New to Site and boats!

[kssmallies]

Hi, Iam new to this forum and just bought a cheap bass boat and really don't know anything about the motor. I do know it is a Mercury 500 50 hp. On the motor registration paper it says its a 1971 but the local boat mechanic says its a 1967? Don't know which is right but I do know I have a problem. I can get the motor to start and run pretty good but I can't go fast. ITs like the motor revs up when I throttle down but I stay the same speed which is a little faster then what the 30 lb thrust trolling motor goes. I put the idle up and throttle as far down as it will go and the motor revs way up but the boat just keeps the same speed when I idle down though it slows down. Someone told me I may have spun the hub? I don't know what that means and how to fix it? Do I buy a new prop or a new hub? And I took the prop off and don't know where to look for the hub is it inside the prop? Anyways any suggestions would help a whole lot I don't know if the spun hub is the problem or if I need to clean or rebuild the carb or what anything would help. Also I changed the lower unit oil and I bought 1 quart and Ifilled from the bottom till it ran out the top and I still have over 3/4 of the quart left is that normal or should it have used the whole bottle or at least half of it. THanks

 

[Cricket Too]

Re: New to Site and boats!

Welcome aboard kssmallies........Sounds to me like you definitely have a spun hub. If the prop is still in good condition (no dings in it or scrapes), then take it ot any prop shop and they will be able to re-hub it for you. The hub is basically a big rubber bushing in the center of the prop, you can usually see it from the back of the prop.

If the prop itself is beat up then replace the whole prop.

On the question of the lower unit lube, I would say that you should have used more than a 1/4 of a quart in that lower unit, but don't know for sure on that Merc. Did you drain the old oil first before re-filling, I'm assuming you did.

There is a separate forum here on iboats dedictaed solely to Merc's, you will find a definite answer on that question there, and they will also be able to tell you your year for certain by posting the model #.

Good luck with the new boat.