Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

[KnottyBuoyz]

Are there any specific steps I have to follow to re-install my Volvo Penta Duoprop outdrive? It's a DP290.

New bellow's are already installed.

I watched the mechanic (if you can call him that) remove the drive. It doesn't look too complicated but appears to be a sequence of events involved. Any help appreciated.

Rick

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

Any special tools I'll need? Anybody know?

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

Not too often a question goes unanswered around here eh?

Doesn't matter now anyways. Season's over. Boat's being put up this weekend w/o the outdrive. It'll sit in the shop till spring. Anybody wanna buy a boat?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

Ayuh,.......

Sorry about this Rick,.......
But I just Don't do Volvos.........

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

Ayuh,.......

Sorry about this Rick,.......
But I just Don't do Volvos.........

Too bad Bondo! I was gonna paddle upstream to your place to get ya to help me out! *lol*

Season's pooched anyways. Stay warm this winter!

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

its very easy to install
I use blocks of wood to support the drive. then line everything up and install the fork pins.
its easy if you say it real fast

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

its very easy to install
I use blocks of wood to support the drive. then line everything up and install the fork pins.
its easy if you say it real fast

Sounds a lot easier than paddlin' a 6000# boat upstream into a 3kt current for 100 miles! *lol*

I watched the mechanic remove it so I'll try to remember and reverse the sequence. Don't think there's anything really difficult, just getting everything lined up at once with only 2 hands. I can hang it off the swim platform if I have to.

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

A long drawn out saga is rapidly coming to an end. I managed to re-install the O/D on our boat today. The only stumper is how the heck do you get the exhaust bellows back on? Any hints, tips, tricks or prayers would be greatly appreciated. I know this isn't really a 1-man job but I'm too stubborn to admit defeat. So if anybody out there has any suggestions I'm wide open and listening.


Thnx in advance!

PS. Thnx Rodbolt. I tried what you suggested, had somewhat limited success. I picked up a couple of tie-down ratchet straps and used those to suspend the drive from the swim platform. One on the collar where the u-joints are an done on the cav plate. This gave me the ability to trim the drive into place easily. Sorry, forgot to take pictures.

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

Ok, I got it on. Sat and pondered and pondered some more. Here's what I did.

I took a large hose clamp covered it with electrical tape and put it over the exhaust bellows on the second fold. I tightened it down a little bit at a time and when I did the opening flared out slightly. I was able to grab the hose clamp and get a good purchase on it to pull it up over the inlet into the outdrive. Once I got it there it was easy to hold it with one hand and tighten the other hose clamp with my other hand. All I had to do then was take off the larger hose clamp.

Job done. It gets dropped in the water Thursday for the first time in almost a year. Yeah!

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

Me, DonS and a few others do this daily for a living.
if it was easy everyone would do it.
good luck with it

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

I got 'er done Rodbolt. All it took was some creative thinking. No offense to you or Don and the other marine mechanics but the last time I had a "qualified Marine Mechanic" touch my outdrive we lost the entire summer's use of our boat all over what should have been an upper shaft seal and a new set of bellows. That's another long sad story.

I get a lot of satisfaction from doing it myself. My background is in Marine Engineering Logistics and a lifetime of building/restoring cars so there is some knowledge and ability here. Maybe it wasn't the way the Pro's do it but it works for me. At least now I know if I break it there's a good chance I can fix it.

I know some guys who have absolutely "no" mechanical aptitude. The kind of guys you marine mechanics love to have show up at your shop every day. They drop the boat off, say "make it right" and pick it up a day or a week later leaving a heafty portion of their paychecks behind. They're the "turnkey boaters with deep pockets". Unfortunately for me, being a poor civil servant (28 yrs in the Coast Guard), that's not an option so I have to be as self-sufficient as I can.

Thanks for the insights.

 

[Robj]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

I had alot of fun trying to install the bellows on my SP. Took about two days until I figured out the tilt latch on the outdrive, just raise it and it went on easily. The good thing is that even if it leaks, it is not a big deal, it is only the exhaust. Make sure the small holes in the bellows are on the bottom.

I too have heard of so called marine mechanic nightmares, actually had one try and tune my boat last year. Was worth the it, didn't cost me too much which was a cheap price to pay to learn my lesson. I do all the work myself, but if there is something that I cannot do, I will pay the full rate and get a qualified shop to do the repair. Too bad none of the pros on this forum live closer to Vancouver.

Have a great day,

Rob.

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Re-installing VP 290DP O/D

Ahhhhhhhhhh! That felt good! Too bad the winds have whipped the river into a frenzy! No strange noises. It seems to be running a lot smoother than before.

We managed to get in a solid 3 hrs cruising up the river to Prescott and back (about 50 miles round trip). Man that felt good. It was a long time (and expensive) coming!

That's the Prescott/Odgensburg International bridge over the St. Lawrence River in the background.