Dead in the water on our first boat trip

[bryceman2712]

So we bought our first boat about a month ago and I've been getting it ready for this weekend last night we launched the boat everything went great ran around for about an hour when all of a sudden I heard this big clank and the nose dropped. We have a 1992 4.3L with alpha one and I was only at about 2800 rpm when this happened. The motor stayed running but I had no forward or reverse and after a minute or two the temp started rising so I shut it down. We was fortunate and wasn't setting there 5 minutes when I mananged to flag down a fishing boat and the towed us in and right up to my trailer and I only had to go In waste deep in freezing water. Does anyone know what I broke or what kind of money I'm looking at for parts? I'm pretty sure whatever broke also trashed the impeller bc it started getting hot. Thanks for any advice you guys

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,.... Drain, 'n pull the drive off, ya most likely either stripped out the coupler, or trashed the gears in the drive,....

If there's alota metal in the drained oil, it's probably broken gears,.....

A flashlight lookin' in through the gimbel bearin' will give ya a look at the coupler,.....

 

[burtonrider11]

Sorry for the misfortune. Nothing worse than a day on the water cut short. It's very hard to tell what could be wrong. However, I would have to guess it's something in your outdrive if you lost forward and reverse....Perhaps the gimbal bearing? There are many on here more knowledgable than I when it comes to the internals and connections from engine to outdrive.

Hopefully it's an easy fix. Check the fluid in your drive to see what that looks like as well.

 

[jimmbo]

You say the engine started getting hot? That is a clue that the water pump in the gear case quit turning. So I would suspect a failure in the upper gearset or constant velocity joint(double-U-joint). As mention before, the coupler may have shredded, or even separated from the flywheel. Inspection will reveal all.


When you were getting it ready, did you check the level of the oil in the outdrive?

 

[redneck joe]

I learned several boats ago the the water gods do not like 'we' on the first trip, especially if it is the family. Ive had the same experience as you.

 

[Bt Doctur]

So we bought our first boat about a month ago and I've been getting it ready for this weekend
Can you describe everything you had checked to get it ready? Pre-purchase on water test? Survey?

The impeller turns when the motor runs . coupler turns the inputshaft, shaft turns upper unit gears, lower gear connected to lower driveshaft that turns the impeller, that turns the gears in the lower unit.
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6A3R3.PDF

 

[bryceman2712]

Yes I followed a lot of good advise on here and fully serviced and changed all fluids and filters. I was thinking hopefully it's just a u-joint or something. When I pulled the engine cover back I could see the drive shaft spinning coming out of the rear of the motor. And when it first happened there was a small puff of smoke on top of the water behind the boat. Everything visually looks the same I even looked in the prop shaft. I almost knew this would happen the second I said the words "honey let's buy a boat" I knew I'd be stranded sooner or later.

 

[Rick Stephens]

"honey let's buy a boat"

You shoulda heard the wailing when I said that to my bride......

And then the desire for a boat becomes an addiction to making it perfect..... who needs money anyway.

 

[Bt Doctur]

When you removed the drive did you grease everything?
changing the fluids? you did drain it from the bottom plug and fill it from the bottom,correct
Could you have hit bottom, was the prop nicked/damaged SS or Al

 

[krakatoa]

I learned several boats ago the the water gods do not like 'we' on the first trip, especially if it is the family. Ive had the same experience as you.

I agree, first trip on boat are for the guys as a recon trip

 

[bryceman2712]

Yeah we got a pump to change the fluid properly and my depth finder is a very small old unit but it said it was 54ft deep so I'm sure we didn't hit bottom and with no visabe damage to anything I don't think I hit anything in the water.I never removed the drive but look like I will be tmrw. I seen sei version for $1,299 and with the age of my boat might just be worth buying new

 

[bryceman2712]

One thing I'm worried about is I couldn't get it all the way up on the trailer it is about 2 inches from the rubber wheel in the front. I have straps on the back and it is setting on bunks will this be OK or should I back it into that water and try to get it on the rubber roller? Without power it took everything I had to get it where it is now? I'm about 1.5 hours from home. It also has crank strap on front and safety chain

 

[Bt Doctur]

Before you spend money on parts you may not need , remove the drive and find out what happened so it dosent happen with the new drive.

 

[Alumarine]

One thing I'm worried about is I couldn't get it all the way up on the trailer it is about 2 inches from the rubber wheel in the front. I have straps on the back and it is setting on bunks will this be OK or should I back it into that water and try to get it on the rubber roller? Without power it took everything I had to get it where it is now? I'm about 1.5 hours from home. It also has crank strap on front and safety chain

If you back the trailer in farther it might be easier to get the boat all the way on the trailer.

 

[bryceman2712]

We actually parked the truck on the boat ramp facing the water and was able to get it the rest of the way on. And now we have made it home. I'm going to look up some videos and look through my manual on that drive unit and I am going to start removal of the unit with my wife taking pics until we find something broken. Thanks for all the advice guys I will update when I find something broken.

 

[bryceman2712]

well it's not looking good, after draining some of the oil there is very small metal shavings in the fluid. it don't smell burnt tho so hopefully i am only looking at 1 broken item.:facepalm: my wife was broke down on a boat as a kid with her dad for 6 hours ended up sun burnt and has really lost faith that boats can be dependable. back to the garage hopefully i can tear this thing apart tonight

 

[Rick Stephens]

Best of luck to you!

 

[Mo1]

I was looking forward to my first trip on the lake with mine

 

[Bt Doctur]

take the top cap off the drive and look inside
but the question is how much oil came out. some filings on the magnet are perfecty normal wear and tear

 

[bryceman2712]

Ok many beers and a few hours later lower unit and upper unit or on the garage floor. Not really sure what is wrong at this point but I will tell you what I found that I didn't think was right. Drained the oil and maybe a quart came out. Before taking anything off I put the boat in forward and rotated the prop, it would only go one direction so thought that was good when I turned it clockwise I could hear and feel a clicking or binding. Pulled the lower first then the upper and when the upper section came out I was pretty much bummed out to see that the coupler and both u joints where brand new, so new that they still hand red lube on them it hasn't aged a bit. And in the lower unit there is a plastic piece that separates where the water comes up from what looks like an oil pump that piece was broke in half and glued together.
Tmrw morning I plan on digging into the cap on the upper unit. Looked into the area the upper shaft came out of still on the boat and all I saw was new red lube and spline which looked fine. Thanks everyone for the help so far.