Mercury 125 2 stroke, driveshaft play help?!

Just bought my first boat that has a mercury 125hp 2 stroke 4cyl, it seems to have a lot of shaft play in what seems to be the driveshaft right before it goes into the lower unit I can’t find anywhere what this is called or how to fix it can anyone help me please?

Up or down play ??----Sideways ??----How did you determine that there might be something wrong ?

racerone said:

Up or down play ??----Sideways ??----How did you determine that there might be something wrong ?

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It is horizontal play on the shaft, I can grab the whole unit and lower unit and shake it back and forth about a inch each way, it seems to be some sort of bearing that goes through the whole shaft from the power head to lower unit, I know the play is way too much and something is wrong. When I’m in forward or reverse gear in the water only, the whole unit will shake pretty bad until I give a little throttle then it smooths

Perhaps you bought a motor that needs expensive repairs.----Reason it was up for sale.----What does oil in the lower unit look like ?

Are you talking about the lower engine mounts, where there is a large amount of play and you can shake the engine front to back and left to right? Is the clearance in the swivel pin or where the engine pivots just above where the gearcase attaches to the midsection?

It Re: Mercury 125 2 stroke, driveshaft play help?!

fitz73222 said:

Are you talking about the lower engine mounts, where there is a large amount of play and you can shake the engine front to back and left to right? Is the clearance in the swivel pin or where the engine pivots just above where the gearcase attaches to the midsection?

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yes it shakes front back left and right and on the section right above the gear case attachment

It's either the swivel pin bushing or the lower engine mounts or both. It's pretty much a major job, which involves about complete disassembly of the engine. Hopefully the engine hasn't seen any saltwater use. Remove the plastic covers over the lower mounts and take a look at the condition of the mounts. Take some pictures and post them here.

???----Post #1 talks about " driveshaft play "-----Now is seems it really is an issue with corroded mounts / yoke / pivot tube.-----Pictures and more pictures should be used , verbal descriptions can be so challenging sometimes.

fitz73222 said:

It's either the swivel pin bushing or the lower engine mounts or both. It's pretty much a major job, which involves about complete disassembly of the engine. Hopefully the engine hasn't seen any saltwater use. Remove the plastic covers over the lower mounts and take a look at the condition of the mounts. Take some pictures and post them here.

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The repair is not that much gray matter, just lots of disassembly and bull work. Powerhead needs to come out, gearcase off to reduce weight, you need to gain access to the upper and lower mounts, unbolt and remove the midsection to replace all of the engine mounts. If the swivel pin bushing and yolk is toast in addition to removing the midsection you have to remove the retaining clip that secures the pivot pin and remove it via pulling up on the steering arm then remove the bushing in the swivel housing and replace. My advice would be to research parts availablity which may be NLA. I have a decent midsection with the powertrim assembly (rusty trim motor but trims up and down) that has all the replacement parts of you want to take this project on. Send pics of what you have..