Fishing line broke seals on lower unit.. Opinions?

[WeekendCruise]

My last time time out for the season i noticed a weird vibration when turning or adjusting the trim. I had a new gimbal and u-joints installed earlier in the year, so i figured it wouldn't be that..I only drove the boat like this for about an hour at slow speeds back to the dock. Turns out there was fishing line that got wrapped around the prop, broke some seals and water got in to my lower unit. Mechanic said there was almost no gear lube left in the lower unit and the magnet was full of metal shavings. Anyways, the drive has been resealed, pressure tested and refilled with fluid. The boat has also been winterized. My only worry is how much damage was done to the drive..I was told time will tell.. Any one have any thoughts or opinions on how much damage could have been done or how likely it is that i'll be OK next season? Thanks.

 

[Bt Doctur]

being a outdrive with no oil in the lower means you had no oil in the upper too. the upper should have been disassembleb for a inspection at the very least.

 

[tank1949]

being a outdrive with no oil in the lower means you had no oil in the upper too. the upper should have been disassembleb for a inspection at the very least.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Next time don't let [people] fish off stern. They don't [care] and you have to eat it. 1500 bucks or less for new after market OD. Good luck!

 

[WeekendCruise]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Next time don't let [people] fish off stern. They don't [care] and you have to eat it. 1500 bucks or less for new after market OD. Good luck!

Yea, we've never fished off this boat before. Strictly for fun. Must have ran some over in the harbor or something.. Can't disassemble anything now, the boat went in to storage on Sunday.. was just curious if something similar happened to anyone else & how likely it is that there's serious damage.

 

[Watermann]

Most people now days would sell the boat and then the new owner comes here wanting to know what to do when it breaks down.

I've had the same fishing line on the prop shaft happen to an OB and it just milked the oil. All I did was reseal the LU and all has been well.

 

[robert graham]

A lot would depend on if it was freshwater or saltwater.....saltwater in bearings and gears can get real ugly quick!.....I pull my prop at least a couple of times a year just to look for fishing line around prop shaft/under seals....

 

[WeekendCruise]

Most people now days would sell the boat and then the new owner comes here wanting to know what to do when it breaks down.

I've had the same fishing line on the prop shaft happen to an OB and it just milked the oil. All I did was reseal the LU and all has been well.

Haha, wouldn't do that, have too much bad karma to make up for. It was in Lake Ontario, fresh water. Most likely picked up the fishing line in the harbor, always people fishing, despite the 100 no fishing in harbor signs. I didn't use it that long... and it's a brand new out drive beginning of the season... so im going to hope for the best i guess...

 

[Watermann]

Pop the top cap if the gears look good then 2 scenarios, the line was on there longer than you know and the lack of lube with water in the gear oil started causing enough damage to where you noticed the vibration ... or... It could just be that the line on the shaft caused the vibration and the new gears have more shavings on the magnet from the break in. I would keep an eye on it and just run her close to port for the first run and maybe for peace of mid go out with another boater friend as a chase boat.

 

[WeekendCruise]

Pop the top cap if the gears look good then 2 scenarios, the line was on there longer than you know and the lack of lube with water in the gear oil started causing enough damage to where you noticed the vibration ... or... It could just be that the line on the shaft caused the vibration and the new gears have more shavings on the magnet from the break in. I would keep an eye on it and just run her close to port for the first run and maybe for peace of mid go out with another boater friend as a chase boat.

Thanks, that's what i'll do.. Unfortunetly i have 5 months to think about it.

 

[achris]

If you plan on letting water (even fresh) sit in that drive for 5 months, start saving to buy a new one now. Even a week is more than long enough to pit a bearing surface to the point of it being unusable.

Also, you gave us zero information about the drive, year, model....If it's a recent drive, it should have had a special seal that stops fishing line doing any damage. If that special seal wasn't installed (ie a non-genuine seal was used), then it's the person who last worked on the drive who should be doing something about it. But if you leave it 5 months, he's going to have nothing to do with it. You need to get it back to him, asap....

Chris....

 

[GasCan II]

Read the post, he said it was resealed , pressure tested , and filled with oil.
I would say at this point try it out and see what happens.
Same thing happened to me ,did the same as you and everything worked out fine.

 

[Walt T]

I would have it looked at at least pop the cap. Then you have 5 months to get it fixed and not 5 months to think about it getting more and more constipated with each passing day.

 

[WeekendCruise]

Not to sound dumb.. but pop what top cap and what would i be looking for? I'll be near the boat this weekend.. going to throw some fuel stabilizer in. There's a full tank of non ethanol fuel in the tank. Liquid gold, dont want it to get bad over the winter. Also, Chris- There is no water in the drive now, it's been resealed, pressure tested and filled back up with the performance gear lube. I have no idea what seals were used. I believe it was an SEI lower unit that was installed. I didn't run it long while it was making the vibration.. so here's to having some good luck..

 

[WeekendCruise]

It's an alpha 1 gen 2 by the way. attached to the 3.0

 

[achris]

It's an alpha 1 gen 2 by the way. attached to the 3.0

So it should have had the 'fishing line cutter' seal in it...