JerryIrons
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- May 27, 2010
- Messages
- 125
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to mention that I picked up my first boat ever recently (last year), a 1986 Dynasty 19' cuddy with a 170 mercruiser engine in it. It had a few problems with it, lots of bad chalking and a problem going into reverse that I was able to fix myself, in large part due to all of the helpful advice found in these forums. Also I found a great prop shop with an owner who was willing to offer some advice and let me see some new parts to compare to what I had in my boat. I am so grateful for everyone's contributions here, there is just a vast amount of really useful stuff by people with lots of experience. I have repaired vehicles myself (not a mechanic) my whole life, but this is my first boat and has been quite the learning experience haha.
I was amazed how easy it was to remove a stern drive, and yet how difficult it can be to put back on when you are not used to it! But I can safely say that after having removed my alpha one drive and installing it 10 or 12 times, it still can be tricky haha, mostly those 2 nuts that connect the lower to upper unit.
By the way, the boat didn't always go into reverse. When I had it up on the trailer, it would ratchet and lock when in forward, spin free when in neutral, but would not lock in reverse. It also has a newer shift cable that someone had installed at one point. My problem ending up being the shifting linkage - the upper shift shaft (with the bracket) looks like it was one of those crappy aftermarket types, and ended up getting flattened somewhat and twisted. Also the intermediate shift shaft ( "shoe") was a little bent, and the washer that sits on the lower shift shaft had gotten bent as well so that it looked like a bowl with a hole in the bottom. Yes you guessed it, someone before me had probably tried installing the drive without it being in forward gear. Also I may have boogered it up somewhat in my learning process as well, but didn't cause it to begin with. I did try using a vice to fix the shifting linkage, but could not get the upper shift shaft to "untwist" so to speak. Also I think the lower unit is getting a little worn in the spool area, when you shift the lower shift shaft by hand, and 12 oclock is forward, 11 oclock is neutral and 10 oclock is reverse, on mine its more like 9:30 is reverse if that makes sense. The end result was that when I took the shift cable out of the barrel and tried shifting by hand I was unable to consistently get the reverse to lock. (sometimes yes sometimes no, it was so close)
So I put a new washer on, bought new mercruiser shift linkage (upper shift shaft and intermediate shoe), installed that and now that boats shifts perfectly after some years of not shifting right. One thing that I had to do when adjusting the shift cable - the manual says to put the drive in forward and then work from there. For me, I had to do it backwards. In otherwards made sure my reverse worked properly (adjusting barrel when everything in reverse), and then testing neutral and forward etc. One thing I found very very important, was to have a helper (wifey) hold the prop and lock it in when you are adjusting the barrel. It seemed that a bungy cord just wasn't doing a good enough job when tweaking the shifting. Anyway, just a recap of my experience, thanks again everyone tough to put in words how much I appreciate this site.
Just wanted to mention that I picked up my first boat ever recently (last year), a 1986 Dynasty 19' cuddy with a 170 mercruiser engine in it. It had a few problems with it, lots of bad chalking and a problem going into reverse that I was able to fix myself, in large part due to all of the helpful advice found in these forums. Also I found a great prop shop with an owner who was willing to offer some advice and let me see some new parts to compare to what I had in my boat. I am so grateful for everyone's contributions here, there is just a vast amount of really useful stuff by people with lots of experience. I have repaired vehicles myself (not a mechanic) my whole life, but this is my first boat and has been quite the learning experience haha.
I was amazed how easy it was to remove a stern drive, and yet how difficult it can be to put back on when you are not used to it! But I can safely say that after having removed my alpha one drive and installing it 10 or 12 times, it still can be tricky haha, mostly those 2 nuts that connect the lower to upper unit.
By the way, the boat didn't always go into reverse. When I had it up on the trailer, it would ratchet and lock when in forward, spin free when in neutral, but would not lock in reverse. It also has a newer shift cable that someone had installed at one point. My problem ending up being the shifting linkage - the upper shift shaft (with the bracket) looks like it was one of those crappy aftermarket types, and ended up getting flattened somewhat and twisted. Also the intermediate shift shaft ( "shoe") was a little bent, and the washer that sits on the lower shift shaft had gotten bent as well so that it looked like a bowl with a hole in the bottom. Yes you guessed it, someone before me had probably tried installing the drive without it being in forward gear. Also I may have boogered it up somewhat in my learning process as well, but didn't cause it to begin with. I did try using a vice to fix the shifting linkage, but could not get the upper shift shaft to "untwist" so to speak. Also I think the lower unit is getting a little worn in the spool area, when you shift the lower shift shaft by hand, and 12 oclock is forward, 11 oclock is neutral and 10 oclock is reverse, on mine its more like 9:30 is reverse if that makes sense. The end result was that when I took the shift cable out of the barrel and tried shifting by hand I was unable to consistently get the reverse to lock. (sometimes yes sometimes no, it was so close)
So I put a new washer on, bought new mercruiser shift linkage (upper shift shaft and intermediate shoe), installed that and now that boats shifts perfectly after some years of not shifting right. One thing that I had to do when adjusting the shift cable - the manual says to put the drive in forward and then work from there. For me, I had to do it backwards. In otherwards made sure my reverse worked properly (adjusting barrel when everything in reverse), and then testing neutral and forward etc. One thing I found very very important, was to have a helper (wifey) hold the prop and lock it in when you are adjusting the barrel. It seemed that a bungy cord just wasn't doing a good enough job when tweaking the shifting. Anyway, just a recap of my experience, thanks again everyone tough to put in words how much I appreciate this site.