MikeDobbs
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- May 8, 2015
- Messages
- 205
Hey everyone,
All the folks on here have been such a huge help to me getting my first boat going that I wanted to repay the favor a little.
I ran into trouble on my merc 3.0lx with rusty pulleys eating through my belts, and on the forum I found lots of posts talking about lifting the engine, removing pulleys, etc.
This may not be the best possible method, but it worked well for me, and was very easy so I wanted to share.
All I did was remove the belt, and then one at a time I went to work on each pulley with my Dewalt handheld drill and a wire brush attachment. The attachment I used was basically a 1/4 inch "disk" of wire brush material that fit nicely into the groove of the pulley. The hardest pulley was the one on the crankshaft which has very little access. I found I could get at a 2 or 3 inch section in the lower left side (looking at the engine) UNDER the motor mount. I would hit it hard with the wire brush, and then bump then engine over a touch with the starter. Wire brush, bump, wire brush, bump. The alternator and water pump were much easier.
After cleaning I hit all the pulleys with Rustoleum black- two coats. I let it dry for two days, and then put the belts back on. After several days on the water the belts and pulleys are looking good- no visible wear on the belts!
The entire job took about 20 minutes- not counting the second coat on the pulleys.
I figured I'd post just in case it helped anyone else with what seemed like it was going to be a big job.
ALSO - I took the advice from others on the forum to zip tie a spare belt out of the way so in case I need to replace the belt on the water it will be a very quick swap requiring only a 1/2 inch wrench and something to pry the alternator : )
All the folks on here have been such a huge help to me getting my first boat going that I wanted to repay the favor a little.
I ran into trouble on my merc 3.0lx with rusty pulleys eating through my belts, and on the forum I found lots of posts talking about lifting the engine, removing pulleys, etc.
This may not be the best possible method, but it worked well for me, and was very easy so I wanted to share.
All I did was remove the belt, and then one at a time I went to work on each pulley with my Dewalt handheld drill and a wire brush attachment. The attachment I used was basically a 1/4 inch "disk" of wire brush material that fit nicely into the groove of the pulley. The hardest pulley was the one on the crankshaft which has very little access. I found I could get at a 2 or 3 inch section in the lower left side (looking at the engine) UNDER the motor mount. I would hit it hard with the wire brush, and then bump then engine over a touch with the starter. Wire brush, bump, wire brush, bump. The alternator and water pump were much easier.
After cleaning I hit all the pulleys with Rustoleum black- two coats. I let it dry for two days, and then put the belts back on. After several days on the water the belts and pulleys are looking good- no visible wear on the belts!
The entire job took about 20 minutes- not counting the second coat on the pulleys.
I figured I'd post just in case it helped anyone else with what seemed like it was going to be a big job.
ALSO - I took the advice from others on the forum to zip tie a spare belt out of the way so in case I need to replace the belt on the water it will be a very quick swap requiring only a 1/2 inch wrench and something to pry the alternator : )
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