Transmisson Issue........Still!

[BrianM]

So a quick recap. In August I took my boat in to have the transmissions seals and damper plate replaced. The boat was rattling in neutral and was leaking fluid from the seal between the reverse band. My mechanic reccomended that I rebuild the transmission while he had the thing apart because it would only cost be the difference in parts. Made sense so I pulled the trigger. Three attempts latter the transmission (fully rebuilt was still leaking) much to the dismay of my mechanic. He was stumped and frusterated so he replaced the unit with a brand new one at no charge to me. Now I have no leak and the boat has run great for the last 20 hours with one exception......

The boat creeps a bit in neutral. The mechanic who has a good reputation in town said that sometimes brand new units or rebuilds are a little 'tight' at first and will creep a bit. He also explained that my strut bushings are worn a bit and are not appling the usual amount of 'friction' against the shaft stopping the prop from spinning a bit (prop spins maybe 100 rpm in neutral on the trailer) if you put some pressure with a ragged hand on the shaft coupling you can nearly eliminate the free spin where the prop just barely turns. My mechanic told me if I was still having problems with the creep to bring it back to him this off season and he would check it out and also replace the strut bushings for free (because of the amount of downtime I had this summer with the leak issue).

Hearing all of the above does this seem to make sense? Would a fresh set of strut bushing solve the creep or do I have other issues? The trans and damper plate are brad new. If the strut bushings are not it what is left? JimN or anybody else help....

[JimN]

Is this creeping on the trailer or in the water? I have seen some shafts turn a bit on trailers, but they didn't provide any thrust and didn't have any problems in normal use. If it was in the water, was it very calm water and are you sure there wasn't a fairly strong current under the boat?

[BrianM]

Jim to clairify a bit. When I start the boat on the trailer the prop turns what I consider to be quite a bit, maybe 100 rpm. With the old trans the prop would move on the trailer but barely (what most would consider normal).

Now with the boat in the water it creeps. Enough so that when it is tied to the dock at the lake it pulls on the bungee. I ski in a private lake with no current. When the lake is calm (95% of the time) I can tell the boat is creeping after setting a skier down (it used to not do this). The annoying part is it pulling on the dock. Especially at a high idle when starting it at the begining of the day and letting it warm up.

Just taking a guess I would say that the prop is probably spinning about twice as much as what it was before which is enough to cause the creep.

Any insight?

[jimmer2880]

First of all... sounds like you have a kick@*** mechanic who really stands behind his work. Don't let him get away.

It makes sense that it would be your strut bushings... but something still doesn't sound right. I know my prop still rotates a bit in neutral, but not enough to move the boat.

[dchatagnon]

I'm rebuilding my velvet drive 1:1.
I want to change the screws that hold the pump cover and the torx screws which are holding the front element. Where I can find those? I don't see any screws for transmission on skidim.com
By the way, how do you remove the pump cover on the front side? I would like to change the seal for the pump element.
thanks.
Damien

[ktn_cmu]

Brian,

Mine creeps in the water, not as much as you say, but if it was 100% calm, mine would noticably creep forward. I think it is normal, have the strut bearing replaced and see what happens. I think your mechanic knows what he is talking about.

Damien,

Sorry, I don't know the answer, but you really should try to post your question in a new thread.

[stumbledog]

Originally Posted by BrianM

So a quick recap. In August I took my boat in to have the transmissions seals and damper plate replaced. The boat was rattling in neutral and was leaking fluid from the seal between the reverse band. My mechanic reccomended that I rebuild the transmission while he had the thing apart because it would only cost be the difference in parts. Made sense so I pulled the trigger. Three attempts latter the transmission (fully rebuilt was still leaking) much to the dismay of my mechanic. He was stumped and frusterated so he replaced the unit with a brand new one at no charge to me. Now I have no leak and the boat has run great for the last 20 hours with one exception......

The boat creeps a bit in neutral. The mechanic who has a good reputation in town said that sometimes brand new units or rebuilds are a little 'tight' at first and will creep a bit. He also explained that my strut bushings are worn a bit and are not appling the usual amount of 'friction' against the shaft stopping the prop from spinning a bit (prop spins maybe 100 rpm in neutral on the trailer) if you put some pressure with a ragged hand on the shaft coupling you can nearly eliminate the free spin where the prop just barely turns. My mechanic told me if I was still having problems with the creep to bring it back to him this off season and he would check it out and also replace the strut bushings for free (because of the amount of downtime I had this summer with the leak issue).

Hearing all of the above does this seem to make sense? Would a fresh set of strut bushing solve the creep or do I have other issues? The trans and damper plate are brad new. If the strut bushings are not it what is left? JimN or anybody else help....

I have this same "creep", and I can feel the boat pulling on me as I am getting set to be pulled out of the water. I was told that I had warped clutch plates and it needed a rebuild. I did not get around to it last year since we just bought the boat at the end of the season, and it was not stopping us form using the boat. This issue of the strut bearing has me wondering to myself..........

Could my problem just be these bearings?

[east tx skier]

I'm paraphrasing a year or so after the fact, but for what it's worth, my inboard mechanic told me that the clutch plates on older boats get a tad warped over time, the result of which is the prop turning a bit in neutral. He told me not to worry about it.

[BrianM]

Originally Posted by stumbledog

I have this same "creep", and I can feel the boat pulling on me as I am getting set to be pulled out of the water. I was told that I had warped clutch plates and it needed a rebuild. I did not get around to it last year since we just bought the boat at the end of the season, and it was not stopping us form using the boat. This issue of the strut bearing has me wondering to myself..........

Could my problem just be these bearings?

Probably not. I did end up replacing the strut bushings on the boat and it did not make a noticable difference. In my case after the new transmission had about 30 hours on it the creep went away. The mechanic was right the new transmission was just a bit 'tight' at first. Most of the time a substantial creep is caused by warped clutch plates as you were told.

[G-man]

Brian

Thanks for your follow up on this so some of us could learn from your experiance. I think you owe your mechanic his beverage of choice, you have a great guy.