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1972 OMC drive non-electric in a Sea Swirl

M

mercedglen

Member
Yesterday I was out on the lake in my 1972 Sea Swirl. It has a 4 cylinder engine with a non-electric shift OMC outdrive. I was going fairly fast when the engine reved up way to fast and the boat stopped moving. I shutdown the system right away. I looked for obviuos problems. I started it back up and it idled correctly but when I put it in either forward or reverse the boat wouldn't move. I came home and pulled the prop. The cotter key was intact. I then put the drive in forward without starting it up and the prop shaft turned. I expected that it would not if all was well. I could move the shaft around here things turning up through the top unit.

I am not sure of where to start on troubkeshooting this problem. Any step by step easily explained template would be greatly appreciated. I am somewhat mechanical but I have never had any experience in the outdrive area. Thanks for any help you can give me......

Glen
 
I will post a picture tomorrow. In the meantime here is what else I have done after reading many threads. I turned the key to the right. then I put the shift lever into forward. I then tried turning the prop shaft without the prop on it. The shaft was not able to turn counterclockwise and it sounded like gears were engaged which makes me think that is a good thing. I then tried clockwise and the shaft turned. I then turned the key to off and put it back into neutral and now the shaft spins freely like I think it should. SO now I am wondering if this is the coupler wherever that is and what do I need to do to further troubleshoot this puppy. I really apprciate your input and I will try and give you the information you need. I am a little stressed about it. It's funny, well maybe not, I was on the lake trolling prior to this happening and I was thinking how happy I was to just have this older boat and out there fishing. I have already torn up the floor and replaced the rooted out motor mounts, carpeted, and put in some nice pedestle seats so I am little dissappointed but I see I am not alone in this deal....Glen
 
See the reason i asked for the pic is i believe to have a electric shift unit.

If you do then there are in my opinion 3 reasons you have no forward motion or reverse when the motor is running and you engage the throttle ether way.

1- the shafts went in the upper- happened to me

2- the coupler went - happened to me it's a one piece unit.

3- the prop went. There is rubber there you just don't see it.

Electric shift it's easy to remove the whole drive. Then work on it on the bench.

The part you need to get to is in the upper. You will have a pm a few minutes after i post this.

But i find it actually easier to drop the exhaust housing and lower while it's still hanging on the back of the boat.

Below is a post i made years ago exactly describing the procedure.

No need to remove the entire drive.

Have a table or a large cooler or chair ready on the starboard side. ( if it is a electric shift port side place the table )

On a trailer lower the bow as far as it will go, and raise the drive 1/2 the way up.

Remove the very top bolts, and the exhaust and the lower will come down. place it on the table and tie it to the swim platform. be careful of the cable don't pull on it plenty of play in the cable.

remove the 4 bolts facing u in the upper drive from the bottom and the whole waterpump and shaft will come out. you could raise the drive a little more to make it easy, i sit on a milk crate when i pull the pump.
 
Here some pictures. I hope they will work. How do you know if the problem is the shafts versus the coupler. How do you check the prop ?
 

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electric shift for sure.

Ok drain the oil in the upper look for large pieces of metal on the magnet it will be on the lower plug, the dipstick is the breather.

When draining you could have the oil run thru a screen.

When you do drop the upper the whole shebang the water pump and 2 shafts and the gear will come out in one piece.

Do not buy anything understand first lets see what is the problem.

I sent you a pm.
 
I am looking at a manual so I will probably reiterate what you want me to do so I understand.
  1. Drain oil, prefer to drain oil through a screen to check for metal pieces
  2. Also check upper drain plug for metal pieces too.
  3. With the stern drive still mounted to the boat remove the top five bolts on the exhaust cover to remove the upper drive unit ? The whole unit will come up and this is where the water pump etc is located ?
  4. Don't buy any parts. I won't as I don't know what is the problem yet.
Thanks
Glen
 
no there are 3 drives you want to drain the upper drive the plug is above the swivel. That lower plug has a magnet on it.

To allow air to enter the upper and to fill the drive you remove the dip stick.

The very top of the drive where the dip stick is are 5 screws look straight down from the top.

When you remove those the exhaust shield and the lower drive will come down.

The water pump is located in the bottom of the upper drive.

When you look up from the bottom into the upper you will see 4 long bolts screw them and the whole water pump 2 shafts and the gear in a will come out in one unit.

Look at the manual i sent you.
 
ok to test put it in forward with the key on not running it will engage the forward gear turn the prop if the prop turns, ball gears move it's the coupler , if the ball gears do not move and the prop turns it's the shafts.
 
OK, I have done as suggested. After putting the key in and placing the shifter in forward. The prop turns to counter clockwise with some difficulty but the ball gears do not move. So I think as you have said it is probably in the upper unit. I had some oil remove questions and I have posted pictures. I understand the oil breather at the top of the upper, I see the oil plug on the starboard side of the swing area but there is another oil plug, "OIL LEVEL", on the port side of the lower. I have attached pictures. I am assuming the I just wnat to drain oil from the swing area and open the breather, correct.

