Project Fuggly - No Longer Fuggly And Splashed!!!!!!

[gm280]

It was delivered while I was on vacation, I just pulled it out of the box yesterday, a week and a half later. Not sure if it was insured or not, I'll have to check on that. If welding fixes it, that should be free.

Oh well Arch, yes, I guess the best thing is to just re-weld it back on and move forward. I know it can look and work like new because I had the same type broken off part. But I didn't have the piece that broke off like you do. I had to manufacture one before having it TIG welded back on. Mine was on the rear left side of the cavitation plate and was a lot larger broken off section then yours. And I fitted it so well that the welding shop was amazed at the manufactured part I made. I can weld a lot of things. But they are steel and such. But I don't have abilities or equipment to TIG weld aluminum. So I went to a quality welding shop and let them do the work. It cost me $75 dollars, but when I was finished fairing it in and then priming and painting, you can't tell where the part was broken off even looking really close... So I am sure you can do the same after seeing your work... :thumb:

 

[WOEISMEIGOTTA470]

Arch, my heart sank as soon as I saw that picture. I just finished reading through everything, and am very sorry and disappointed that it arrived that way. I want to help make this right for you, so let me know what I can do to help. I think you have 30-days to file a claim with UPS. I'd at least try to get the ball rolling with that. Did you happen to take photos of the box and packaging while you were unpacking it? It is also important that you save the packaging for the claims agent inspection.
Call me when you get a chance, I'd like to help in any way I can. I'm sorry for your grief, this really sucks! I hope like others have said, that it can be fixed by a welder and you can be on your way soon.

 

[archbuilder]

No worries Woe, Its not your fault. I have a call into my friend, fixing this should be pretty simple for him. After thinking about it, it might make sense to just swap the gears anyhow, my old housing is in much better shape.

 

[Woodonglass]

Yeah, and besides that, you'll get to inspect and discover what the innards of her looks like!!!!

 

[archbuilder]

I talked to my friend Don, and he said no problem on the welding, as long as we can keep the seal / bearings cool. On swapping the gears he said we might have to make some tools, but swapping them didn't sound that bad. Need to do a little research on what all involved, then get with him in the week or two.

 

[zool]

Wow, that's a bummer Arch!...I worked at UPS many moons ago, a lot of "characters' handled that package.

I too think its wise to try the casing repair 1st, once you open and dismantle, the whole gearset needs resetting with dye, and theres a lot of little parts and shims in there, worse come to worse and the weld wont hold, im sure the gear swap would be doable for someone like you. I have a similar problem with the skeg on myVP v8 ratio lower im swapping on, I may still just swap the hypoid set from the worn skeg drive, to one of my originals lower casings...

Maybe if u go 1st, it will make mine easier

 

[gm280]

I talked to my friend Don, and he said no problem on the welding, as long as we can keep the seal / bearings cool. On swapping the gears he said we might have to make some tools, but swapping them didn't sound that bad. Need to do a little research on what all involved, then get with him in the week or two.

arch, what is the issue with that lower section verse other lower foot sections as far as changing gears and such? I really am curious because I never hear of setting backlash and such on OB engines. Of course I haven work on many OBs either... I use to do a lot of that on aircraft altitude indicators and transmission antenna drive gear box rebuilds. IDK :noidea:

 

[nurseman]

Hey arch, reading all the comments about UPS reminded me of this.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q6_9A90cUk

Hope it works out for you

 

[archbuilder]

GM I maybe wrong on the backlash, but I read about setting them up last fall and I thought I remembered something about backlash, preload etc. Struck me as similar to a ring and pinion in a rear end. I need to refresh myselft, but as I recall the lower units are all the same and contain the reverse gears. The upper unit is where the gear ratio is changed. So my plan is to use my lower unit (much cleaner) and the upper unit that I just got. (after its repaired!)

Nurseman, that is pretty funny, I forgot about that!

 

[jakedaawg]

Yep, backlash, preload, rolling torque. All things that need to be set properly when setting up an outdrive. Not hard really just time consuming. Special tools are available and the manual takes you through it step by step.

