Salt Water in Alpha One Gen II Gearcase Repair/Replace?

[imp0ster]

As of march this year all the seals were replaced in my unit by my fathers friend. He quoted me one price then overcharged me and I supplied all the parts. This is the one and ONLY thing I have not done myself on the boat. Well I pulled the leg today to see why I couldn't get reverse(thinking my new lower shift cable went bad already) and low and behold green snot comes pouring out of the unit. I'm FURIOUS. I'm figuring it's been that way since he touched it.

8 months of salt water is terrible but I've never seen how badly it eats these things. I can get a new SEI unit for $1,300 and they take more abuse than the alphas.

What would you do? Keep in mind my audit season just started so a lot of my spare time is now spent prepping the company for our annual.

 

[tpenfield]

What you are showing us is peppermint milkshake in the bellows . . . what you are not showing us is the actual condition of the gear oil.

So, it is not clear as to whether the drive shaft seal leaked oil into the u-joint bellows and the bellows also leaked . . .

or . . .

the lower (prop shaft ) seal leaked and forced oil out of the upper seal (drive shaft seal) . . .

Have you drained the gear oil? Got pics?

either way, your father's friend is off the list.

 

[alldodge]

Bummer, as Ted said, what does the gear lube look like?

 

[dingbat]

No big deal. Figure out where the water is coming from and repair it.

Drain and refill oil and take it for a spin. Come back, change it again and your done

 

[Grub54891]

Before installing that drive, clean all them surfaces for the gaskets. Get new gaskets, do not use silicone to help seal them, I just use a dab of grease to hold the o-rings in place, the paper gaskets do not need any other sealer. If you use something on the paper gaskets, they get slippery and don't seal properly. Water will leak in to the bellows if things are not as they should be.Torque the drive nuts to 50 foot pounds. If the nuts are wore out you will get an incorrect torque reading, squishing the gasket out. Replace the nuts.

 

[imp0ster]

No Title

Okay so it seems I may have been a little over excited and should have looked harder. The green snot that was in the gear oil hole must have just fell in while I was taking the drive off. I run mobile one gear oil but it mixed with what was left of the merc stuff and turned darker. It doesn't look bad. A bit of shavings on the magnet.

There is no salt residue in the bellows nor any surface rust on the bearing. The green stuff smells only like grease, which is what it is. I do give the gimbal bearing a few pumps every 3 months but I've never seen it like that. The reverse binding was in the shift shaft arm from the grease causing tension. I'll pull the shaft today, clean everything and reinstall it with some marine silicone paste and see if the upper shaft seal needs more attention.

Has anyone else seen this happen?

 

[dingbat]

Mixing formulated gear oils is a no-no

Using gear oil without an emulsifier in a marine application is a no-no

 

[alldodge]

I don't see a problem with the metal showing. Don't use silicone on the gaskets or O rings

 

[imp0ster]

Why shouldn't I use silicone paste(die electric) on the shift shaft bushings? It extends the life of 0-rings.

As far as the gear oil... We all run mobile one in our drag skis, some spinning to 11K RPMs and several have had water intrusion into the jet pumps. The oil turns milky but still protects. I trust mobile 1 gear oil in everything. I run it in my SRT Jeep, ran it in my Procharged 300 and my 10 second race car. I understand why you would say that, however.

I'm still scratching my head as to how this much liquefied grease wound up in the bellows.

 

[alldodge]

Was talking about the bell housing to drive area and just a clarification on silicone only, not the paste. Don't see any issue on the shift shaft

I to don't see how all the lube got in the bellows without something leaking, but figured you might find it when you pressure tested.

 

[imp0ster]

It's not gear lube. It's liquefied grease from the gimbal bearing that's been mixed with water. MAYBE I went too far with cleaning the engine compartment with a hose one time? I think I need to not grease the gimbal as much.

 

[imp0ster]

Just to clarify this to anyone that comes across this thread. The drive was pressure tested and came back okay. The bell shift shaft seals are new and not leaking nor is the new bellows. This was literally all liquefied grease. I was overzealous with the gimbal bearing greasing.

 

[tpenfield]

But . . . But . . . did you have water in the u-joint bellows? :noidea: if so, it would make that sort of mess out of the grease.

 

[scoflaw]

x2 on water in bellows . liquefied grease doesn't have different colors, especially when 1 of the colors is cream and separating from the darker grease color. I'd check that out

 

[imp0ster]

I checked the entire bellows. It took about an hour to fully clean it and waste almost a whole can of wd-40 trying to find a leak and there was none. There was no surface rust on anything nor any salt anywhere I could find. The shift shaft bushing are new and tight. The only thing I can think is the gasket developed a leak one of the last two times I had it out and I was on the lake.