Re-installation of Merc 898 Outdrive?

[Boomyal]

Helping the friend reinstall his outdrive. Case of the blind leading the blind. We left the shifter in forward and can see that the shifter will engage with the bar coming out of the outdrive when the drive is fully inserted.

So far we have only been able to insert the drive as far as the back end of the threads on the 6 mounting studs. The drive does not want to slide in any further and I am hesitant to bring out my John Henry (16lb sedge) to persuade it. We also rotated the crank while trying to insert it.

What are we missing?

 

[Don S]

Re: Re-installation of Merc 898 Outdrive?

Hopefully you got the alignment right, (2 fingers in and out) if you did, the next thing you are probably running into is the orings on the shaft. Put some oil on them and it will slide in a lot easier.

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: Re-installation of Merc 898 Outdrive?

[color=lt blue]Boom, I'll assume ya got the alignment tool made, and the engine properly aligned. With that said, check for worn splins on the shaft and coupler, to much grease may also keep it from going in. Possibly wrong o-rings on the shaft. Be sure to try and hold the u-joint assenbly straight till you must remove your hand.[/color]

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Re-installation of Merc 898 Outdrive?

Thanks all. Thought it might be an alignment issue. My friend will make the alignment tool tonight when his brother brings him a piece of bar stock from work.

He just wanted to install it temporarily to be able to start the newly installed engine.

Needless to say, you have to push a lot harder than two fingers will do to even get the wood alignment tool in. (Come on guys, no sniggering, the wood alignment tool was made by a bonafide machinist, using the Merc drive shaft as a pattern.)

Fear not that any Merc advice that you give me will go to waste. I am about to inherit (ok, 400$) the cousin to the boat my friend is working on now. I'll post pictures soon. It is an 18.5' Beachcraft with a Merc 888 package.

 

[Don S]

Re: Re-installation of Merc 898 Outdrive?

You don't need the drive on the boat to run the engine, just hook the hose up to the engine itself. Where the hose from the raw water pump attaches. The hose water pressure will do the job.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Re-installation of Merc 898 Outdrive?

Thanks Don. Will tuck that bit of info away for next time.

We finally got the drive on without effort. The main hangup was a little T shaped do-dad, inside the bottom of the outdrive that has to go into a slot on the bottom of the transom assy. It seems to be somewhat rotationally spring loaded and kept turning sideways as we inserted the drive. Once we noticed that and lined it up straight, the drive slid right on.