A friend and myself were running across Lake Eustis Late this afternoon. We had left the Dead River, got on plane and was running at 4000 rpm. Out in the middle of the lake things got a little rough so I slowed down to 3000 rpm. Ran along like this for about two minutes and started to get a strange noise from the stern of the boat. Something went pop and we quickly came off plane.The temp alarm went off almost immediately and I shut down. I won't know until I look at it, but I think I trashed the upper gears in the outdrive. Any other ideas of what might have happened?
Problem with my Alpha one
- Thread starter 206LSdrvr
- Start date
The coupling bolts to the flywheel. The the splined end of the input shaft with the U-joints on the outdrive slide into it. The coupler plate it self is a triangular shape. This is what Mercury calls it. From what it said in the troubleshooting section in my manual it can go bad. I hope it is something else because I don't really want to pull the engine. Here is a link showing it.
www.mercruiserparts.com/showSpecialPicture.asp?pn=18643A7
www.mercruiserparts.com/showSpecialPicture.asp?pn=18643A7
Car Biz said:couplers are about 300-400 bucks. That would be cheaper than a shaft in the outdrive i would think. Good luck i hope it is not a majorprob costing major dough! Keep us posted
It would be cheaper than having having to replace the vertical driveshaft. I can get the coupler for less than $300 from a couple of places and I can pull the engine myself. If it's anything in the OD I will have to get it done particularly if it is in the lower unit. If that is the case then I might replace it with a SEI outdrive. They are a heck of lot cheaper than Mercruiser and I haven't heard anything bad about them.
Drained the lube out of the outdrive this morning. Looked like metalflake paint. Not good. That puts the coupler theory to rest. pulled the lower unit off and the drive shaft is not broken. I'm going to pull the shaft housing off tomorrow and see what it looks like.
Question: Assuming that the lower unit is ok what is the best way to flush it out?
While I have the drive off I'm going to replace the gimbal bearing and seals and depending on how they look may replace the u-joints too.
Question: Assuming that the lower unit is ok what is the best way to flush it out?
While I have the drive off I'm going to replace the gimbal bearing and seals and depending on how they look may replace the u-joints too.
206LSdrvr said:
If you can build a differential then a drive gearcase is the same principal of gear spacing and tooth patterns and you could build it too. I built an OMC that locked up the upper case and spun in the housing. Had to buy one spanner wrench to reach down into the housing but total cost to me was about $450 parts tools and shims. I ran that boat for two seasons, towed inflatables and ran WOT frequently and that case was quieter than new boats on the lake. Sold it and bought my Formula.
Maybe an upper would fix you up if it would be cheap enough and faster to fix.
Good luck.
aquaforce said:
There is a kit available from Mercruiser that has all the bits and pieces to put it back together and I think I'm going to go for it. It's about the same price as the OMC kit. I think I'm also going to put a drive shower on while I have the boat out and can work on it. After looking at the u-joints I'm going to replace them too.
After putting some numbers together on parts and a couple of special tools that would be needed to rebuild the the driveshaft housing I decided to get a new housing from Sterndrive Engineering here in Clearwater, FL. $595 + sales tax and shipping and I'll have the boat back in the water a heck of a lot faster. They manufacture their own drives that a compatable with the Alpha one, and gen. 2 Alphas. At the price it is worth a shot. I'll see what happens.
