Lower Unit Crack

[jholstr]

New to the boating world, this is a great site!

Got a project bayliner 1989 85HP Force. Picked it up for the price of trailer tires so far.

Has a crack in lower unit on the bottom, previous owner said he ran it last year without a problem. I expect it will be a problem now. Any suggestions? get it welded, jb weld, replace lower unit. through all the forums I have read, if there is a crack in the lower unit it is junk, however if it ran with the crack??



Thanks ~Justin

 

[NYBo]

Re: Lower Unit Crack

Welcome to iboats!

That crack looks bad in the picture. How does the lube look?

BTW, I don't suppose the capacity plate on your trailer is legible, is it?

 

[pnwboat]

Re: Lower Unit Crack

I can be difficult to get a weld to seal properly. If the oil in the lower unit has contaminated the area to be welded, the weld will not seal. Only alternative is to drain the oil and decontaminate the weld area. You also face the problem of heat. If the area to be welded is close to the "O" rings seals, it may damage them. Only way to avoid any of these problems is to take the lower unit apart (gears, seals etc), clean the crack (inside and outside) before welding.

Epoxy can be used as an alternative and may be fine. Only way to know for sure is to try it. I would epoxy it for now and either start looking for another lower unit or looking at taking it apart and getting it welded.

 

[sho3boater]

Re: Lower Unit Crack

I can be difficult to get a weld to seal properly. If the oil in the lower unit has contaminated the area to be welded, the weld will not seal. Only alternative is to drain the oil and decontaminate the weld area. You also face the problem of heat. If the area to be welded is close to the "O" rings seals, it may damage them. Only way to avoid any of these problems is to take the lower unit apart (gears, seals etc), clean the crack (inside and outside) before welding.

Epoxy can be used as an alternative and may be fine. Only way to know for sure is to try it. I would epoxy it for now and either start looking for another lower unit or looking at taking it apart and getting it welded.

Is 100% correct. I have had the guts pulled at a dealer and had them welded before, call around for prices. Never had a problem with the weld leaking if a qualified person welded it. I had a skeg welded on my current one, I only drained the lube. I held a wet rag on it while he TIG welded some at a time, to keep it from getting too hot. We get cracks here all the time from people not winterizing them.

If the crack blows out the bearing surface inside it is junk, but most of the time it does not. I ran an 80hp Merc I did for a guy for a couple years when I later ended up with the boat.

 

[moparman]

Re: Lower Unit Crack

I agree with sho3boater, a good tig welder can repair that a little at a time to keep heat down. Find some one that knows what their doing and it should be ok if its not already destroyed a bearing and or gears.

 

[jholstr]

Re: Lower Unit Crack

thank you for everyone's input, I am going to research a bit further, and make a final decision. I am leaning toward epoxy for a temp solution then find a more permanent solution when I know the motor will run how I want it to.

 

[capri1600]

Re: Lower Unit Crack

Tig welding doesn't impart too much heat to the surrounding area so the wet rag trick can work wonders in an application like this. I would go the welding route over epoxy for structural reasons.

 

[jholstr]

Re: Lower Unit Crack

Succesful! tig welding took care of my problem. I took the lower unit off, had it welded, replaced impeller and gasket. No problems so far. thanks for all of your input.