Can I Swap A 78 OMC stringer W/ a Berk/pump or V/P?

[Secret F233]

Hello,
How has everyone been well this is it I will not spend another summer in the Berth!!! I Have managed get most of the systems online but I Still Have not figured out the 78 OMC Stringer Drive on my 80 F233. It still won't engage (the prop spins free in neutral & is stiff in drive but no rotation the spider teeth from the Housing & the drive are spinning) But that said is it worth it to keep trying I just keep Hearing the OMC stringer is Junk?

I'm About to give up and fill the hole and get a V/P Or Berk/Jet Pump but is that Possible any thought or sug's?

[Forrest]

Electric shift? I'm fairly sure that it is. Anyway, yes they are junk (sorry), and parts are expensive, but they are easy to work on with standard hand tools. It sounds like to me that the spring (for lack of a better term) that wraps around the drive spool is broken - which was a common problem with those units. Find a book on older OMC drives, get your tools out, and take it apart. You will see how it works with the pair of electro-magnets, the "springs", and the drive spools once you take it apart. In fact you will probably become the local expert on those things as well, and everyone who has one will want you to fix theirs! Also, don't forget to replace all the "O" rings that you run in to along the way, and only use the OMC Special Blend gear oil or equivalant, if there is such a thing. Regular gearcase oil is too thick and will mess up the works.

[marcdups]

Here is an EXPERT on this c$#p, he truly is and will also cut you no slack on telling you was Forrest expressed, his name is Bobby Harper and # is 919-556-5175, just ship him a 12 pack of natural lights and he will tell you more than you wanna know, he has forgotten more than we will ever know about them" OMC's Stringer mounts"

Good luck,
Marc

[Secret F233]

Thanks fellas I got the service Book but it's for the 400 series & I'm almost positive this is a 800, it's huge & the boats 4000lbs it seems it would have to be the 800. anyway thanks for the confidence I'm going to give Mr. Harper a call once I get the right book that way I can talk turkey. my wife is so excited & honestly so am I it's been a year now. I'll post back once I get her off the transom this weekend & start troubleshooting it. Thanks again for the Hints & Tips on where to start.

O yah I read in another post hear on the board that this OMCDrive pushes from the stringers & motormounts Is that Good Or Bad any thoughts?
Chris O

[Forrest]

1978? That should be the pre-400/800 series. Does it have thru-hub exhaust?

No one, not even OMC when they were still alive, makes stringer drive systems any more. First of all, the boat had to be constructed to accomodate the thrust from the drive to be transmitted through the boat's stringers via the motor mounts. This alone made it difficult for boat builders to make the same boat to fit both OMC units and transom-drive units such as Mercrusier or Volvo-Penta. Secondly, if you have an old OMC sterndrive you better make sure that the rubber transom boot is in A1 good shape. This means you! Many OMC stringer-drive powered boats are sitting on bottom due to a leak in the rubber transom boot. Other weak areas of the OMC stringer drive are (but not limited to) the ball gears which wear quickly as opposed to the industry-standard enclosed universal joints, the intermediate housing which mounts the drive with two nickle-and-dime cast aluminum caps. Hit a submerged object while on a plane and plan on taking a dive to find the outdrive!

[Secret F233]

OK After 28 1/2 hours on Saturday (from Walk up to boat to finding Parts) we did it I Got the drive off & tore it down & the problem was in the Upper Gear case, the pinion gear w/bearing & upper Horizontal shaft & Gear w/ bearings looked like a bowl of granola inside the upper gear case housing. but every thing else below that looks good & operates good & quiet but we did take the rest of it down to check for metal shavings & what not but it was really nice so... I checked the web (outdrive.com & the shad conect) & for upper gear assembles pressed w bearings its around $600-$960 OUCH & for just the gears & bearings individually its like $220-$400 but I'll have to get a shop to press them.. O yah Plus the Ball Gears are about half gone so $150-$250 for those & with a few new seals kits & orings & a shift cable $78 I'll be BACK. I'm hoping to keep it under 800 or so because I will be getting a second job at night to Fund this little extravaganza but it's worth the sacrifice.

