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How to replace a alfa1 prop shaft

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bill_cunningham

Contributing Member
"This summer, I 'ticked&#3

"This summer, I 'ticked' something with the prop, it curled the ends of alum. prop about 1/2" It was not a hard strike, just one of those "oh crap I think I hit something" kind of strikes.. I replaced the prop, with a used one, and thought nothing of it because the boat was coming out the next week.. On the way to the haulout ramp (about 10 miles) there was a vibration in the stern I had not noticed before, so I blamed the used prop.. After the boat (see avatar) was at home on the trailer, I put on the muffs and ran it up to temp.. put it in gear, and the prop had a wobble.. I pulled the prop, but had nothing to check the shaft rotaion, so I ran a tape measure from the concreate pad to the center divit of the shaft, and slowly rotated it.. The very end, had a wobble of 1/16"... The shaft was bent... Now, I have seen links others have posted to sites that will give you step by step instructions on repair jobs.. Can anyone point me to one of these that can fill me in on how to replace this shaft? I have a Seloc Manual, but it leaves me with more questions than answers.. Seloc manuals seem to be written for pro-OD mechanics that already know what the hell their doing.. I'm a millwrite, so I'm not easily confused, Seloc has managed to do that!!"
 
Bill:

All I know to tell yo

Bill:

All I know to tell you is go onto eBay Motors and search for a Mercruiser Alpha 1 Factory Service Manual; include the year you want. You can also get a factory engine manual. I got both for my 1987 4.3L and Alpha 1 for $28. Factory manuals are much more detailed w/o the extra info. Seloc manuals have.
 
"Bill..
This is your neighbor

"Bill..
This is your neighbor typing. I live just down the road from you near St.Jacobs Ont. Thats about 1.5 hrs SW of you. Enough of the small talk.
I had to remove the prop shaft from my old Johnson 4cyl outboard (115 hp) a few years ago for the same reason. Without a manual, I worked my way through it. As a millright, you can do it too. The toughest things I came up against were a couple of the meanest snap-rings you've ever seen. They're called tru-arc snap-rings. I had to modify and grind the tips of a pair of extra long needle nose pliers to reach inside the bullet and manipulate the snap-rings. I'm not sure if the inerds of your shaft assy. is the same, but I'm sure its very similar. I did not have to remove the bottom end of the drive to do this. Walk yourself through it and you'll get it out. Drain the oil, and get new seals for it when you get it going back together. I had a friend at a local machine shop press it straight for free (he left it in the press for two days, a few thou past straight and it flexed back to perfect. Almost zero runout) I checked the shaft every year during winterization, and it never bent out of shape again.

Just thinking out loud
Wrench"
 
Bill
The Seloc and Clymer man

Bill
The Seloc and Clymer manuals can sometimes leave you with more questions than answers when dealing with some problems but I generaly find them pretty good to work with.

Keep your eye on Ebay and see if you can pick yourself up a genuine mercruiser manual. They read a bit like war and peace but they do generaly go into a bit more detail on how to do a particular repair.

I have a Clymer and a genuine manual and I much preffer the Genuine Mercruiser one.

Cheers
Peter C
 
"Ayuh,......

Helping you fi

"Ayuh,......

Helping you find a Shop Manual would be much easier,.....
If you would tell us Exactly what Outdrive you Have......"
 
"Thanks guys.. My out drive is

"Thanks guys.. My out drive is a Alpha 1, (the boat is a 89 - 23' ebbtide mid cabin, engine 5.7 .. It's in the Avatar) I'll have a look around and see if I can find a better manual over the winter.. And Yup Wrench.. with a prop shaft in the $300.00-$400.00 range I Certainly am going to try to straighten it.. I have a hydraulic arbour press in the shop, and I sure can't hurt anything by trying..(I don't think I paid $300.00 for the press
lol.gif
...) I know when I did the Gimbal bearing/bellows etc., there was a website with full instructions.. I'm pretty sure that same site had alot more info on various jobs, but dammed if I can find it again.."
 
"SUPER!!! Thanks Bondo... It c

"SUPER!!! Thanks Bondo... It came to me as a email notification as well, and I'm downloading it right now.. IT's coming down at 200 KBS so won't take long
about a min. or so.. got it...
Bill..."
 
"Ayuh,.......

Just 1 more t

"Ayuh,.......

Just 1 more thing,.....

If you click on the little red "Main Menu" button at the upper right corner of the page,....
You can access All of the Factory Manuals that are presently available.......
Along with Much More Info....."
 
Great Stuff... Thanks Bondo..

Great Stuff... Thanks Bondo.. This is going to save me a whole bunch of grief and searching.. And probably for a lot of other folks reading this thread as well...
 
"What I was also thinking, tha

"What I was also thinking, that seeing the Canadian Dollar is at par (or slightly above) the U.S. Dollar, It just might be the right time to order a whole new outdrive from SE $1395.00 incl shipping may be too good to pass up.."
 
"Bill,

I've had two SEI

"Bill,

I've had two SEI drives and can't complain. They seem to work fine. I wouldn't put 300hp on em though."
 
"I have not heard anything bad

"I have not heard anything bad so far, and I've Only got 260hp.. I can fix my old one at leasure, then have a spare, or sell it.."
 
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