Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

[samt]

Well guys got stranded earlier, boat had been giving me fits not wanting to shift to neutral inless you kill the engine. Anywas i was headed home cruising about 40. All the sudden the prop was dead engine reved to the moon. Now it just runs, doesnt go in gear click or anything. I also noticed my engine was hot after iding a few min. Where do i go from here?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

First of all, are we supposed to remember what drive you have, ie, hydro-mechanical or full mechanical? If it is the latter, you pretty much identified the initial problem. By virtue of the fact you could only pull it out of gear with the engine off, it sounds like your ESA was not functioning. Those gears are cut to fail engaged. Without the ESA to stutter the engine, you have to pull so hard to get it out of gear that you MIGHT have broken the shift cable.

Other that that, your waterpump shaft splines could have given up the ghost. That would also let things freewheel when that goes. Sorry to say that the bottom line is that it is tear down time.

 

[samt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

Its a 1981 model, i think its the hydro mechanical.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

Its a 1981 model, i think its the hydro mechanical.

Well, if so, that could be a horse of a different color. The shift, in or out, on a hydro mechanical drive is aided by a pump in the lower unit. That pump, is supposedly protected by a filter screen. That filter screen is known to plug up, blocking the flow of fluid that is needed to aid in shifting. There are remedies for that that are not to be found in the BOOK. They are known by savvy OMC mechanics. My H-M drive has been modified and that screen/filter removed. I don't know how your supply of OMC gurus are in your neck of the woods. I have a local OLD timer, here in Portland Oregon who knows all the tricks. I am remiss to give his contact info to just pump him for information (although he often freely gives it, especially to existing customers) He gets outdrives shipped to him from all over the country.

That being said, you could still have other issues that would account for no drive engagement.

 

[samt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

Well I pulled the boat from the water, and found the following.

In neutral the prop turns freely
IN forward and reverse the prop turns but has some resistance, so It seems my problem isn't the shifter.
The gears that the lower pivots on spider gear looking things don't turn when I spin the prop.

I guess I'm gonna tear it down tonight and see what I can find. Just need to find a online guide to tear it down. I'm not sure how the shift cable thing comes out. I'm at possum kingdom, surely there is a boat shop with what I need here.

 

[samt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

My motor is idling pretty high, this may be why my shifter isn't wanting to work with the motor running, like 1200, I have some carb issues. There is a flat spot off idle when I try to pull a skier. I set the timing high 8 degrees. that's probably the idle. I was cruising at 4000 RPM when it let loose.

 

[samt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

I looked a some pics and I have a full mechanical lower.

 

[samt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

Ok, tore down the intermediate/ water pump housing. The gears are good, but the bearing on the back side of the input shaft is GONE just a few rollers in there. The race in the housing is pretty rough too. I guess im down for the weekend. I called some boat shops and just get omc hate. I saw some outdrives on craigslist for 150, im thinking about taking a drive....

This isnt a bearing i can get at autozone is it? Looks like not because the shaft is cut as a race looks like.

 

[Nivekt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

Do you mean to say the upper gearcase is what you tore down? The impeller is located in the upper. There are several sets of bearings in that upper:

Which number(s) are bad? I suspect that based on your description you are talking about #62. If so, if can be found on ebay. OMC part# 375761

 

[samt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

Yes, #62 looks to be the problem, how do i get the race out of the housing? Its in pretty rough shape. I cant believe i couldnt hear some racket. I cant believe it didnt bust the gears either it just marred 2-3 teeth, nothing a file wont clean up.

 

[Nivekt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

Yes, #62 looks to be the problem, how do i get the race out of the housing?

Watch this video: OMC ball gear shaft cracked or spun rear bearing removal - YouTube

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

Watch this video: OMC ball gear shaft cracked or spun rear bearing removal - YouTube

Great vid, Nivekt! I wonder if that bearing died due to trying to use the tilt as trim device?

 

[Nivekt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

Great vid, Nivekt! I wonder if that bearing died due to trying to use the tilt as trim device?

Yeah, Im a big fan of all the videos the guys over at sterndrive.info have done. They have really helped me a ton. I sure hope I never 'need' the above posted video though! Hard to say about that bearing. Its pretty rare that they fail from what I have seen. Usually some kind of neglect is the culprit.

And OP, if you can get a complete spare Stringer drive for $150 that is of the right gearing for your engine, buy it immediately. The random spare parts you will use off it over time will save you a lot of money.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

those vids are great. Wayne told me that the reason that bearing race spins is from people running tilted. The ball gears wear on a 45 deg angle. Then that 45 makes rearward thrust on the upper horizontal shaft even when running in the full down position.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

those vids are great. Wayne told me that the reason that bearing race spins is from people running tilted. The ball gears wear on a 45 deg angle. Then that 45 makes rearward thrust on the upper horizontal shaft even when running in the full down position.

So what you are saying is that once the ball gears begin to wear off at the 45? angle, they continually put an upward load on that rear bearing, even when they are running in the full down position? That does make good sense. The 45? wear turns the balls into pointed teeth, unlike the normal wear into the side of each ball.

 

[samt]

Re: Omc 800, dead on the water, does not shift.

I suspect mine failed from lack of oil, the po had run it full of water for a good while. Im going to just tear it all down and replace anything bad. Its no fun going to the lake and breaking down after a few hours.