www.iFourWinns.com

I am tired of paying $500 for the boat shop to do the start of the season work on my Horizon. Does anybody have a good DIY for this or recommend a good manual? The only part that worries me is pulling the bottom of the drive off and greasing that thing up like I've seen the mechanic do. Am I getting in over my head?

1996 200 Horizon w/ 313 hours.

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1996 200 Horizon VP/SX 5.8L

if your a bit handy and have the right tools for the job then it can be done. There are more than a dozen threads on these tasks on the board.

do you have a checklist that is done for those 500 bucks?

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Walter

2003 248 Vista - VP 5.0 GXi
2009 Toyota Tundra SR5 5.7L 4x4

In my expierence the drive doesn't need to be pulled every year. Maybe just every other. Of course my boat has all sealed no greasable bearings and u-joints back there.

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1998 Baja Boss 252 7.4L MPI Bravo 1 (SOLD)
2007 FW H200SS 5.0GXI (Sold)
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 Crew 6.0L (tow vehicle)
1991 FW 170 Freedom 4.3L (SOLD)

I did a search but a couldn't find a DIY on it. Could you post a link or two? As far as what they do, basic oil change, plugs, grease everything up, usually an impellar every year, but I do see the bottom of the drive off everytime and that's the one spot that makes me nervous. I think I am mechanically inclined, I do all of my own work on my dirtbikes but boats is something I have always been a bit tenative to tackle.

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1996 200 Horizon VP/SX 5.8L

I'd get a factory shop manual and learn the right way from the start....that's what I do with all my vehicles and when I got this boat some years back I had never worked on marine engines...first year I winterized it myself...had a shop do some needed work on the drive and fuel system...but after that I have tuned it up, R+R'd the drive and gotten it ready for each season and winterized it each season. I feel the shop manual is a good investment and I build a drive stand with casters to make pulling and installing the drive easy. Saves me a good 300 each fall and 4-500 each spring. But, I do buy all my parts at the shop that did the intial work for me...so I keep up a relationship with them if I need something fixed that I can't handle...

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Agree with LouC get a manual and it's fairly simple. I pulled mine for the first time this year (I'm definitely not a marine mechanic), but the process is fairly straight forward and my manual was step by step instructions. Taking the drive off, putting on, greasing the gimbal bearing, changing the exhaust and ujoint bellows are fairly easy. If you are going to change the gimbal bearing you will need a puller and one other piece of equipment is an alignment tool.
I downloaded my manual for my SX drive off the internet for free and it tells you all the tools, grease etc that you will need to pull and service your drive.

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1998 FW Horizion RX 4.3GL SX Drive
Garmin 530

If I remember right there were manuals you could download over in the IO forum at iboats.com.....
The first thing I did when I got the old '88 was to get a factory OMC manual which were still available then...and it tells you how to do everything with nice photos, etc.

One thing I'll add...when people start to talk about winterizing...is not to try to take shortcuts and use those suck the antifreeze up the drive kits...because the thermostat may not open all the way on a cool fall day...and you can wind up with a block/heads with very little AF and mostly water in it...which can crack in cold temps! Most of the AF can wind up going out the exhaust using that method. If you want to use AF the best way is to drain everything manually and then back fill through the hoses...I got that from the OMC manual and have used it every year since...I feel it's better than just draining because it keeps the air out which reduces corrosion.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II