I just pulled my motor to replace the rings and I found out that the dampening coupler that bolts to the flywheel with the splines in it that the drive shaft goes into is trashed. 5 of the 6 mounting holes have serious cracks around the mounting bolts. After doing a little checking around I hear that this type of failure is unusual. Normally, the aluminum splines fail when the prop gets some air and enters the water again under full throttle. I'm going to double drill the flywheel on the new coupler to try and distribute the load a little better. Does anyone know of a heavier duty dampening coupler that is available? R/R
Hey Robbie,
Cool name that is what my friends call me! I found this on cpperformance web page check it out. It is supposed to be a high performance bravo drive coupler. BTW It is at the bottom of the page.
http://www.cpperformance.com/product...elines/141.asp
I just tried to go there and I think their site must be down for maint.
[ September 26, 2003, 10:35 PM: Message edited by: Dr. Eagle ]
You sure that it wasn't an alignment issue?
good question. Might have been. It would be consistent with the kind of damage you would expect from a mis-alignment.
Dr. Eagle, thanks for the link to the CP page. Yup, that looks like the one that I need. I was wondering where to get a new one.
dorC, that's a darn good question about the alignment and to answer your question, no, I'm not sure. How can you tell if it's aligned properly? The splines looked fine and I ran it for 220 hours before we found the cracks. (They may have been there for some time before we found them). Do you know if it would have lasted that long if it were not aligned properly?
Thanks again, R/R
Well Robbie,
It is really simple to check the alignment...that is the good news. Bad news is it takes a special tool.
It takes a short splined shaft tool to insert through the gimbal housing into the coupler. If it is aligned it will slip right in, if not it either will not slip right in or not go in at all.
I usually take the boat to the shop and let them do that and the lube of the u joints after doing it once myself. Damn near broke my back.
Dr. Eagle, thanks for the info on the alignment procedure. I will check with the shop that last mounted the out drive to see if they double checked the alignment. Who do you use over in your area to do that sort of thing? R/R
Well, you lost the alignment when the engine was pulled, so there really is no to tell for sure now. I know that when I pulled my old engine w/600 hours, the coupler looked like it was new, so yes, it should have lasted more than 220 hours.
Aligngment changes over time. It really is something that should be checked every season.
Well, you lost the alignment when the engine was pulled, so there really is no to tell for sure now. I know that when I pulled my old engine w/600 hours, the coupler looked like it was new, so yes, it should have lasted more than 220 hours.
Alignment changes over time. It really is something that should be checked every season.
the h.p/torque your engine makes probably has alot to do with the life span of those little
bolt holes cracking. The heavy duty version looks like you'll get a longer life this time. I had this happen to my circle track car untill i bought the certified version. No more problems at any track with big h.p.
Cant wait to see ya running again. MAYBE this time I'll run a LITTLE behind ya instead of from the shore.
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