Chunks of Gears

[travisgoff]

I pulled the top cover off the drive, where the oil dipstick screws into, and there are two gears, and after I drained the oil; at the bottom of this compartment, there are pieces of those gears, actually I could say chunks of them, sitting down there.

I have another drive now, upper and lower, and they look the same, but how do I know if the ratio is correct? Can I count the the teeth on the gears in the upper, or is it something in the lower? Is there a way to identify if it will work on my boat?

Also the fin is cracked on the new lower, can I use a cold weld to fix it, or do I need to swap out the housing. I have not seperated the upper and the lower on my broke drive yet, so I am not sure if the lower is damaged or not, but my guess is that most likely there are problems down there as well with as bad as the upper gears are.

It also looks like the oil level might have been low, when I pulled the cover off, only half of the gear that connects to the u-joints was covered, but on the other drive, almost 3/4 or more is covered. Using the dipstick, it stilled showed oil, but it was below the line. I am thinking, or hoping, that this was what caused it to go bad, does anyone think that this might have been the case or am I grasping at straws?

Any help you guys can give me would be appreciated.

By the way, thanks for the oil filling help, I would have never known to start from the drain and work my way up. I am glad I learned this now, because Its not funny how expensive it can be to learn these things the wrong way.

-Travis
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[RedDog]

...
Also the fin is cracked on the new lower, can I use a cold weld to fix it, or do I need to swap out the housing. ..

As far as the fin (skeg), a prop shop can weld a new one on. Common fix and they have the "blanks" to cut to fit and weld on.

[MOP]

Qoute! By the way, thanks for the oil filling help, I would have never known to start from the drain and work my way up. I am glad I learned this now, because Its not funny how expensive it can be to learn these things the wrong way.

Make damn sure you fill from the middle hole by the cavitation plate, filling from the bottom will cause an air pocket trust me was an OMC tech!

[travisgoff]

Ok, to be sure I understand correctly, I fill from the middle of the three holes, not the drain hole on the bottom, nor the vent hole with the dipstick...is that correct?

How do I check to see if the ratio is the correct on my new drive? I can't find any serial numbers on the outside of the drive anywhere.

-Travis

[MOP]

Bottom is the drain, middle is the fill, top is the vent. Put the bottom plug in then fill slowly from the middle, it holds 64oz if it comes out the top before the correct amount is in then you have induced an air bubble. Drain it and start over, many of the failures are from improper filling.

Phil

[travisgoff]

Thank you very much. I understand now. I think the old drive was about a pint shy, which is probably why I think it went bad. Thanks for the info, any idea on how to tell if my replacement drive is the right gear ratio?

-Travis