www.iFourWinns.com

What is the likelihood of damaging / chipping the Pinion gear when removing the inner prop shaft from a DP-SM drive. I assume the process is very similar when removing the prop shaft from an SX drive; so comments regarding either are welcome.

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2004 - 288 Vista
Twin - 5.0 Volvo Penta GXi DP

Thanks for the link. I’ll have to view it on my PC as my IPhone and IPad don’t read flash.

I look forward to going through the manual.

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2004 - 288 Vista
Twin - 5.0 Volvo Penta GXi DP

I would say if you have the correct tools to do this, the chances of chipping the pinion gear are minimal. I’ve done this job several times, with the correct factory tools and never had a problem.

Why are you removing it? Leaky seal?

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2001 Four Winns 298 Vista
Twin 5.7 Volvo Penta GSI DP

Thanks for the responses to my cryptic question.

I had given my drives to a shop to re-seal as I have been getting a small amount of water in the gear oil.

When the mechanic started looking at the drives I was told the prop shaft seals were leaking, and that both inner prop shafts were bent; each out by about 0.014”.

I had asked that the shafts be returned to me so I could attempt to have them straightened. When the shafts were removed I was notified that the pinion gear had a chip in it. He said the chip was likely old and not of major concern seeing as I have not hit anything in the 3 or 4 years I have owned the boat.

I got the shafts and brought them to the machine shop who ultimately brought me in to see them on the lathe with 4 dial indicators on them. Both shafts were only out by 0.002”, and they had not touched them. At this point I became suspicious as to whether or not the mechanic was out of his element and if he could have been the one who chipped the gear.

I have not spoken to the mechanic since discovering the shafts are straight.

Not sure what to think at this point, but can say I am very happy I don’t have to buy 2 new shafts!

Open to comments.

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2004 - 288 Vista
Twin - 5.0 Volvo Penta GXi DP

Interesting. Are you saying both your outdrives were leaking and the inner shaft on each were reportedly out of tolerance by the same amount? Also, as I recall the pinion gear on these drives sits about half way down the drive and sits up high. It takes a special puller to remove it from the vertical driveshaft. Did he pull the gear to inspect it? The only way I can see these gears getting chipped is if there was a previous hit that put undo force on it, someone tried doing a previous seal or shaft replacement and didn’t use the proper tools, and/or there was some defect in the gear from day one. Be interesting to find out how your mechanic came up with the numbers he did!

The pinion gear was not removed, you can see it when you pull the prop shafts.

I so suspect the first owner did hit something, as I do have a bit of a bend in the skag.

Machine shop saint each shaft was out by 0.001 of each other, and the mechanic measured 0.013 and 0.014”. Pretty sure his gauge was out or he made an error.

Yes each drive had water.

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2004 - 288 Vista
Twin - 5.0 Volvo Penta GXi DP

What did they quote you to re-seal drives?

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2001 Four Winns 298 Vista
Twin 5.7 Volvo Penta GSI DP

Late response but I had the exact same thing happen to me. Had water in the drive and the shafts had excessive runout so I approved new shafts. Got a call from the shop a few weeks later saying once they removed them and pulled the gears off everything they turned true in V blocks. They reassembled the drive with new seals and everything spun true again, its been fine since. Their theory was that when I hit the rock it shifted the shaft inside the gear just slighlty but a little runout at one end is a lot of runout at the far end. Thank goodness I had the outdrive at an honest shop as I had approved thousands of dollars of work and ended only pay hundreds

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Our Boating Blog: http://ben-dana.blogspot.com/

2005 268 Vista "Sea Pickle II"
1979 AMF Alcort Puffer
Previous:
2003 FW190 Horizon
1973 Startcraft 18ft "Sea Pickle"

Thanks for sharing your story. I believe my mechanic, like yours, simply setup incorrectly, or read the dial indicator wrong. The reason your story helps me is I now have more confidence that he was not trying to screw me.

As for the run out, I don’t think it was ever there in your case or mine. Reason, there are 2 bearings on the inner shaft, one on either end, and they would have to be an absolute mess to allow that much play. I checked out my bearings when I dropped off my shafts and they were in good shape.

Side note... shoot me a PM if your doing your North Channel run this year. Might be fun to meet up.

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2004 - 288 Vista
Twin - 5.0 Volvo Penta GXi DP