I need a straight answer...

[MrBigStuff]

Re: I need a straight answer...

I grew up and spent 40 years in WI. I always changed the crankcase oil in my 4 stroke engines in the fall. Boating/Hot Rod season is short there and the time they spend sitting is long. No way I want my bearings/lower end basking in the old, used acidic oil from combustion byproducts for the entire off season, which is actually the majority of the year.

EDIT: too funny Scott, I saw your post immediately after posting mine.

 

[BobGinCO]

Re: I need a straight answer...

But hey, you all do what you want. But remember, when you are buying a used boat and the guy selling it says, "I only put 10 hours a year on it, so I didn't do all the required maintenance" make sure to offer him FULL RETAIL price, because hey, "it's such a low hour boat, what could be wrong with it?"

[Yoda]Strong in this one the sarcasm is.[/Yoda]

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: I need a straight answer...

LOL - no kidding. Modern boats and cars for that matter don't have any grease zerks on u-joints, and even on joints with zerks in a clean environment there isn't usually a reason to be trying to pump grease into them after initial install - just promotes seal failure.

having been in the design of consumer and commercial equipment, here is the scoop on zerk fittings. Maintenance ratings - if it is considered a maintenance location, you get assigned 1 point for every maintenance thing you are supposed to touch. since the general population does not maintain anything, they save money on not machining the passage way, installing the zerk fittings and can market a better maintenance rating. the manufactures get a higher maintenance score with less maintenance points that the owner/user needs to touch.

it isnt that they dont need grease, it is just that as a rule, most people do not perform the required maintenance, and for the first few years can get away with it.

couple the lack of maintenance with the fact that most cars, boats, and equipment are re-sold after a few years then the next guy is buying replacement parts and the parts OEM's are making money hand over fist.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: I need a straight answer...

[Yoda]Strong in this one the sarcasm is.[/Yoda]

"No try, do or do not. That is why you fail."

 

[oldjeep]

Re: I need a straight answer...

I figure that I get 200K miles plus on selaed driveshaft ujoints - that having no zerks is probabally OK

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: I need a straight answer...

I figure that I get 200K miles plus on selaed driveshaft ujoints - that having no zerks is probabally OK

But my point is this jeep, the original poster's u-joints are NOT sealed (unless they have beed changed), and must be greased. As so too must the splines be greased. Which means the drive HAS to come off every year. Period.

 

[Don S]

Re: I need a straight answer...

Doesn't matter what the ujoints are, the drive has to come off to grease the coupler splines. If the ujoints are greaseable, grease them then, if they aren't,........... well don't grease them.

 

[generator12]

Re: I need a straight answer...

Excellent stuff!

Thanks guys.

 

[emoney]

Re: I need a straight answer...

I'd like to add that a little more use might not be a bad thing either. I guess I'm somewhat spoiled to year around boating down here, but even when I lived closer to the Mason-Dixon (never above it...never above it), I was always a stickler on making sure I consistently ran anything with a motor, especially the stuff that had a tendency to sit more than it was used. Anything can happen to anybody at anytime, of course, however, I'd be willing to wager (a small amount, mind you) that MORE than 50% of all on-water breakdowns were and are preventable. Having said that, I still make sure I renew my BoatUS insurance annually, but I'd still rather be stuck at the dock than I would be in the middle of the drink.

 

[and2ram]

Re: I need a straight answer...

Wrong. How else are you going to see if the input shaft yoke seal is leaking? How else will you grease the u-joints? Yes oldjeep, there are u-joints in there. Can't believe you have neer seen them. Nowadays of course those u-joints aren't greasable, but on a 470 they sure as heck should be!
You can see the top of the driveshaft bellows wit the drive on? really? Also, removing the drive every year allows you to check the engine alignment,check the gimbal bearing, and grease the couple splines.

As far as the impeller, yeah sure, wait til it fails to replace it. That's fine. But what if that failure happens on a day when you are 20 miles away from the trailer? Or have your kid's friend out for a party? Or a storm is coming up? Or ... Really for 2 hours of your time and a $28 impeller you're gonna skip it for years?

I think you're missing the point, it's not the $28 impeller that's the issue. The issue is dragging off the entire drive, "checking everything" and screwing something up just for the sake of keeping yourself busy. You're also suggesting that I don't think changing an impeller is a good idea ever, I'm not saying that at all. But what I am saying is that changing it once a year, or even every two years might be overkill. No kidding Mercruiser tells you to do it every year, you don't see the irony in a manufacturer making service interval recommendations? What happened to those service intervals as soon as service plans were introduced on new car sale? Yep, they just about doubled. I understand there are differences but a car can go 10 years of MN winters, road salt, potholes, the whole lot...and not need new suspension bushings. So then, why does an impeller, completely removed from direct contact with the elements, need to be replaced on an annual basis? I'm sure there are horror stories involved, but I can imagine the success stories far outweigh those.

In the end it's your time, do what you wish.

 

[emoney]

Re: I need a straight answer...

Ummm, not really wanting to jump into any "fray", but sometimes removing something like a lower unit is actually safer than NOT removing. Even fresh water has corrosive properties to it, and if nothing else, constant vibration can affect anything man made, so by changing the impeller annually (at least down here on the salt water), you're also inspecting your lower unit bolts and making sure they're not loose, (or worse, imho, seized onto the motor). Just my 2 cents.

Oh, and an impeller is definitely not "removed from contact with the elements" unless water isn't an "element."

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: I need a straight answer...

..
." unless water isn't an "element."

It's not. It's worse, it's a compound!

The only way taking something apart to SERVICE messes it up, is if you don't do it right. I guess if you don't have the skill, you have to pay a pro. And they usually don't say things like, "nah, leave it alone. Servicing it will just mess it up."