Hit a stump..

[BuzzStPoint]

We're out on the water and was going to a spot for some fishing.
Cruising along about 1/4 throttle and BANG. THe motor kicked up and went to neutral and Immediately put in neutral and after a bit put it back into gear and slowly puttered to an anchor spot.

Upon going home, I noticed that the engine would go into forward but wouldn't accelerate. If I pushed the throttle any further past just putting it into gear it would start to cough. After a few trys of neural to forward it finally started picking up to full throttle like normal ..

Now to the dock. I slow down and we are at a crawl and I hear this squeaking sound with the motor. the squeak sound can only be heard at idle. It may be there on throttle be can't hear it..

Any ideas on what could have happened..

I looked at the prop and it looks ok. No major damage.


Chrysler 55 hp 1970

 

[john from md]

Re: Hit a stump..

Can you tell where you hit on the lower? You better make sure you didn't crack the aluminum and allow water to get in to the lower.

John

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: Hit a stump..

I don't see any bends dents or cracks. The motor didn't hold tight, The spring clamp let go and the motor kicked up.

I think I found the problem.
I took the nut off the flywheel and the I was able to pull the flywheel off by hand. I think the nut may have come loose. The key looked a bit shady, so I replaced that and torqued to 80 ft lbs.

 

[john from md]

Re: Hit a stump..

Good find. That often happens when your prop hits something. If you have no damage to the prop, it might have been a sandbar. In some cases, this causes the hub to fail down the road. If you go far from shore, you may wish to carry as spare prop.

John

 

[BuzzStPoint]

Re: Hit a stump..

Could have been a sand bar. When we stopped we were in about 4 feet.

 

[tater76]

Re: Hit a stump..

I have a 73 55hp Chrysler, I had it in a barrell for a test run, just tightened the flywheel nut down with a hand wrench thinking it would be good enough to run it at idle. It started, but when it did it sheared the woodruff key. However, it kept running but made a squeaking noise much like you stated. The nut kept the flywheel on the motor, but the flywheel shifted just enough to throw it out of time. So it would idle but not rev up. TORQUE THE NUT TO 95FTLBS!