Chris Craft 140 mercruiser stern drive problems

[chris craft 85]

the one i replaced from old sterndrive was longer and not as thick in diamater

 

[greno]

Then maybe this MC-1 was an old 70's model from a 470. I think those had short yoke.

 

[chris craft 85]

yes it was shorter. but i changed the yoke. so could i still use it or it wont work?

 

[greno]

Go ahead. Just get the gimbal alignment done and it should go on.

 

[chris craft 85]

ok ill try it and get back to you thanks so much

 

[greno]

You're welcome. Good luck.

 

[Bt Doctur]

You said you pulled the gimbal bearing out with the drive, what did you use to reinstall the new one with ?
You missing something because all the shafts are the same diameter , just the length is different on the older MC1 inline 4`s cylinder and inline 6`s

 

[chris craft 85]

the shaft had some rust and i think that pulled the bearing out when trying to place back in. this might sound dumb but i used a 2 by 4 peace of wood to evenly place back in. i think im gonna order a new bearing just to be safe.

 

[achris]

ok... See if I have this right....

The boat is a 1985. Which, if the engine is the same year, would make it an MR, but you have an MC1 drive...

The upper gears in your MC1 drive chewed out. You purchased an MR upper housing to replace the MC1 upper. As you pulled the MC1 drive off, it pulled out the gimbal bearing, which you 'put back in' with a piece of 2x4... You swapped the shorter yoke from the 'broken' MC1 to the 'new' MR upper... Now it will not fit back in...

If I have this right, then there are a few issues you should consider....

1. The chewed up gears will have dropped metal shards in the oil, and the oil in the upper is connected to the oil in the lower, via that little passage with the quad seal between the housings. Any metal in the upper will make its way down into the lower fairly quickly... That lower housing is on the short list... It will fail, due to metal fragments fro the upper, fairly quickly...

2. The gimbal bearing being replaced with the '2x4' has damaged it. In driving it back in you loaded the inner race, and that will have put micro-cracks in the balls and race surfaces. It too will fail fairly quickly now... When you drive those bearings in, you need to use either the special tool, which is machined to drive only on the carrier, or very carefully use a THIN rod to drive evenly and gently on the bearing carrier.

3. When you put a new bearing in (and a bearing pulled out should NEVER be put back in), you should also align it to the coupler, or the drive will be difficult to put on... At the same time, you should check, and adjust if necessary, the actual engine alignment...

4. If the engine and transom assy ARE 'MR', then the drive should be using the longer (MR) yoke, not the shorter yoke...(see below)

Last thing. Let's confirm what TRANSOM ASSY you have (we care little about the boat itself. That could be the ark as far as we're concerned). Could you please measure the rear engine mount spacing. If it's 10" (roughly) you have an 1983+ ('R', 'MR', 'Alpha One'), if it's 14" (roughly), then it's '82 or earlier (MC1)... If you could include a photo of the bell housing, that would also help (where the drive bolts on)...



Could you also measure the yoke...



Chris..........

 

[greno]

The poster's original MR drive is what has the chewed gears. He found a complete older MC-1 drive with the short yoke he wants to use as replacement. He took the longer yoke off his failed MR drive and put it on the replacement MC-1 drive. He now has a compatible outdrive assembly that will bolt right up once he gets a new gimbal bearing correctly installed and does an alignment.

 

[chris craft 85]

ok so here is an update!!
first of all thank you everyone for the help, i bought the engine align tool and after align, the stern drive when in like a perfect fit! i also bought the bearing installation piece that goes on the align tool to put bearing on the right way.

so far i have changed the head gasket that was blown and i also got a new older stern drive in good condition

but my problem now is that it i dont see water coming out of my exhaust, so i dont think engine is getting water when hooked to the ears. i pulled the hose to see if i see any water being shot out but nothing (i seen post some sugested this).
is there a water pump and could it be bad or what should i do?

the motor sound great when put into gear the propeller moves.......i didnt run for long because i didnt want to ruin the engine by overheating

 

[Bt Doctur]

Most likely the impeller is bad but you should have replaced it when you got the drive .