Re: Boat hit rocks..
I'm asking for a friend. The other day they hit a rock and had to get towed back to town. The motor starts and runs but won't shift into gear. It's a late 80's Mcm 140 with alpha one drive. The lower unit skeg n prop is a lil mangled but the housing didnt split. Any ideas why it wont go into gear? I'm not really familiar with merc alphas.
Oh, I suspect it is going into gear, he's just not getting power from his engine to the prop, for any number of possible reasons (most likely of which is already discussed.... spun hub, which is the best you can hope for). If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, you need to trace the possible faults from engine to prop, including:
1. Blown engine coupler
2. Stripped coupler splines
3. Broken u-joint
4. Broken upper vertical shaft
5. Stripped upper gears
6. Broken lower vertical shaft (in these late 80's model Alphas, they break at the upper O-ring groove, and sometimes above that)
7. problem with lower gears
8. Spun hub.
Others can/will chime in, but this gives food for thought, and each item has its own way of checking for the fault.
HTH
