arrowsniper
New member
"I have a mercruiser 488 4cyl,
"I have a mercruiser 488 4cyl, 3.7 liter 188 hp in a 20 foot 4 Winns. As I have said in a previous post on the same subject, I switched the stainless prop with an aluminium one. The stainless prop has no diameter or pitch denotations on it whatsoever. It does have what seems to be a part number stamped on the hub. The number is 48-73980-19. As the prop is held with these numbers at 12 0 clock, there is a stamped and circled 5 at about 9 o clock. At 6 o clock there is a slightle askew letter j that is also cicled. Other than that, there are no markings identifying the manufacturer.
My question is what do I have? I measured the diameter as best I could and come up with 14. I brought the prop to a local trusted marine supply, and they looked up that number in their catalog, and came up with a 14x19, which I purchased, and put onto the boat. My gas milage is phenominally high, almost to the point that to go 12 miles, I only used 1.5 gallons of fuel! My problem is that the boat will not go above 3500 rpm's. My thought is maybe they are the same pitch and diameter, but the aluminium one could possibly be more cupped than the stainless one, giving more load.
I don't mind the low fuel use, but on the other hand, I don't want to lug the motor down, as to blow a head gasket, or put too much strain on something that can't take it. My next move is to swap the prop back to the one that was on it, and see what happens.
Thanks in advance to those who's advice or guidance gets posted to me, it's well appreciated!!!!!"
"I have a mercruiser 488 4cyl, 3.7 liter 188 hp in a 20 foot 4 Winns. As I have said in a previous post on the same subject, I switched the stainless prop with an aluminium one. The stainless prop has no diameter or pitch denotations on it whatsoever. It does have what seems to be a part number stamped on the hub. The number is 48-73980-19. As the prop is held with these numbers at 12 0 clock, there is a stamped and circled 5 at about 9 o clock. At 6 o clock there is a slightle askew letter j that is also cicled. Other than that, there are no markings identifying the manufacturer.
My question is what do I have? I measured the diameter as best I could and come up with 14. I brought the prop to a local trusted marine supply, and they looked up that number in their catalog, and came up with a 14x19, which I purchased, and put onto the boat. My gas milage is phenominally high, almost to the point that to go 12 miles, I only used 1.5 gallons of fuel! My problem is that the boat will not go above 3500 rpm's. My thought is maybe they are the same pitch and diameter, but the aluminium one could possibly be more cupped than the stainless one, giving more load.
I don't mind the low fuel use, but on the other hand, I don't want to lug the motor down, as to blow a head gasket, or put too much strain on something that can't take it. My next move is to swap the prop back to the one that was on it, and see what happens.
Thanks in advance to those who's advice or guidance gets posted to me, it's well appreciated!!!!!"