mercruiser replacement drive ?

[billder62]

Hi all , my first post , just wondering if anyone has any input on doug russell drives , searching and seems like a good deal , dont know too much about after market drives

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: mercruiser replacement drive ?

Welcome to iboats......
What kind of drive?.....​

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: mercruiser replacement drive ?

Sterndrive Engineering is really the only true after market drive. They build their own from "scratch"

The other choices are re-manufactured/rebuilt and "new old stock"

Rebuilt are fine depending on who does it and what sort of written warranty they give you.

There's a LOT of new old stock drives on ebay. I don't know what that does to your warranty....If it's a local dealer and you get a written warranty you're good to go. If you have it shipped to your door....well I donno....you'll probably have to ship it back to get warranty service (you'll pay for shipping) only to find out that they deny your claim for one reason or another.

A lot of people have used Sterndrive Engr. http://www.sterndrive.cc/
They seem to be a LOT cheaper and have a good warranty.

I'm sure a few of them will chime right in here.

Regards,


Rick

 

[QC]

Re: mercruiser replacement drive ?

I just installed one of those SEIs for a friend and the quality seemed very good. I had one problem, the trim tab/zinc combo deal wouldn't line up properly with the mounting bolt and hole. I called them and they allowed me to grind out the access hole with no hassle. Wasn't that big of a deal. All else was perfect.

 

[billder62]

Re: mercruiser replacement drive ?

thanks for the input , oh by the way , 1992 searay sundancer, 5.7 w / alpha1 gen 2 drv 150 ratio , just checked that site wow 3 yr warr. wasnt sure if I should stick with OEM now I have some thinking to do ?

 

[180shabah]

Re: mercruiser replacement drive ?

The SEI warranty is outstanding, 3 years - NO FAULT. You will not find that anywhere else. The only complaint I have heard is that the paint quality is not as good as Merc. You can have that drive repainted many, many times for the price difference.

I am running an SEI lower on my boat an have no complaints at all, except that I bought it too soon. I only got a 1yr warranty. Oh well, it was still less expensive than a reman unit.

I am planning for more power which mean I will need to re-gear. I have decided that I will purchase a new SEI upper and sell the old Merc upper(in perfect condition). Based on what my damaged lower sold for, I hope to get most of the cost of the new unit back.

One more note - Mercruiser changed the speedometer connector on the top of the lower unit sometime after '96. Your new drive will have the new style connector, so you will need to change the connector on the hose on your boat. I think the price of the connector was $6.40 when I did mine.

 

[wca_tim]

Re: mercruiser replacement drive ?

I have an SEI lower on mine with 40 or so hours on it now. It was kinda noisy (gear whine) for the first 20+, but after letting the gears wear in (aren't lapped at the factory), and a couple of lube changes to remove the fine little filings, its much quieter, and has worked just great so far. It was like half the price of a reman unit and they got it to me in 2 days... Would buy from them again.. Am thinking about another repower already and may change the upper like shabah if I do. Will have to think about it a bit first.