Re: [OMC-Boats] Stern Drive Rebuild

On Tue, 18 Aug 2009, Don Mandelas wrote:
> How many of us on this list have themselves rebuilt the lower or upper
> unit on their OMC Stern Drive?

I've had mine removed and taken apart, but haven't really done much
rebuilding work. I've separated the upper and lower unit, replaced the
water pump, and replaced ball gears (on the upper unit and intermediate
housing), along with some shims and seals in the process. I never opened
up the lower unit, but I found the upper unit very easy to work on (having
had no past experience with marine drives). The main challenge was that
many bolts were corroded in place and required a bit of heat and hammering
to get off.

As for the questions about how best to work on it, the lower unit and upper
unit can be separated while the drive is still in the boat. Put some
blocks under the lower unit to support it, undo the bolts on the top of the
outdrive, and the lower unit will slide right out. If it's badly corroded
you might have to kick at it a bit, but mine actually fell on the ground
immediately when the last bolt was removed because we hadn't supported it
properly. You can then carefully slide the shifter wires out of the
transom and down through the lower unit. Once that's out, you can remove
the upper unit by undoing the bolts on the tilt caps. Installing it is the
reverse - I installed the upper unit in the boat first and then bolted the
lower unit to it. I'd generally recommend for any substantial work that
it's better to remove it from the boat, bring it inside, and work on it on
a bench in comfort.

Ethan

-- 
<a href="http://www.engr.wisc.edu/~brodskye/"> Ethan Brodsky </a>