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BF225A3 propeller bearing holder

W

weathered

New member
Hello all,
I need some advice on installing the propeller bearing holder into the gear case of a 2004 honda 225a3. I have the forward gear and pinion gear installed as well as the vertical shaft. I’m having problems getting the bearing holder into the gear case. I have greased oiled heated everything I could. I cant seem to get the holder past the oil seal into the gear case. Is there some type of trick to get the holder into the gear case? Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Hi,
Are you working with a shop .manual or just wingin' it?

I'm having difficulty with the terms you're using. Not saying you're wrong, it's just not what I call some of that stuff. It sounds to me like you're trying to install the PROP SHAFT HOLDER assembly and it's not going in all the way

So we're on the same page, here's a link to the transmission parts diagram for reference:


Take a look at that and compare how you have things "stacked" together on yours.


If you're had it apart to replace something in there, I wonder if.the shimming dimensions can interfere with installation. I've never done a 225 so I don't know. Did you do a gear mesh shim procedure by chance? It's pretty critical that it be correct but I'm not sure if would cause this problem if it's off.

Let us know what you think. If I'm way off, apologies. But there are others here that can and have straightened me out on these before so hopefully they'll chime in.

Good luck.
 
Yes that’s the correct diagram except it’s counter. I’ve read all the shimming procedures for the forward gear and pinion gear. I used the same shims on the install as were there when I uninstalled them. For this though I’m not even getting the bearing carrier to slide into the gear housing at all so it’s not even close to the forward gear or pinion gear. I’ve seen videos of people pulling the carrier out of the gear housing and they use long pullers heat grease etc to get it out. I was thinking of getting 2 long m12 bolts to connect to where the carrier would normally screw in. Then I could heat the housing and tighten down the bolts pulling the carrier until the carrier started to go in. My biggest concern is breaking the carrier or gear housing. Honda doesn’t make these carriers anymore so they are tough to find.
 
One piece of advice I'm positive about with Honda gear cases is don't use any force to do anything! It will likely end in regret.

I guess I'm not getting what it is that you're trying to do. The bearing holder and reverse gear should be already mounted on the propshaft assembly and the assembly goes into the case as "one piece".

The only thing I can envision stopping the assembly from sliding in easily might be because it's hanging up on the shift rod???
(Question marks because I don't know)i9
Screenshot_20260509_110604_Drive.jpg
 
Yeah thanks I agree that it should go in easily. But it’s not. If you look at the first diagram the front grease arrow points to where the oil seal is located. That is where the bearing holder is getting stuck going into the gear case. It’s almost like it’s too big to fit into the gear case.Yeah I definitely don’t want to break either part and I’m pretty sure both would break with pressure. Not going to try to use pressure to get it to slide in. So some of my question is answered that is that the holder should slide in easily to the gear case and if it’s not there’s something wrong. It’s not the shifter rod for one that’s not installed yet and two the shifter is not getting in far enough to have that be a problem. The bearing carrier is fully assembled correctly but I will go through it again tonight to verify that. The only thing I can think of now that I know it should just slide in is that something must be hitting the pinion gear or something else.
 
Was this out to replace a part or parts?
You said that you put the same shims back but if you replaced anything, you need to check and adjust gear lash. That can require different thickness shims.

Have you tried turning the propshaft and clutch gear to see if the dog ears are bumping up against the forward gear dog ear high points? Not sure why that would happen if the clutch piece is installed correctly nor why that would stop the assembly from going into the case though.

I'm just taking some WAG guesses as I don't think I'm grasping what's going on with it. Never had that problem before. Sorry.
 
This was out to replace the bearing holder itself. The outboard was originally a Florida engine and it had a lot of salt corrosion on the bearing holder. I also replaced all the bearings for the prop and the vertical shaft since I had them both out. I had a thought last night of course just to keep me awake. I had bought the holder from a marina as a used part. I specified that mine was a 2004 and the marina stated that their part was compatible with 2004 225A3. Honda redesigned the part in 2007. When I got the holder from the marina the paint was white on the painted parts. I thought no big deal mine is the standard Aquamarine silver who cares if the small section of the bearing carrier doesn't match. Well last night I looked up all the colors for 2004. No white. There was Aquamarine silver and Oyster silver. White started in 2018. That would mean that the bearing holder I have is potentially a 2007+ holder. It still holds the same bearings but the holder is a slightly different size. So I need to go back to the marina and have them double check the outboard they took this from and make sure it's <= to 2006. The holder from the marina is also in great shape even for a freshwater only engine of a <=2006 engine, maybe too good. I wouldn't doubt that newer holders 2007+ are beefier and have slightly larger diameters which would explain the issue.
 
Oh! Wow!
You've taught me something I had no idea about!
Which isn't so unusual.
I came to this forum years ago to learn and boy, have I!
Back then we had the great hondadude advising us all. I bet he would have known about this! I sorely miss his counsel and the friendship that guy granted to everyone here.

I too was looking at the manual this morning and scratching my head asking myself "what could be stopping it from sliding right in"?

Maybe you have figured out the answer now. Hopefully they can come up with the correct housing if so.

Please keep us updated about how this works out for you.

P.S. not trying to be a nag but I can't emphasize enough about how important it is for the transmission to have the correct gear lash. It's a total pain to go through the shimming procedure but if the lash isn't close to spec, it will change as the transmission and oil heats up during use. Especially long distance high speeds

it gets too tight, the gears will begin eating themselves and the bearings will then injest the resulting metal particles and be damaged too.
 
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