 

[archbuilder]

I still haven't made up my mind Jake, but I am leaning towards taking the inspection plate off and taking a peak inside.....if it looks good, I think we are just going to weld the piece back on and clean it up.

I'm picking up the tube for the trailer today (along with an assortment of stuff for my gate project). I need to do some cleaning / organizing in the hanger Saturday, but should get back to the trailer Sunday. I had planned a lake trip, but it looks like rain, which is weird in August!

 

[jakedaawg]

I'm picking up the tube for the trailer today (along with an assortment of stuff for my gate project). I need to do some cleaning / organizing in the hanger Saturday, but should get back to the trailer Sunday. I had planned a lake trip, but it looks like rain, which is weird in August!

Lucky for you! I have winterized and shrunk wrapped 14 boats so far. We get really busy really soon. They roll up the sidewalks and freeze the lake a few days after labor day here. I am exagerating but not by too many weeks.

 

[archbuilder]

Jake I am hoping fore a few more weekends in September where we can float around in 85 degree water and enjoy beverages. Picked up the steel for the trailer tongue today...all 20' and 165 LBS of it....and a couple hundred pounds of steel for my new front gate. Strange, my wallet feels a lot lighter after that! I was debating tonight, but for some reason I see the trailer getting painted.

 

[sphelps]

After all the work to the trailer. May as well paint it .. Maybe use the same paint your putting on the gate ...

 

[archbuilder]

I think i have talked myself into painting it Sam.

I spent the morning with my helper cleaning out the hanger. It is sort of organized now, before it was a mess. I need to get the shop part built out and final organization done one of these days, but I have a lot of other irons in the fire.

After a late lunch I was headed out to work on the trailer and a friend I hadn't seen in a while stopped by. So I got a late start on the trailer tongue, but I did get the demo done. Here is the bulldog hitch and the 165 lb tube that will make the new tongue ....I think it should be sufficient ;-)



I unboted the piece that held the winch and took it off first, after that I pulled the bolt that held on the tongue piece,,,,,all of it was heavy, 4" pipe.



Then with the smoke wrench and some cut off wheels I demoed the front cross member and the hinge point for the tongue.....that was pretty heavy duty, so I opted for the smoke wrench.



Tomorrow I have some grinding to get done, then fabricating the new tongue starts. I had the not so happy vision that I am going to need to put the boat back on the trailer to fit some of the fabrication......yeah.....then take it off for paint, its never simple right? Or do I just make it complicated?

 

[archbuilder]

I really hate myself.....I just thought about putting a folding tongue on it.......

 

[jbcurt00]

I've wanted to convert a long tongue on a trailer into a reciever hitch sort of removable coupler.

But a folding tongue would be great if you can get the boat to fit in just over its own length instead of 3-4ft longer trailer tongue space.

 

[gm280]

arch, I know exactly what you're going through. I had to remodel my trailer as well because I had cracked tongue on my trailer. And I also used 4" X 4" square tubing and welded everything together to move the weak section back to a better design to spread the load over a larger areas to reduce future cracking again. You can see my efforts in the link below if you like. Seem really similar... :thumb:

 

[archbuilder]

GM, seems like the trailers are the thing that gets ignored or the corners cut on it!

I spent a lot of time Sunday measuring. First I put the trailer up on 4 jack stands, then leveled it using a laser transit. Once it was level, I shot the two frame rails where they come together up front. I was surprised to find out they are in the same plane with the rest of the rails....everyplace I shot was plus or minus 1/16" or so.



But something on the old tongue struck me as cadiwampus.....the joints were really sloppy, but it seem to angle off to the left a lot.

I pulled a string line down the center, and found out the mounting brackets I torched off above were off center 1/2". That is an easy fix, since i am redoing all of that.

I also cut the new front cross member, 2nd time was the charm. The first time I cut it I measured the angle on one side, apparently the other angle was a little different. This is because the front cross member is off center a little also. Again, I don't think its going to be an issue, just need to get the alignment correct.



I also cut the tongue to length. Now I need to spend some time grinding, then we should be ready to get it all welded back together.

 

[Corjen1]

I really hate myself.....I just thought about putting a folding tongue on it.......

Wish I had did it on mine...now thats on the winter project list...because I LOVE to do things twice!!!!