Alpha I Gen I problem

[SCORPIO]

I replaced the water pump on my starboard drive today and when I removed the upper vent plug to fill the gearcase, the threads came out with the plug! Sooooo, the hole is stripped. I'm trying to come up with options and so far I have come up with four: 1. Helicoil, not sure there is enough room in the recess to overbore it to fit the insert, not to mention the metal chips. 2. Epoxy, downside is it will be a bear to remove in future. 3. Replace upper with an SEI upper unit, downside is cost. 4. Remove unit, gut case, take to machine shop, have hole welded and remachined for new plug. Downside is labor, down time and cost.

Anybody else ever have this problem and found a cost effective solution?
BTW case is original so 1989 so it's now 28 years old, not crazy about putting a lot of money in an old casting.

 

[JVM225]

How about looking around for a good used one? Is there anyone near you that rebuilds them? If so, maybe you could get one there and pay a core charge.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Scorp, I just so happen to have (personally, not the dealership) a 1985 Gen 1 (fresh water) sitting in my garage where I seem to recall that something happened with the gears. I don't know exactly what is going on inside - it could be minor gear issues, could be major. The prop spins freely in neutral and the shifter engages solidly. Honestly, I forget what's wrong (could be something with the upper gears?) - but the casing is nice. The guys insurance paid for a new unit and he gave this one to me. I was planning on, sometime, tearing it apart and rebuilding it to resell. Well, that "sometime" has now been going on for... some time. Anyways, IF you're interested, let me know and I'd sell it to you VERY reasonably. $300 for the whole thing, including the rams? You could probably part it out and sell everything for the same amount. I'm just ballparking this, though - I haven't ever really ventured into selling used boat parts, before.

Please excuse the mess around it!

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[Thornton69]

That is some bad luck. Can throw out a couple ideas if you are in a pickle and not too worried about cosmetics. Could also add a bit of touch of paint if you are. Try to find a plug that is slightly larger in diameter than your stripped hole. Can try a local hose and fitting shop to find something. Brass or SS would be first choice. Possibly a metric, BSP with sealing washer or even tapered thread.
Pressurize the case through the lower drain plug with low air pressure like a bilge blower and retap it to the new plug.
Can also just pack your tap with grease and tap the hole in 2 or 3 stages. The grease will hold the cuttings.
I would not recommend a Heli-coil or thread insert for a pressure seal.
Hope you can find a fix to get you on the quick.

 

[CliffA]

maybe 'JB Weld' would work.....it might not make a 'pretty' repair but it should work just fine.....I have used JB Weld many times in the past and it does a great job......

cliff

 

[SCORPIO]

UPDATE: I went to a fitting shop this AM and was not able to get anything that would fit in the recessed hole that would be larger than what I have. I greased up a tap and chased the threads and found the inside threads closest to the inside of the housing were still there and in decent shape. I've had a drive lube kit sitting on the shelf for some time and noticed that it uses a fitting in place of the top vent plug, and a hose with a flare fitting fits in the brass fitting. I was able to get that fitting to grab fairly well and decided to epoxy that fitting in place with Marine Tex. That brass fitting should be permanent now and I can remove the stainless line from it to vent the drive during lube changes. It was a bit of work getting all installed but the brass fitting seems to be holding well and I think this should work for the long term, at least until I can plan to tear that gear case apart or replace it.

Time will tell.
Dennis, Thank you very much for the offer of that drive, if this Rube Goldberg job hadn't worked out I would have taken you up on that.

 

[JVM225]

Sounds like you may have gotten lucky. You may want to keep an eye out for a spare "just in case". Thy are often listed on Craigslist around here, you may find the same in your area.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Glad you got it figured out. I'm a big fan of Mr. Goldberg!

MarineTex is not UV stable, though. Granted, it probably won't see much in the way of sun rays where it is, but the sun can deteriorate it over time and cause it to weaken/crack. Just to be safe, I would paint it - anything you have laying around the house (Rustoleum, for example) should be fine.

 

[SCORPIO]

I'm going to coat it with Primocon and then Trilux outdrive paint.

 

[Thornton69]

Good to hear you were able to get something to work.

 

[Lazy Daze]

I'm going to coat it with Primocon and then Trilux outdrive paint.

That will certainly do the job!