But I Just wanted to say thanks if it wasn't for the kind & knowlagable pepole on this board I would have never had the confidence to attempt this it took a year to get here But thanks to all for the great advise & tips & Backup, you know hu you R were half way there. O yes Amy (the MRS.) Says XXX,s & OOO,s all around to the crew @ DONZI.net for getting her back on the water & her man off the couch LOL!!! But seriously was just amazed that I really could do this with My tools O plus one loner a Jaw Puller to separate the Upper & Lower Gear cases but WOW now I can do this my self & never have to trust a stranger to work on my boat again WHhhooooHooooo!!!!!!!! I'm out of the Dark & I Can see Clearly Now the Rain is gone!!!! THE OMC Stringer mount is the best Out drive i could have hoped for Becouse (Thanks to Ya'll) I CAN FIX IT :p !!!

BTW ya guys know of any good parts stops?

Chris Oldfather

[Secret F233]

P.S. Forrest you Where right i already have one lined up for repair (maybe) somone at the local shop heard me talking to the mecanic & stoped me in the lot on sunday about his dads old SEA-RAY w/an OMC 800 that can be my parts cash yah!!!!

[Forrest]

Chris,

Here are some links to better prices on OMC stringer drive parts:

Aftermarket Discount Marine's (http://www.rodnreel.com/dmarine/)

OMC gear parts page (http://www.rodnreel.com/dmarine/omcpgear.htm)
OMC drive hard parts (http://www.rodnreel.com/dmarine/omcistri.htm)
and more OMC stringer gears, sear sets, housings, complete uppers and lowers (http://http://www.rodnreel.com/dmarine/omcp.htm).

Best of luck!

[marcdups]

Here are also a couple of phone #'s for hard to find parts, and OMC pre enjoyed parts!!

Eason Clark, 252 726 9190
Charlie Johnson, 252 823 1545

Good Luck, Marc

[Looped]

Forrest,
It’s funny that you mentioned about the rubber transom boot needing to be replaced. My parents bought a 1973 IMP Aztec back in 1975 that had a Buick 225hp v8 with an OMC outdrive that had the electric throttle (I always wondered why the throttle was so easy to move without that cable friction feel to it until I found out that it was an electric one). Anyway, about 10 years ago I was up on lake Winni throwing the typical weekend party on my parents island and we decided to go water skiing with the IMP. After about the third person I was pulling up someone that was sitting on the engine cover yelled at me saying that the engine was lifting up. Once we got back to my dock we opened up the engine cover to take a look-see and it turned out that the engine had ripped its self off of the stringers and the flame arrestor was pushing the engine cover up in the air about 4 inches or so. It being a typical buzzed weekend we decided to just dock the boat at my dock and just use one of the other boats and just bring the IMP back to Harilla Landing Marina (about a mile away to the mainland) the next day when we were going back home.

Well the next morning I looked out down at the IMP and the thing was sitting about a foot lower in the water than normal so I ran down to it to check it out and what you said about the rubber transom boot does happen, the bilge pump was cranking away with a hole in the boot. Somehow I managed to drive the boat from my island over the marina without it sinking and for them to take it out of the water to put it up in its rack.

Once the stringers were replaced the boat has run okay with a couple OMC outdrives replaced and the electric throttle having problems after my parents sold it to a friend of mine for a buck a few years ago.

Craig

[Secret F233]

Ya the boots are cheep I'm going to try to double up on as much as i can for spares. hu knows if we'll still be able to buy stringer parts 10 years from now & now that i can fix it man i need extras! Man i bet another few hours & that Batery & IMP would have been done lucky Lucky Lucky. The H20 was probibly Leaking back out the boot on the way to the marina.

My mom & Dad used to tell me About cleaning there 16' woody in the 40's pull the plug add A 1' or so of water plug back up add dish soap & cruze some waves for a while then pull the plug & drain + Rinse & Repeat for real. I would have loved to see that they said it was great fun LOLOL!!!!

[Looped]

Secret F233,

Believe me that was the plan but because of the motor mounts being ripped off of the stringers I couldn’t get going too fast. If I remember correctly, I think we just tried to bail out as much water as we could and then I just trolled my way to the marina with the bilge still running once we jump started the old clunker. I’m not sure which model that OMC outdrive was but it was a real ugly one that had a round top and about a 1-inch round exhaust hole right near the very top. I can still hear that thing now in my head, idling with it gurgling in and out of the water.

The way that your parents drained the boat is the way that I use to do it with the little 12’ Alumacraft boat they have when it rained out instead of trying to find the 1 gallon milk jug with the cut out bottom to scoop the water out.