ok, I have a 1966 John Allmand cabing cruiser, 24ft with a GM 250 inline 6 160hp. The Drive is a pre-alpha 160 with 1.65 gear ratio. A couple months back while luckily near the boat ramp the bell housing broke at the hinge pins and the drive shaft going into the transom back completely out of the boat...the drive was just dangling there. Here is the link to the post of what happened if you need clarification, http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=482636.
As we inspected the boat back on shore we realized that the gimbal bearing was seized, bellows were dry rotted, u joints were terrible, etc. So I had the drive re-built be a reputable shop. The top half of the drive was in such bad shape that the mechanic had to use a different upper. Put all new gears, shafts, seals, bearings, u joints, drive shaft in both upper and lower. Then sealed it and pressure tested it. The drive is beautiful. It shifted easily in to forward and reverse by hand, using the lever coming out of the out drive. So I know the drive was put back together properly. We installed a new gimbal bearing, new bbellows, and new lower shift cable. The upper shift cable and shift unit are new as well.
We tested it out of the water and it ran wonderfully, the drive shifted smoothly and was tight and quiet. We go to drop it back in the water the next day and no forward. Only reverse. We take it out of the water and head back home. On muffs it still goes it now only goes into reverse, and now wont come out of reverse. I did not do the whole take the drive off in forward because I did not have a choice, the drive pushed itself out on its own, I was in reverse.
I don't think we put the drive back on with the drive or the rest of the shift levers in forward. I read after the fact that I was supposed to have the entire shift system in forward before installing. Do I have to take the damn drive back off? Can i just manually shift the outdrive into forward and move the shift levers on the transom and the actual shifter itself into the forward position and then tighten everything back down? I am lost here. I have spent all summer breaking down...finally everything has been replaced and still cant get it right. HELP!!!
As we inspected the boat back on shore we realized that the gimbal bearing was seized, bellows were dry rotted, u joints were terrible, etc. So I had the drive re-built be a reputable shop. The top half of the drive was in such bad shape that the mechanic had to use a different upper. Put all new gears, shafts, seals, bearings, u joints, drive shaft in both upper and lower. Then sealed it and pressure tested it. The drive is beautiful. It shifted easily in to forward and reverse by hand, using the lever coming out of the out drive. So I know the drive was put back together properly. We installed a new gimbal bearing, new bbellows, and new lower shift cable. The upper shift cable and shift unit are new as well.
We tested it out of the water and it ran wonderfully, the drive shifted smoothly and was tight and quiet. We go to drop it back in the water the next day and no forward. Only reverse. We take it out of the water and head back home. On muffs it still goes it now only goes into reverse, and now wont come out of reverse. I did not do the whole take the drive off in forward because I did not have a choice, the drive pushed itself out on its own, I was in reverse.
I don't think we put the drive back on with the drive or the rest of the shift levers in forward. I read after the fact that I was supposed to have the entire shift system in forward before installing. Do I have to take the damn drive back off? Can i just manually shift the outdrive into forward and move the shift levers on the transom and the actual shifter itself into the forward position and then tighten everything back down? I am lost here. I have spent all summer breaking down...finally everything has been replaced and still cant get it right. HELP!!!
