiced 19 march 08. They had no idea where it went after that. As far as the strange bearing in the forward end of the bullet they had no idea.
I then called the dealer that sold it to me. The service tech on the phone kicked me up to the owner as soon as I asked what did you guys send me anyway? Saying "I'm not touching this one". As soon as I got even part of this story out the owner of the company became very defensive and began to spew some easily detectable BS. It sounded well practiced. He claimed that he ordered the drive from MC and shipped it to me when he got it from them.
Ok the drive was built in 08 and I bought it in 11. Where the hell did it live in those three years? What exactly do I have on the back of my boat? The upper has a Mercruiser decal on it with an laser engraved serial number. It looks legit. The bottom 1/2 has no SN or other marks. I did notice a zinc that wraps around the prop shaft and the bearing carrier looks different than what I remember from the last Alpha I went through a few years ago.
A friend who is a lawyer when he is not fishing is looking into this. We sent a 'demand letter' to the dealer asking for the merchandise they advertised and that I paid for. Once I decide this guy is a POS I will gladly post the name here so no one else here gets scammed.
My problem is that I need shims to set the backlash on the fwd gear. And I need to reverse the exploded view on my workbench so I get after Mr Charlie tuna who will be here in three weeks.
I don't want this to become planet of the TUNA so we have to get out there and keep charlie in check before he takes over ala planet of the apes.
I did find the fwd gear bearing in a parts listing for a gen II drive and the shim set that goes with that bearing. I ordered one set of shims in the hopes that I will be able to shim that lower unit and get back in the game. The drive shaft housing is already done with no issues.
Oh and I found a bad spot on the bellows which is now replaced. Gimbal bearing is now new too if you were wondering.
