Mercruiser 470 outdrive problems

"Ive been trying to get my boa

"Ive been trying to get my boat up and running. I finnally got it running great. It was at aprox. 1300 rpm in nuetral, and I heard a clunk. The engine died. I restarted the engine ran it for 1 or 2 min tried putting it into forward and heard a load clunk, the engine died and was siezed. I pulled the outdrive, and tried to start the engine. It started right up. Does anyone have any idea what went wrong, and how dificult are these outdrives to tear in to? Or am I better of buying a used one on ebay and throw it on. Im just afraid of getting a 1500-2000 dollar bill from the repair shop?"

"You may be able to determine

"You may be able to determine if it is the upper, or lower that failed, but lots of special tools, etc. are required to repair. I wouldn't recommend a do-it-yourself approach. You could take it and have it checked out. if gears are bad, 1500-2000 is probably about right. used or rebuilt are options. check into sterndrive engineering for low cost new replacement drive.(about 1200 complete drive) I have sold several with no mechanical problems. my one problem with them is paint (powder coat) doesn't stand up to salt water. may not be a problem up there. I'm sure someone with fresh water exp. will post. in any case, first step is determining what failed. hard to do without seeing."