Help with Drive Shaft, 1993 Merc. 115hp..

[frustratedboater]

Greetings,
I am having trouble removing my drive shaft. I am in the middle of my project of changing ove from an ocean drive (+5" length) to the regular length. The drive doesn't seem to budge! I have the carrier out and pinion nut off. Any assistance would be appreciated..

 

[racerone]

Grab the shaft with a sturdy vice.-----Then a 2X4 against the housing and give it a good bump.

 

[frustratedboater]

Yeah, I had a small 2x4 right next to the shaft while holding the shaft & unit suspended off the ground and smacked the 2x4 with a steel mallet hoping to pop it. I even applied some penetrant and a little heat. It seems as if there is a small carrier-like piece pressed in that is keeping the shaft seated. Nothings moving... Are you sure that is what it should take?

 

[frustratedboater]

Anything else, other than the pinion nut, that would keep it from coming out?

 

[emckelvy]

You're probably gonna need a lot more heat around the driveshaft bearing upper race. It's a tight fit into the gearcase, so you need to heat around the outside of both sides of the gearcase, in the location of the bearing race. If you're using a propane torch, it's probably not putting out enough heat. A MAPP torch head, either on propane or MAPP gas will probably do the job. So would an oxy-acetlyene but then you've got to be careful not to melt the gearcase! :0

I would use a chunk of 4x4 on the gearcase housing if you have one and a 5-lb mallet or a hefty no-bounce mallet. It usually takes a pretty good rap to get things busted loose. Sometimes the tapered fit of the pinion gear against the end of the driveshaft will cause the hangup. I've even had to put a little heat on the pinion gear in the past, but this is a last resort as you don't want to ruin a heat-treated gear.

As Racerone suggested, if you carefully clamp the driveshaft in a stout vise (protect the shaft from being marred by the vise jaws), you can get a pretty good rap on the gearcase. I've seen em not want to go when you're just holding onto the driveshaft, but bust right loose when the driveshaft is clamped down.

HTH & G'luck.......ed

 

[frustratedboater]

I appreciate the support, I just want to make sure that I am following the right procedure and not 'add' to the expense list or destroying my unit. I was using the propane torch, but will switch to the yellow bottle to increase the heat factor... My vise jaws don't quite clear the end of my bench, so I'll have to put a block in there to clear it and see where that goes.

Thanks for the heat tip! I will hope to get this part of the job behind me. I have a question regarding the prop shaft assembly (3-balls, tip, etc as the marina pulled the carrier for me), but will put that into another post.

THANK YOU!