mvn
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2007
- Messages
- 204
I've worked on OMC stringer drives and Volvos before. This is my first experience with Merc's. Here's my story...
Picked up a gently used 2008 Rinker 226 with a 5 litre Alpha 1. In order to be proactive, I wanted to check everything over before the maiden voyage. Starting off in forward gear, I dropped the entire drive and split the 2 halves. So far so good. Gimbal bearing, bellows, u-joints all looked good. Opened up the water pump. It looked OK but I replaced the impleller including the bottom plate and all gaskets. Housing was mint. Replaced all of the o-rings, the seal on top of the water pump, checked the water tube, replaced the quad seal. Both halves went together very well on the bench. Installed the drive back on the transom. Torqued everything down. OK final check....uh oh. The console shifter is in neutral (how did that happen?) and the lower and intermediate shift shafts are binding. Took the drive off and reinstalled it (it was dark and the mosquitos were out in full force). The next evening I filled her up with gear lube and replaced the drain and vent seals.
The next morning I awoke to a puddle of gear lube on the driveway. Nice. Lube was leaking from the starboard vent hole at the leading edge of the lower gearcase. I put a pan under it and went to work pissed at the world.
Came home, drained the gear lube and very carefully dropped the lower unit only. The quad seal was in place, the top of the water pump was dry(thank God...upper seals are OK), the driveshaft was clean, no oil around or under the water pump. The top of the seal carrier for the shift shaft was wet and there was excess lube in the cavities on either side. I pulled the carrier out along with the shift shaft and low and behold, the shift shaft was tweaked just enough to break the seal. Must have happened when I was bit too hasty reassembling the drive earlier. A new shift shaft is on the way along with a new carrier and seal.
Live and learn. Won't be making that mistake again!! Even after reading all of the great advice here, I still managed to screw it up.:facepalm:
Picked up a gently used 2008 Rinker 226 with a 5 litre Alpha 1. In order to be proactive, I wanted to check everything over before the maiden voyage. Starting off in forward gear, I dropped the entire drive and split the 2 halves. So far so good. Gimbal bearing, bellows, u-joints all looked good. Opened up the water pump. It looked OK but I replaced the impleller including the bottom plate and all gaskets. Housing was mint. Replaced all of the o-rings, the seal on top of the water pump, checked the water tube, replaced the quad seal. Both halves went together very well on the bench. Installed the drive back on the transom. Torqued everything down. OK final check....uh oh. The console shifter is in neutral (how did that happen?) and the lower and intermediate shift shafts are binding. Took the drive off and reinstalled it (it was dark and the mosquitos were out in full force). The next evening I filled her up with gear lube and replaced the drain and vent seals.
The next morning I awoke to a puddle of gear lube on the driveway. Nice. Lube was leaking from the starboard vent hole at the leading edge of the lower gearcase. I put a pan under it and went to work pissed at the world.
Came home, drained the gear lube and very carefully dropped the lower unit only. The quad seal was in place, the top of the water pump was dry(thank God...upper seals are OK), the driveshaft was clean, no oil around or under the water pump. The top of the seal carrier for the shift shaft was wet and there was excess lube in the cavities on either side. I pulled the carrier out along with the shift shaft and low and behold, the shift shaft was tweaked just enough to break the seal. Must have happened when I was bit too hasty reassembling the drive earlier. A new shift shaft is on the way along with a new carrier and seal.
Live and learn. Won't be making that mistake again!! Even after reading all of the great advice here, I still managed to screw it up.:facepalm:
