tdappleman
Active Member
- Dec 17, 2007
- 1,608
- Boat Info
- 1996 270 Sundancer
- Engines
- New twin 4.3's - 235hp each with Alpha 1 Gen 2 Drives
So - I did my first water pump replacements this past weekend. I was a little apprehensive at first since I had minimal drive experience but it wasn't bad. I think the hardest thing was actually getting the starboard drive to actually separate.
I thought I'd write it all up and post a few pictures - hopefully it will help someone else. Please ignore the dirty garage floor - I've not had a chance to clean this place up....
I knew I needed a water pump when I had just left the dock and the starboard engine temp gauge started climbing. I shut it down and it was the shortest boat trip all year - turns out the impeller had fallen apart! I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted since my gloves were covered in grease - but did manage to snap a few.
So...here goes:
First step was to put the starboard motor into forward and the port motor into reverse. I then drained the oil out of both drives and let them sit for about 45 minutes to try and get as much out as I could.
The Alpha Gen 2 drive has 6 bolts/nuts which need to be removed to separate the drive halves. I decided to separate on the boat to make it easier to do - especially since I had to do 2 at one time. First I removed the propeller and set aside. Then loosen the anode bolt and leave it in place but remove the actual anode and set aside. You will have one bolt inside that cavity which needs to be removed. At the front of the drive you will have one nut which is in front of the shift lever. If you have a speedometer you will remove the connector as well. Now you have 4 bolts - 2 per side which need to be removed.
The various articles I read said to now gently pry the drives apart .... yeah - well that didn't work for me. When the drives had bottom paint applied it covered up the seam quite well so I score it with a small screwdriver. Then I had a rubber mallet out - after a bit of persuading it finally loosed enough where I could work the drive out. Now - where to put the thing.... I knew it needed to be upright to work on things and I didn't want to mess up the skeg. So... first pass was using a milk crate - that actually worked pretty well - not pretty by any means....
The second drive I pulled out and used a small step ladder which I was able to close around the drive to support it - this was much better than the milk crate!
With the drives out I could get to work....the starboard side first - and now I know exactly why the motor started to heat up... this thing fell apart when I removed the cup.
I removed everything and cleaned everything up. The Gen 2 drives have a plastic seal carrier over the drive shaft which needs to be replaced. The hard part is getting it out but it finally was removed and the area cleaned. I then used Perfect Seal on the new seal and inserted it onto the drive shaft and pressed it into place.
Now onto installing the new parts for the impeller. Here's a shot of the port impeller and the new one:
The instructions I used said to use Special Lube 101 on the impeller and the housing. There is also an oil passage seal which needs to be removed, the area cleaned, coated with Perfect Seal and then it needs to be reinstalled. My pictures of the new parts actually installed didn't come out so the rest is just words...
Next is to coat the new gaskets and install along with the water pump base. The instructions say the Gen 2 drives don't have this base but both of my drives had it so I went ahead and used all of the parts in the kit. I finished the lower unit portion by installing the pump housing and tightening the bolts down. I lubed up the splines of the driveshaft and gave everything one last wipedown. I went back to the boat and removed the 2 o-ring seals in each of the water pocket covers and coated with Perfect Seal. I went and got the lower unit for the starboard side, made sure it was in forward and installed it. It took a couple of tries to get the driveshaft oriented correctly but then it went right up. I got the bolts all installed and torqued - the 4 side bolts are 35 ft/lbs and the front nut and rear bolt are 28 ft/lbs. I then installed the anode and took another sip of beer.... I then installed the other lower unit. Both propellers were cleaned and the splines greased up and then reinstalled.
Now for the test.... I filled up both units and the reservoirs with High Performance gear oil and they were ready to start. I hooked my muffs up and started the motors - took about 8-10 seconds before I saw water where I normally see it in about 4-5 so was concerned but with everything empty I guess it made sense. Motors both ran perfectly, temp climbed to 170 and stayed there! Mission accomplished.
