damaged lower unit question

[cparker]

I ran into a dredge line at speed and cracked (a pretty good size hole) into the leading edge of the torpedoe shaped bottom of the lower unit on my 20 year old 40 hp johnson. Looks bad. Had to come about 18 miles home and it never acted like anything was wrong. i would have figured i ruined it and maybe i did. why is it running so good. any help would be appreciated.

 

[river 101]

Re: damaged lower unit question

is there any oil left in the lower unit? if not and there is water in it you will have to get another housing, or see if it can be repaired

 

[cparker]

Re: damaged lower unit question

i do not know--i stopped immediately and didn't see any sign of losing oil but it has a wide crack. i was surprised it made it home but it had no signs of damage in running it. just don't know what to do next.

 

[GatorMike]

Re: damaged lower unit question

Pull the drain plug immediatly. If the oil leaked out you will want to get some oil in there to keep the gears and bearings from rusting up.

 

[GatorMike]

Re: damaged lower unit question

I did the exact same thing a few years back I too hit a dredge pipe and knocked a quarter sized hole in mine. My boat ran fine too and when I got home there was no oil in the lower unit. I washed it out good covered the hole and filled it with oil until I could figure out what to do with it. My mechanic said it was beyond welding so just as an experiment I epoxied the hole. It held just fine for 3 years. I eventually broke that lower unit but the gearcase was still holding up and my breaking it was no fault of the repair job, just something stupid I did.

 

[HighTrim]

Re: damaged lower unit question

Could you post a pic?

 

[cparker]

Re: damaged lower unit question

hope this works