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Alpha 1 outdrive installation

slickcraft_1

New member
"Hi,Guys

I had my Alpha 1 o


"Hi,Guys

I had my Alpha 1 outdrives serviced offseason and after taking the boat out I lost the port side drive which is the counter rotating side.
The company that did the service looked at the boat outdrive and said it hit something and needed to be replaced.After pulling the boat out of lake michigan I inspected the drive and it looked ok. The marine company insisted that the drive was damaged.I ordered a new counter rotating drive and had it replaced. I had another marine company dismantle the port drive to see the damage and they infomed me that a bearing inthe lower unit failed and that it was a standard rotating drive. Could installing the drives incorrectly counter to starboard and standard to port damage the lower unit.

Thanks for your feed back!
Slickcraft 1"
 
"I would say no, as I operated

"I would say no, as I operated a pre-alpha drive 1.98r with a LH 23p prop on a STD rotation engine that should've had a 1.65r with a RH 19p Prop for about 50-100 miles, which required me to run the drive @ 4000rpm in reverse for extended periods, but with the wrong prop will screw up the captain.

the shaft going into the lower still turns the same direction,

IF the Props were switched and you had to use the controls in reverse, THEN yes damage CAN result as the gear faces weren't designed for that stress.

Though I had a bearing failure also, a peice of the roller broke and was jamming.

just my .0002 cents. (figuring in the current depression anyway)"
 
"the drive didn't know the

"the drive didn't know they were switched, again unless you/they SWITCHED the props, the only difference is the boat might handle differently, I would think the wake would look different."
 
The standard RH rotating Alpha

The standard RH rotating Alpha cannot be run in reverse (making it "counter-rotating") for long.
The "counter-rotating" LH drive is "special" as it has extra support bearings in the lower unit.
 
If both engines turn in the sa

If both engines turn in the same direction and just the lower unit is a reverse rotation ? then it wouldn't matter which upper it was on right?
 
Yes Brian

The only differen


Yes Brian

The only difference between standard rotation and reverse rotation AT the outdrives is the lower gear case. As said the lower has a different bearing support set up and Forward and Reverse gears are in the opposite locations as in a standard rotation lower.

You can run in reverse in a standard rotation all day long as long as you do NOT go over put put speed. If you go to fast you will eventually destroy reverse gear and the pinion gear!!!
 
"Which is what I know, and wha

"Which is what I know, and what i've been told, I did run a drive like that for at least 50-80 miles (now with GPS knowing the distances of where i've gone) maybe closer to 100m. Didn't damage the gears, Though I know it will, anyway.

Jack asked "Could installing the drives incorrectly counter to starboard and standard to port damage the lower unit. "

I say no, simply installing will not affect."
 
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