Ever see a twisted drive shaft?

solar7647

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
1,218
Has anyone ever seen a twisted drive shaft but the coupler didn't fail? Alpha 1 gen 1.Was cruising yesterday about 3200rpm and suddenly the boat came to stop and the engine died like right now. 4.3l 205, would not crank at all after, I would get maybe a 1/8th turn and it would stop like the engine locked up. After a little time I was able to get the engine to crank and start and putted back to the ramp. It seemed to run fine. I inspected the drive thinking I hit something and found no damage not even a scratch on the prop. Once home I put it on muffs and it started right up, when out of the boat I could hear there was definitely an issue in the drive. I pulled the drive and found the splines on the shaft twisted and pulled the cap and found the gears chewed to **** and pieces of metal all over and no gear oil. Best guess is I have been loosening lube over time and finally was dry and metal got into the gears and it jammed up the works.
 

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Searay205

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
468
Incredible. On my old boat I would hit crap and engine would stall multiple times. Splines always looked perfect
 

solar7647

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
1,218
Just makes me wonder how much pressure it takes to get the coupler to fail. I'm still debating if I am going to go the grave yard and get a new uper unit, send this one to rebuild or just get a new one.
 

Bondo

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
70,953
Ayuh,..... Buy yerself an SEI drive, you don't really have anything to rebuild,....
 

Rick Stephens

Admiral
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
6,118
Upper case gears gobbled a tooth and froze up, stopping your motor. Lucky it didn't put something through the gear case.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
49,538
Twisted shafts happen
 

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Grub54891

Admiral
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
6,071
If you do just get the upper, take the bottom half to a rebuilder and have it gone through. The shavings are in there waiting to destroy the rest. Or simply buy a completely new drive and have fun without worrying about any more issues.
 
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