Took the boat out on Sunday - nice cruise up to a restaurant in Duck called the Sunset Grill. Look them up if you are ever in the Outer Banks:
I thought I'd write it all up and post a few pictures - hopefully it will help someone else. Please ignore the dirty garage floor - I've not had a chance to clean this place up....
I knew I needed a water pump when I had just left the dock and the starboard engine temp gauge started climbing. I shut it down and it was the shortest boat trip all year - turns out the impeller had fallen apart! I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted since my gloves were covered in grease - but did manage to snap a few.
So...here goes:
First step was to put the starboard motor into forward and the port motor into reverse. I then drained the oil out of both drives and let them sit for about 45 minutes to try and get as much out as I could.
The Alpha Gen 2 drive has 6 bolts/nuts which need to be removed to separate the drive halves. I decided to separate on the boat to make it easier to do - especially since I had to do 2 at one time. First I removed the propeller and set aside. Then loosen the anode bolt and leave it in place but remove the actual anode and set aside. You will have one bolt inside that cavity which needs to be removed. At the front of the drive you will have one nut which is in front of the shift lever. If you have a speedometer you will remove the connector as well. Now you have 4 bolts - 2 per side which need to be removed.
The various articles I read said to now gently pry the drives apart .... yeah - well that didn't work for me. When the drives had bottom paint applied it covered up the seam quite well so I score it with a small screwdriver. Then I had a rubber mallet out - after a bit of persuading it finally loosed enough where I could work the drive out. Now - where to put the thing.... I knew it needed to be upright to work on things and I didn't want to mess up the skeg. So... first pass was using a milk crate - that actually worked pretty well - not pretty by any means....
The second drive I pulled out and used a small step ladder which I was able to close around the drive to support it - this was much better than the milk crate!
With the drives out I could get to work....the starboard side first - and now I know exactly why the motor started to heat up... this thing fell apart when I removed the cup.
I removed everything and cleaned everything up. The Gen 2 drives have a plastic seal carrier over the drive shaft which needs to be replaced. The hard part is getting it out but it finally was removed and the area cleaned. I then used Perfect Seal on the new seal and inserted it onto the drive shaft and pressed it into place.
Now onto installing the new parts for the impeller. Here's a shot of the port impeller and the new one:
The instructions I used said to use Special Lube 101 on the impeller and the housing. There is also an oil passage seal which needs to be removed, the area cleaned, coated with Perfect Seal and then it needs to be reinstalled. My pictures of the new parts actually installed didn't come out so the rest is just words...
Next is to coat the new gaskets and install along with the water pump base. The instructions say the Gen 2 drives don't have this base but both of my drives had it so I went ahead and used all of the parts in the kit. I finished the lower unit portion by installing the pump housing and tightening the bolts down. I lubed up the splines of the driveshaft and gave everything one last wipedown. I went back to the boat and removed the 2 o-ring seals in each of the water pocket covers and coated with Perfect Seal. I went and got the lower unit for the starboard side, made sure it was in forward and installed it. It took a couple of tries to get the driveshaft oriented correctly but then it went right up. I got the bolts all installed and torqued - the 4 side bolts are 35 ft/lbs and the front nut and rear bolt are 28 ft/lbs. I then installed the anode and took another sip of beer.... I then installed the other lower unit. Both propellers were cleaned and the splines greased up and then reinstalled.
Now for the test.... I filled up both units and the reservoirs with High Performance gear oil and they were ready to start. I hooked my muffs up and started the motors - took about 8-10 seconds before I saw water where I normally see it in about 4-5 so was concerned but with everything empty I guess it made sense. Motors both ran perfectly, temp climbed to 170 and stayed there! Mission accomplished.
Took the boat out on Sunday - nice cruise up to a restaurant in Duck called the Sunset Grill. Look them up if you are ever in the Outer Banks:
