Drive Stand - CHEAP!

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Lazy Daze

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Apr 21, 2009
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This came up in another thread and a few people have inquired about it. It's extremely easy to make, inexpensive, and works well.

Materials:
(1) 2"x8"x6'
(4) Wheels
Large screws

Each board (in this picture) is cut to 18". There is approximately 1/2" to 3/4" space between the two center ones. That's it! Easy peasy.

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Nice.....no need for lateral support since the skeg is sandwiched between the 2x8's?
 
Weave said:
Nice.....no need for lateral support since the skeg is sandwiched between the 2x8's?
Click to expand...

Yup, you got it. I had my own drive on that particular stand all winter in my garage. Moved it around quite a bit. After I was done with it, I let it at our service department and it's been in constant use.
 
Thanks Lazy Daze. Will this support a Bravo III or in my case a DuoProp drive?

***Nevermind, appears you answered my question while I was typing it! Thanks!***
 
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WoW .... Cant get much simpler than that! :thumbsup:


Now post a step by step with pics of how to pull a bravo 1 drive and i'll be all set .... lol.

Everyone says its easy but ive never pulled an outdrive before so im a bit nervous.
Just dont want to mess anything up.
 
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Ya know,,, I Would have never thought that of something that easy and basic.......
 
CAGE RATTLER said:
WoW .... Cant get much simpler than that! :thumbsup:


Now post a step by step with pics of how to pull a bravo 1 drive and i'll be all set .... lol.

Everyone says its easy but ive never pulled an outdrive before so im a bit nervous.
Just dont want to mess anything up.
Click to expand...

It's very simple and one person can do BUT two people makes it easier.

1..Place the drive almost all the way down and a piece of wood underneath the skeg to support it when the trim arms come off.The trim arms hold it up.

2..Unscrew the plastic caps on the end of the trim arms.There are two nuts under there and two on the opposite end of the trim arm.Unbolt all 4 and wiggle the trim arm off.You may or may not have some metal wires screwed to the drive.These are for the mercathode.Just unscrew them.You will also have a pitot tube(speedo) made of rubber out of sight behind the drive.It is about 1/4" round and attached to the drive cavitation plate on top.You'll feel it.It's just a little rubber tube attached to plastic fitting that goes in the drive.You can pull the hose off or turn the plastic fitting about half a turn and yank it out.It's got a index tab on the plastic tube that holds it in place.You just have to feel for it to line up and then yank it out.Sounds way harder than it is.

3..From the backside of the drive there are 6 nuts facing you.Unbolt those.They should come right off.Nothing will happen with all of them off other than a possible slight seperation of the drive from the bellhousing.

4...This next step will go one of two ways.Very easily or a trick.It'll come out though.Take the drive and pick the back-end up a few inches and drop it on the block of wood.This should start to slip the yokeshaft out of the coupler inside the boat.Then just wiggle the drive out doing this.Just be careful it's heavy.Bravo1's are about 100lbs and the B3 is 130lbs.

4.5...lol...If the drive won't come out then pick the back end of the drive up like you are trimming it up and place a strong metal rod behind it and the bellhousing.It will be obvious where the rod sits on the tabs of the bellhousing so the drive hits the rod before it bottoms out on the bellhousing.The idea is to change the pivot point so the drive wieght pulls the yokeshaft out at a more horizontal angle.

I had a rusty yokeshaft and this method pulled the gimbal bearing out...lol.

I wouldn't be scared to do it.It sounds tough but most of them come out with some persuasion.

Putting it back on is about the same but you have to align the splines on the yokeshaft with the coupler splines.Not hard to do either.

I've done this several times by myself.:thumbsup:
 
Just realized i never replied to this.

LIL late but just wanted to thank you for the step by step.

Made it very easy for my 1st outdrive removal last spring.

Thanks again!!
 
I had the same problem removing my b3. When the drive did come out the carrier bearing came out attached to the shaft. I was told that i have to replace the bearing with a new one.
Also a 2" piece of the lower part of the bell housing broke off. Should i be concerned about the housing being broken. It doesnt appear to be anything but cosmetic.

Thanks for any reply
 
It's getting to that time of the year for those of us that have 4 seasons. Just bumping this up for anyone that takes their drive off by themselves or is looking for a convenient way to store/move it around.
 
Thanks for that pic Dennis....

I think I might see what I can do about assembling that right in place while the outdsrive is still on so that I get the height as exact as I can to make installation easier. Being the exact height needed....or as close as possible should enable one to roll it right into place in spring negating the need for too much lifting and wiggling around to reinstall. I hope. LOL
 
Old Vet said:
Thanks for that pic Dennis....

I think I might see what I can do about assembling that right in place while the outdsrive is still on so that I get the height as exact as I can to make installation easier. Being the exact height needed....or as close as possible should enable one to roll it right into place in spring negating the need for too much lifting and wiggling around to reinstall. I hope. LOL
Click to expand...

Not at all a bad idea. You might want to build it with the forward edge "opened" so you can slide the drive in/out instead of lifting it. Shouldn't be too hard to do. Might even consider adapting a floor jack to hold the drive, which shouldn't be too hard, either. Take a look at this: http://www.boatstands.com/content/stern-drive-installation-jack for an idea. We have these at work and they are affectionately referred to as "E.T." Now, these are adjustable on 3 axis, so it makes it very convenient to line-up the drive. Simply using a floor jack won't work as well, but it would provide benefits over simply lifting the drive the whole way. You won't completely get away from the wiggling, but it should at least make it a bit easier.

EDIT: Oh, you wouldn't necessarily need to build it hold the drive by the cav plate (like that expensive stand), it could still be done to hold the drive by the gear housing. Either could work.
 
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I sure like that outdrive jack in that link but not the price tag. :)

I recently saw a transmission jack at a local store here that looked like perhaps it could be modified reasonably easy to lift and hold an outdrive for much less money. I may take another look at it and see if it would be worthwhile getting. Until then though I'm going to build one of the easy cheapo ones for myself to store my drive in my shop.
 
Old Vet said:
I sure like that outdrive jack in that link but not the price tag. :)
.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was for "illustrative" purposes only. ;)

You might find something you could use at a place like Harbor Freight. Not stuff you rely on day in and day out, but for this purpose...
 
Thanks Dennis, I had seen this many times but never thought about it until today. i have been cleaning the garage and had a speedmaster clubfoot in the corner. I had some 2 by 12 and put it to good use. A set of old casters I found in a box of junk and I was up and going...

IMG_2243.jpg
 
There was a thread on offshore only about guys making those lifts for drive storage. Its just a square trailer jack with the forks and base welded to it.
 
Nice job, Steve. It's nice when something useful is free, too!
 
Yes it is, I need to make two more for my Formula drives. I need to pull both drives and the engines...have a simple free solution to engine storage with the transmissions bolted on??? LOL
 
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