I'm not sure if this is an outdrive question, or a prop question (God, I hope it's a prop question). I have an Alpha 1 gen. 2 drive. I bottomed out last weekend, right before taking my boat out of the lake for the season no less, and I mangled my prop. The skeg is bent and chipped too. Everything seemed OK, very slight vibration when turning at idle, but otherwise OK. So I've got my boat at home, and I was going over the dammage, and I noticed that the prop and prop shaft have about a 1/4" of play from front to back. I just bought the boat two months ago, and I don't know if this is normal, or if I really messed up my drive. I was going to buy a new prop, and a skeg gauard to fix everything, but if that shaft, the gears, or the u-joints are wrecked, I'm thinking of a new aftermarket lower unit. Any thoughts would be greatley appreciated.
...Would that be Newburgh? I used to live across the water in Chelsea.....Anyway, some front to back play is normal.....I would pressure check the drive to make sure you haven't destroyed any seals.....You are probably O.K. though...Replace the prop & see if the vibration has gone away....JK