Blown lower unit :)

[pete j]

Took my boat out today and started hearing some funky noises, Shut her down and checked everything and all seemed good fired her back up took off running great and bam noises are back and barely moving, took it out of gear which seamed harder than usual and decided time to go back in, Put back in gear and no more prop spin, Harbor patrol towed me back in and I get the boat on trailer and while getting the boat ready for its ride home I popped it in gear and went out to spin the prop. It moves with alot of clicking and sometimes it feels like its working again and if I spin it some more and its back to clicking . Now my question is were do I start? can I buy a rebuilt one? or is it even worth fixing and time to move on?. Before you answer the last question it is a great running motor and the gears had plenty of lube and I love fixing stuff on my own. Thank for any help ideas or suggestions

 

[pete j]

Forgot to mention its a 1986 856x6L 85 hp and it was still shooting water out of the exhaust holes in the back so Im guessing the long shaft was still spinning. Just not the lower gears

 

[RCO]

What year/model? Take it apart to see what you are dealing with. Most Chrysler and Force gearcase parts are still available, and not too complicated to work on.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Yup take the bearing carrier out and see what damage is done?

​Possible it just might need a clutch dog or even an adjustment.

​Does the shift rod move easily?

No metal shavings in the oil?

 

[pete j]

I will be hoping for just an adjustment which it could just be. It was getting harder to shift so maybe something is just jammed and when I took the vent screw out there was no metal in the oil but who knows whats down in the lower part though and it will be getting worked on today.

 

[pete j]

I still cant load pics but the gear right on the drive shaft and the gear to the farthest looking into the unit are blown. How do I get the nut off the drive shaft?

 

[Nordin]

That one can be tricky.
You have to put the drive shaft in a wise and then use a spanner or a socket wrench if it is enought of space for the shaftnut.
You may need a lot of force to get it loose.

 

[jerryjerry05]

A long 3/8" breaker bar with a 3/4 " socket.
​You might be able to get a 1/2" breaker bar in there but it might be too tall??
​The top of the drive shaft needs a special tool, T 7848 about $100.
​Most use a big pipe wrench.

When they assembled the unit, they used locktite on the nut.
It shouldn't be too hard to undo(famous last words).

 

[pete j]

Thanks jerry and nordin it was really pretty easy well not easy but I got it off with wrench,pipe wrench & my wife. Now I need a bevel pinion gear and a bevel gear front with bearing. Anybody got spares laying around? also tried loading pics from my laptop,desktop & phone and apparently I just dont get it

 

[pnwboat]

You might be better off just getting another used lower unit. Those gears are very expensive. On top of that, they need to be shimmed for proper clearance otherwise the gears may not last very long. The special tooling and shims are almost impossible to find.

I went through the same scenario that you're in. In my case, I found a replacement unit much cheaper than the gears, although I've seen some lower units on the internet where I think the sellers felt like the units they have were made out of gold or something like that. Just need to be aware that the gear ratio in the 85HP lower units is 2:1 and the 125HP motors are 1.73:1. If you put a 1.73:1 lower unit on your 85HP motor, it will be significantly slower when starting off from a standstill. Kind of like starting out in second gear in your car, plus overall performance will not be very good.

 

[pete j]

Thanks pnwboat. I have been checking the prices for the lower units and people do think they are gold. Now I wonder if new gears were put in by the person I bought it from cause the lower unit was very easy to get off and all the bolt threads were covered in marine grease. Maybe thats why this happened. My personal thought was the yoke fell off and jammed the gear and caused the drive shaft gear to bust off all of its teeth and thats only because when I pulled the prop shaft I found the yoke laying on the bottom. I still cant figure out were the yoke goes

 

[jerryjerry05]

I guess I missed this on my last post.
You WILL need special tools to shim the forward gears.
​They are sometimes available on e-bay but can be pretty costly.

Look on e-bay and craigslist.
Sometime they can be found fairly cheap( I sold 5/6 for 150$ each)

Tip for craigslist: look in the states where they don't have access to salt water.
Michigan or the Midwest is a good bet.

 

[Nordin]

Franz Marine may have the shims. They are listed in colors depending of thinkness.
I bought from Franz for about 2 years ago when I rebuild a 2 piece gearcase.

 

[pete j]

I already started to order the gears and mostly because that I believe that if I buy a unit I could be getting another POS. When I get the gears most likely I will take them to a shop and let them install them if not wish me luck. I have noticed alot of spacers on one of the websites that I look up parts on and they are still available. The gear that comes off of the motor dive shaft was ground flat about 3/4s of the way up. the forward gear has alot of chunks missing from the teeth but doesnt look half as bad as the drive shaft gear. The reverse gear looks brand new no damage at all. Man I wish I could figure out how to load pics

 

[jerryjerry05]

Most units listed are probably good??
​Usually the powerhead goes and the lower is sold as parts.
​If you buy ANYTHING use PayPal
E-bay and PP have a VERY VERY good return policy.

​I bought an AC unit and it was a POS
The place I bought it from said "If I opened the box?? it wasn't returnable"
PP said differently.

 

[pete j]

Im a firm believer in paypal and gears are on the way then to a shop for install.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Good, glad you found a shop that will work on them.

 

[pete j]

Oh I have not found a shop to do it. I kinda just figured a boat repair place would do it. now Im starting to sweat it a little and the last time I took something to the boat repair place it was like 120 an hour just for labor.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Where you located?
​Add a signature with the motor/boat and location.
Make it easier to maybe help locate a boat repair place.

 

[pete j]

I added info. now Im wondering has anybody just taken apart their lower units and put it back together without all the special tools?. If so what were your results or is this just impossible?