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View Full Version : Anyone ever have this happen?????


kennyk69
09-01-2014, 02:01 PM
We were surfing all morning and as I nuged the boat into reverse to dock I give it some throtle, the boat slows, and then I hear a "thunk"...............and now I have no forward or reverse - GREAT.

Turns out that all four 9/16" x 1.5" bolts that secure the v-drive to prop shaft coupling/union had backed off and fell out. I found 3 of the bolts and all four locknuts in the bilge (jacked up of course). After inspection the bolts were clearly not long enough to have penetrated the nylock inserts more than 1 thread and eventually just lossened and dropped out....both sides of the union looked fine, propshaft spins freely, no damage to anything. I replaced the bolts in kind, but used standard nuts with Locktight this time. All seems fine, and no issues. The boat has about 170 hours and it and I'm just really surprised they didn't back out sooner.

Oh yeah, it's a great place to work as well..............all blind and totally by feel. While I was down there I also noticed that the pressure hose that feeds my propshaft seal is kinked.........and that looks like even more fun to jack with - I'll need longer arms and an extra elbow joint!

15032
CJD
09-01-2014, 03:58 PM
You'll get quite familiar with bear hugging that v-drive to work on those parts!
SquamInboards
09-02-2014, 09:15 AM
I hate to say it but there's a lot of stuff like that in new boats; they're such a relatively small production item, and so much is done by hand, that it's easy to imagine someone missing something, or running out of a particular fastener and just grabbing the next size when they need to just finish their part and move on. We had a brand new MC with the whole dash assembly held on by 8 different sized bolts, none tighter than hand-tight. Some had like 8 washers, different sizes, others had only one or none; some nylock nuts, some not. Like someone literally was cleaning up the spare parts on their workbench so they could "finish" this dash and go home for the day. It was tight enough not to notice in a test drive, but after a couple hours of real use, the whole thing was bouncing around. This is just ONE example...

You're lucky no real damage was done. I spent an hour earlier this season just going over my boat piece by piece - nothing was wrong, mind you - tightening and checking various parts, cable routing, etc, and I found plenty of things to tweak. It's just the nature of the beast I think.

Most importantly, keep having fun with the boat!
Zim
09-02-2014, 10:07 AM
I check those bolts every year. When I bought my boat, i felt under there and all of them were loose. Tightened them up, and check/retighten each year. PITA.
txnight
09-03-2014, 10:52 AM
Happened to me last year. Easy fix and is now included in the start up list every time we go out.
CJD
09-03-2014, 07:33 PM
The manual says to check the prop shaft alignment annually. Those bolts have to come out to do that. If your boat is 5 years old and has never had the alignment checked, then best to do so now that it's already apart!
lively
09-03-2014, 08:12 PM
Lock tight red ! Maybe nylock nuts


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kennyk69
09-05-2014, 06:17 AM
The manual says to check the prop shaft alignment annually. Those bolts have to come out to do that. If your boat is 5 years old and has never had the alignment checked, then best to do so now that it's already apart!

Is there a specific alignment procedure OR is this a dealer thing? Can you share more of what the manual offers on the subject?
CJD
09-05-2014, 03:53 PM
Is there a specific alignment procedure OR is this a dealer thing? Can you share more of what the manual offers on the subject?

Here's my experience:

https://forum.supraboats.com/showthread.php?16102-Prop-shaft-questions&highlight=shaft+alignment

For pics and such, just google prop alignment on u-tube and you will get several decent videos. Again...a V-drive is a true PITA, since you cannot actually see what you are doing as you do it. You can see it...and you can do it...just not both at the same time!
kennyk69
09-06-2014, 09:59 AM
Here's my experience:

https://forum.supraboats.com/showthread.php?16102-Prop-shaft-questions&highlight=shaft+alignment

For pics and such, just google prop alignment on u-tube and you will get several decent videos. Again...a V-drive is a true PITA, since you cannot actually see what you are doing as you do it. You can see it...and you can do it...just not both at the same time!

Thanks for the link and comments......I appreciate it.