Lost a nut OMC 43 1989 engine stern drive issue HELP

"Guys,

Haven't been on

"Guys,

Haven't been on the board since last year this time, but you all saved me a dozen times last year getting my engine in my first boat going, many thanks.

Same engine, OMC 4.3 1989. I went to change the oils for the first time. I read the manual on both the stern drive oil change and the engine oil change about 5 days ago.

About 1 day ago, I thought I still had it in my head, and instead of taking out the oil fill plug in the stern drive on the right hand side middle, I pulled the bigger on, on the left side of the stern drive, a little higher. A bunch of water came out of it.

The problem arose when I went to put it back. I can see the little nut that held it in place just prior to me stupidly unscrewing it, but now it's settled back and on its side a bit in that compartment, whatever it is. I'm assuming from the water it's one of the water cooling channels?

How on earth do you get that nut back on there? I can't get at it from the side of the stern drive. I tried putting a screw driver in there, and could get the nut on it and bring it back to the hole, but it wouldn't stay there.

Hoping hard you guys tell me that I don't have to open up the whole stern drive, have never done that, seems like a mess?

Thanks for help!!!!"

"Unfortunately you have fallen

"Unfortunately you have fallen into a trap that many have. That screw was never meant to come out and when the drives were new there was an OMC Cobra badge covering it so you never knew it was there. About the only way people have been sucessful is to remove the drive so you can reach in and grab the nut plate and hold it up to put the screw back in. See item 14 in pic is the screw and 13 is the nut plate. 58 is the badge that should cover it up but they fall off.

"

"Good lord, don't tell me

"Good lord, don't tell me that. There's no way to snake a coat hanger in from the top screw and prop it up? Is the upper chamber connected to the side on that has the nut?

How hard is it to "remove the drive." for an average Joe newbie engine tinkerer guy?"

"Hey Doug, Go down to the boat

"Hey Doug, Go down to the boatshop and get yourself a drive hanging gasket kit for the Cobra and replace the nut the easy way. While your there, check the gimble bearing and U/J crosses, heck even lube them. Might as well check the bellows while your at it. Piece of cake. Get a Seloc Manual and all will be well. Just remember we are always here to help."

"I did this a while back, just

"I did this a while back, just after servicing my drive. Needless to say I didn't want to take the drive back off again.

I used a drop of glue to hold the nut in place and let it dry, after it dried I was able to screw the screw/bolt/plug back in and all was well."

"I was going to try the glue t

"I was going to try the glue trick but realized that it was really dumb to put the tilt all the way back up on the motor after I could see the nut floating around just inside the hole. After putting the tilt/drive all the way back down, the nut was gone... I tried fishing around for it for about an hour with a wire but no luck. So the glue trick was no longer an option.

So, I removed the entire stern drive. I'd been wanting to try that for a long time so it wasn't completely bad that it happened. Anyway, after removing the drive, there was the nut, just sitting right at the opening of the drive. The nut is back on now. Also, I lubed up the ujoint and the splines, put a new gasket on, new o-rings etc. One of the old o-rings was broken, or it broke on the way out.

The drive went back on a little tough, but it eventually made it on there. I didn't have a hoist so it was a little cumbersome. But it gave me an excuse to buy my first torque wrench, awesome tool.

Thanks for your advice as always.

I haven't tried to start the engine up post-operation, see my next posting.

Thanks,
Doug"

"Doug...glad you got the nutba

"Doug...glad you got the nutback on ok and it's always a good thing to do the other maint while in there but I guess we should have told you to also check the drive alignment with a tool since you mentioned it was a little hard getting back on. The tool (can be found on ebay reasonable) goes through the gimbal bearing into the coupler and it lets you know if the engine mounts need to be adjusted to line up properly. If out of alignment it can put extra stress on the engine coupler and cause premature failure. Don't mean to worry you, hopefully your OK but since you mentioned it was hard going back on. Some times the drives can be hard anyway even if the alignment is ok."