Outer Drive Gear Lube for Dummies ?

[Tea Bag]

Does anyone know of a presentation or something like that , that shows how to do a simple Gear Lube. I have a 1999 Volvo Penta engine. Its the one that you have to remove the props in order to drain the oil. Can i do the lube with one dainty kits that you screw on top of the bottle of oil and pump it up? I was told by a "certified boat mech," that in order to do it right you must use the big silver canister and it costs like $300 for the canister tank thingy? Any comments or guidance is appreciated. Thanks

 

[BeaufortTJustice]

Re: Outer Drive Gear Lube for Dummies ?

Don't know of a presentation, per se, but the manual does give a pretty simple step-by-step. I recently did mine after many hours of research. I used the cheap kit sold at Walmart and it seemed to work fine...the biggest issue (according to my research) is air pockets getting trapped in the drive. The cheap kit screwed into the drain easily and the pump worked ok. The trick to keeping air bubbles to a minimum is 1) go slow, very slow, and 2) while pumping, don't let the pump come all the way back up and don't push it all the way down...keep it in between the two points...for some reason if you don't, it creates a bubble every time.

I have not heard of the canister thing you mentioned, which in no way means that it is BS, i just have not come across it in my research. The guy I pestered at my nearby VP dealer never mentioned it to me. Hopefully someone else can enlighten us on the canister and whether it is needed or not. Happy boating.

BTW - if you don't have the manual, you should be able to find it here on this forum...look for "adults only section" in OMC / Volvo / other I/Os subforum.

 

[Tea Bag]

Re: Outer Drive Gear Lube for Dummies ?

ok , thanks for the responce ill give it a try. I bought a boat and when i went to a marina to inquire about their maint prices i almost hit the floor I could not beleive they wanted $1,500.00 a year for winterization and de-winterization. All their yearly maint was preventative and not anything reactive. So i figured i would teach myself through re-search to do work on my own boat. So far i have done an oil change, and changed the impeller. So i still need to do new spark plugs and a gear lube. I bought one of those cheap kits from west marine and ill use your method by going slow. So i guess you stop pumping once oil comes out of the top??

 

[BeaufortTJustice]

Re: Outer Drive Gear Lube for Dummies ?

On my SX-A drive, there is three screws that all access the gearcase - bottom drain screw, side level screw, and a top screw w/ dipstick. Take top and side ones out during fill process. If i recall my manual, drive should be all the way down / in during draining, then tilted to 5 degrees out / up for fill - double check that in your manual. When filling, just fill slowly until oil starts to come out the side level opening.

Also, replace all the o-rings on those screws while you got them out...the piece of mind is worth the $5 cost.

Another hint - before you remove the pump from drain hole, replace the top and side screws. This will limit the amount of oil that escapes before you put the drain screw back in. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[nlain]

Re: Outer Drive Gear Lube for Dummies ?

If you have a lube monitor on board you will have to pump it to proper level, Merc has this, Volvo may not.