Thought I'd pull a powerhead today...

[J. Fenn]

Thought wrong.

The engine is a 1984 Seadrive that was used in saltwater. A lot.

I have the factory manual and went through each step. Lots of heating and tapping ensued. Except for wringing off the head of one of the long bolts that goes through the exhaust housing into the powerhead, things went o.k. Anyway, once all the bolts were either removed or had their heads wrung off, I hitched up my lifter to the flywheel, attached to my hoist, and proceeded to lift the whole boat. The powerhead would not separate.

I had the idea of threading in some even longer bolts through the exhaust housing into the powerhead and tapping on those to try to break the powerhead free. Then reason prevailed and I thought I'd ask some people with experience first. If you have any tips, please share. Thank you.

 

[OBJ]

Re: Thought I'd pull a powerhead today...

Remove the lower unit if you haven't all ready done so. If the lower unit is still on, chance is the splines are stuck in the power head.

Are ya' sure all the retainer nuts have been removed? If you have the OEM manual, they should be. If it's a V4 block, there should be two nuts at the rear and two up front.

IF the lower unit is off and IF all the retaining bolts and nuts are removed, the power head to adaptor gasket has got it and the long bolts with the heads broke off may be corroded in the holes. Going to be a tough one to remove. Unless you pull the engine and turn it upside down, getting some penetrating stuff in there like PB Blaster will be hard.

If you can get the hook end down between the block and midsection, you can get some prying up motion that may get it to move some. heating the areas around the long bolts will help.

Be persistent and use heat....that's what one guy said to me that does a lot of salt engines. I'm sure some of the other guys will be along to add suggestions.

 

[Walker]

Re: Thought I'd pull a powerhead today...

Betcha 10 bucks those long bolts you wrung the heads off of are corroded in the exhaust housing. You're in for a lot of work to get this baby off.

 

[J. Fenn]

Re: Thought I'd pull a powerhead today...

Remove the lower unit if you haven't all ready done so. If the lower unit is still on, chance is the splines are stuck in the power head.

Are ya' sure all the retainer nuts have been removed? If you have the OEM manual, they should be. If it's a V4 block, there should be two nuts at the rear and two up front.

IF the lower unit is off and IF all the retaining bolts and nuts are removed, the power head to adaptor gasket has got it and the long bolts with the heads broke off may be corroded in the holes. Going to be a tough one to remove. Unless you pull the engine and turn it upside down, getting some penetrating stuff in there like PB Blaster will be hard.

If you can get the hook end down between the block and midsection, you can get some prying up motion that may get it to move some. heating the areas around the long bolts will help.

Be persistent and use heat....that's what one guy said to me that does a lot of salt engines. I'm sure some of the other guys will be along to add suggestions.

I used quite a bit of heat and PB Blaster, which is why I was able to get 5 of the 6 long bolts out. They were boogers. The lower unit was already off. All the nuts and bolts shown in my OEM manual have been removed. I thought about turning it upside down as well, for the exact reason you said. I tried to pull the entire propulsion unit off but so far no go. It is frozen to the drive unit as well. What about my idea of threading in some longer long bolts and tapping on those to separate the powerhead? Too risky, perhaps? Thank you for your suggestions.

 

[OBJ]

Re: Thought I'd pull a powerhead today...

Had a thought here.....it hurt....d....but any how, those two studs that stick down at the rear of the block, run the nuts back on them till you just get a full nut. This will give you something to pry up on with a bar or some "suitable" tool. Maybe you can at least get it to move a little.

 

[mikesea]

Re: Thought I'd pull a powerhead today...

how many broke off?the method my shops used was lots of heat around the bolt WITHOUT melting down,while hanging the engine from the flywheel we used a air chisle with a thin (thinner than bolt )and would vibrate the broken bolt,again the area around needs to be HOT,what happens is the salt,and corrosion trap the bolt in the housing,the threads in the block are NOT the problem,you need to free the bolts up.if you can rotate around enouge to get an 1/8 of clearance ,you can cut the bolts when exposed from the housing with an air saw .or sawzall.etc doind as explained prying on the studs all help.its a TIME consuming game.Idea next time,heat the area,get the air chisle and tap on the bolts ,more often then not,once the crap inside falls out from the vibration,the bolt will back out while being tapped,use low power on the air chistle,if its one bolt ,carefully rocking the powehead will eventually break the bolt,Ive done that many times ,then use easy out for the broken piece in block,

 

[J. Fenn]

Re: Thought I'd pull a powerhead today...

how many broke off?the method my shops used was lots of heat around the bolt WITHOUT melting down,while hanging the engine from the flywheel we used a air chisle with a thin (thinner than bolt )and would vibrate the broken bolt,again the area around needs to be HOT,what happens is the salt,and corrosion trap the bolt in the housing,the threads in the block are NOT the problem,you need to free the bolts up.if you can rotate around enouge to get an 1/8 of clearance ,you can cut the bolts when exposed from the housing with an air saw .or sawzall.etc doind as explained prying on the studs all help.its a TIME consuming game.Idea next time,heat the area,get the air chisle and tap on the bolts ,more often then not,once the crap inside falls out from the vibration,the bolt will back out while being tapped,use low power on the air chistle,if its one bolt ,carefully rocking the powehead will eventually break the bolt,Ive done that many times ,then use easy out for the broken piece in block,

Thank you for your suggestions. It's just one bolt left in there - the aft one on the port side.

I'm having to set this aside for awhile. When I resume I'm going to pull the whole unit off, hang the whole thing upside down about 1/2" from a padded surface, spray in some blaster in the bolt holes and also pour in some Marvel oil, heat 'er up real good and try your skinny air chisel suggestion on the broken bolt. I also liked the idea about prying up on the two rear bolts if it won't put too much pressure on the aluminum exhaust manifold.