I recently bought a new boat and to my discovery after getting it home(a few days later) it had a small crack at the bottom of the hub where the skeg meets the gear housing and oil was leaking out. Come to find out the oil was coming from the prop shaft seal not the crack and the crack was a cosmetic issue more so than a mechanical problem. Well I had the crack welded and took the lower unit into get all of the seals replaced and after getting them replaced it still leaks around the prop shaft. They tried to tell me that the heat from welding the crack probably warped the bearing carrier or something causing it to not seal properly which i find hard to believe. When I looked at it, you could see where they had beat on the carrier around the prop shaft in order to get it seated back in when they were putting everything back together...just wanting some opinions and suggestion...could it have been the welding or is it more likely that they beat it out of round when hammering it back in? I do not believe the welding that was done at the edge of the gear case hub would put near enough heat on the bearing carrier to warp it. I just don't know if its worth tearing apart and putting a new bearing carrier in it which may or may not fix the problem.