After I drain the oil, I will run it through a screen to look for metal. I then remove the five bolts and pull up the upper, after removing the appropriate springs and the washer. I did get your manual. It is the same one I already had but I know I am using the right thing now.

Do you think this is a problem with the pinion gear assembly ?

Anyway, I will be draining the oil and pulling the upper this afternoon. I look forward to hearing from you and I will take pictures as well......
 

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The center pic is the plug anf the far right is the dipstick. The middle pic plug will be where you drain and fill from the dipstick you pull pull out so the oil can drain faster allowing air to enter.

The very top screw looking at the far right pictures is the screw you pull to drop the lower and the exhaust housing all in one unit.

Understand this if the shafts are good then it's the coupler then the motor got to come out.

Again DO NOT BUY ANYTHING UNTIL AFTER YOU POST BACK HERE WHAT YOU FIND UNDERSTAND.

You will gegt a pm from me after we find out what your problem is.
 
OK, I drained the oil. It looked brownish green without any metal filings I could see although it did feel gritty. The magnetic oil plug showed no metal filings. I haven't pulled the bottom bolts to remove the water pump. It looks like it is also attached to the shaft that has the pinion bearing.

Should I pull the bottom water pump bolts. What I did notice is that as I pull this apart I will have to order some O rings no matter what.
 

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yes looking up into the upper from the lower there are 4 bolts pull them and the whole shebang comes out.

what you got now in the pics are ok.

You drained the lower ?

The oil is ok then in the upper not milky. That color oil is the expensive chit.

So far so good.
 
OK...I pulled the bottom four bolts to the water pump etc. this morning. I pulled out the water pump shaft. See picture below as I found a key and seal stuck in between the plate and the pump....I also found a piece of bark inside the case. I managed to pull it out, see picture. So now I try and remove the rest of the gear housing and it will not budge. The manual says it is held together by an O-ring and you should be able to snap it out. I pulled the top of the worm gear cover off to look down there. I gingerly used a small bck of wood on the top of the shaft to see if I could drive it out, a little leary about this.

So do I have to pull the upper from the intermediate to work further on this. I though about starting the bottom screws into the remaining bottom plate and try pull it out. I suspect that a key has failed in the upper section which has caused the problem. Please see pics below....

Also I noticed where the upper attaches to the intermediate a little space like it wasn't seated properly. See pics. should I undo the cap screws and see if I can reseat it ? Would this cause enough stress to affect the gear housing from coming out ?


Anyway thanks for your help. It fun until I have to pay for the parts.....

Glen
 

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ok so you removed the upper from the boat and it is now sitting on your bench ? If yes you have to secure the upper in vice or some other method and using a hammer and screwdriver or something else to spin the water pump.

The last picture in your last post see the bolt holes pick one and tap one hole so the whole water pump spins, that way it will break the seal holding the pump in.

If you break the plastic who cares see your gonna be getting a new one anyway.

Or you can get a slide hammer wack it out that way ether way that shaft and the bearing carrier and gear got to come out.
 
I have removed the water pump including the shaft. I think the water pump shft splines are not good. The problem is getting the shaft that holds the pinion bearing will not come out.....I think I will have have to remove the upper from the intermediate and move the balls gears aroubnd to get the bearing shaft out....It seems to be stuck in the upper and won't come out easily.....I will go ahead and remove the caps and pull the upper from the intermediate...I think right now the whole water pump inclduing the shaft will have to be replaced. I think the internal splines in the bearing shaft are OK, now /i have to see the shape of the pinion bearings etc.....
 
  1. OK...so here is the story....
    The external splines on the water pump shaft are shot. So I need the shaft.

    The internal splines on the gear shaft are shot, of course because they mate with water pump external splines.

    Can I just get the shafts ?

    One thing I also found inside the upper case was wire from a metal leader wrapped around the ball gear! How can this get into upper in the first place ?

    I am also going to write the place that I bought the boat because they told me they replaced the impeller, which they did but since I found an extra brand new key inside the impeller area I think the mechanic dropped it and just couldn't find it and said the hell with it. Also they would have had to see the damaged splines too....Who knows.

    Anyway the rest of the bearings etc look good, I will also need to put in seals all around too. SO let me know if I can buy the shafts as an individual items. How hard is it to rebuild that gear case ? I may try and put some picture up tomorrow.

    Thanks for the help too....Chiefalan
 
I looked at the pictures again you got the low profile unit the shaft kit will work.

While your doing it reseal with the kit that comes in the packet, install the new water pump you need the blue permetex one tube, can be had even in wal-mart or home cheapo or any marine store.

Red will do also.

Use a good amount of grease on the splines.

You need to seal also the 4 thru bolts , and the outside of the whole water pump after it's put back together.
 
OK....I have put the whole thing back together. I setup the water to it and started it up and all is working so far. No, funny noises. I will take it out this week sometime and we will see....I really appreciate all of the help especially chiefalan....I wil continue to monitor this site and see what is going on....
 
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