Metal shavings for in Volvo Penta DuoProp gear lub

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ddurand

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A marine shop called me after draining the gear lube. The color indicated it was not Volvo Penta gear lube.

I am thinking at least $1000 repair bill. I am sure the DuoProp is significantly more complex than a normal outdrive that I am more familiar with.
 
There has to be more to the story. Who changed the lube last? How long ago? Have you contacted the last mechanic/place of business?
 
This is a new to me 2011 Chaparral. I have not used it yet. Just hauled it to new location and winterizing it. The prior owner was not very knowledgeable about boat mechanicals with the few questions I asked him. They are pulling the outdrive to examine it currently. The boat was surveyed but they don't look at everything. The gear lube drain on this outdrive is behind the inner propeller so both props need to come off.
 
And now the marine shop said they cannot (easily) get the outdrive off. Its stuck on.
 
Ouch. You may want to slow down, have them put new fluid in, and water test the boat. Someday this will have to be resolved, but doesn’t necessarily have to be today.
 
There are 2 u-joints and a thrust bearing that could also be at issue. The drive shaft is stuck on coupler or thrust bearing or drive shaft could have slipped a spline and is jammed.

Rather get it resolved now.
 
Those props are a bitch to get off if you don’t pull them every year and grease them when they go back on in the spring. I would think checking the outdrives fluid is pretty basic stuff if you had it surveyed.
Jim
 
I guess Volvos aren’t all that different than mercs. What is the shop’s plan? They probably want to unbolt the motor from the mounts, and see if a little motion will free things up? And if that doesn’t work, either trash the drive, or pull the motor the whole way out, and whack the shaft ( and bearing with it) out of the housing from behind?

Depending on access, they may be able from the inside to lube and heat the shaft, which may also free things up.

I pull my drive off every other winter, to prevent this from happening. It’s a real pita job. Only once it was a little sticky, but bumping it up and down a few times with the power trim rams after unbolting was enough to free it. But it didn’t bring the bearing, or any of the coupler with it,

I’ve changed my gimbal bearing twice ( every ten years). The amount of force needed to get the bearing out is unbelievable, hate to imagine trying to pull that out with a shaft stuck in it.
 
They were going to run the engine, get it warm and see if that would help. One option is to cut the drive shaft with a saw. But the engine would need to be pulled to replace the coupler. They are trying to determine if drive shaft is stuck in coupler or gimball bearing.

The Volvo Penta DuoProp drives are expensive no matter how you look at it. Not like a Merc Alpha One.
 
I’ve always disliked my bravo 3 - but the upside is how common they are. New, the drives aren’t cheap, but easy enough to find a decent used upper or lower for a grand or two. Don’t remember ever seeing any used duoprop drives for sale. On the mercs, seems like every one you hear about that’s frozen, it’s stuck in the bearing. But the merc couplers seem to be weak link - perhaps volvo fails in a different fashion.

This is a freshwater boat, if I recall? Hopefully they should be able to get it off with some heat and “encouragement”.
 
quote:
Originally posted by alk

I’ve always disliked my bravo 3 - but the upside is how common they are. New, the drives aren’t cheap, but easy enough to find a decent used upper or lower for a grand or two. Don’t remember ever seeing any used duoprop drives for sale. On the mercs, seems like every one you hear about that’s frozen, it’s stuck in the bearing. But the merc couplers seem to be weak link - perhaps volvo fails in a different fashion.

This is a freshwater boat, if I recall? Hopefully they should be able to get it off with some heat and “encouragement”.

Click to expand...


It was used most recently in saltwater.
 
In theory saltwater should not be anywhere near the shaft, bearing, or coupler - unless there is a leak.

You only have one motor on this boat, right? Only thing worse than one bad outdrive is two !
 
Ah yes...the I/O blues...lack of maintenance...
what probably happened is the lazy or cheap previous owner, never had the drive pulled because it takes time and costs money. The bellows leaked let in salt water and rusted the gimble bearing to the shaft. Personally I'd let them do what they have to do to get it off, there are ways to do it using plastic wedges, ratchet straps but in the end, it may require expensive surgery.
BTW, on a properly maintained I/O boat this will not happen. I have removed my Cobra drive every season, this is 100% salt water and the drive just slides right off. It gets stored in the garage and re-installed in the spring. The gimble bearing, u joints and driveshaft splines get greased, the shift cable bell crank is checked and greased, etc. You should check the alignment with a simple tool and check the bellows for small cracks in the folds, when they appear its time to replace it.
The OMC Cobra outdrive is 32 years old. Works as new. I liked it so much I bought a spare Cobra drive freshwater used on ebay along with a spare transom assembly. If you own an I/O boat either learn to do this stuff which is not hard if you get an outdrive jack, or pay to get it done. Troubles will be chronic and expensive if its not done.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qn3zrg0ruzwz2kl/Cobra drive install.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nbiqnmzm0zmltaw/Cobra%205.jpg?dl=0

you can see what salt water use does, but with proper maintenance, it will last and be fine.
 
Still running a cobra? That’s awesome, I loved those drives - shifted as easy as an inboard, one finger on the shifter. My son is 15, six feet tall and 160 pounds - still barely has the arm strength to throw my bravo three in and out of gear - and the cables were all replaced last year.

I’ll probably never buy another I/o boat. They aren’t really making them anymore, I guess due to emissions laws and the idea that anything which can be propelled with an outdrive is getting an outdrive? And There are so few places around here that can service them, so unless it’s DIY, there aren’t many options. I swore last summer when whacking the ten year old gimbal bearing out via 40 million hits with a slide hammer that I’m about done.
 
I agree in that I'd never get an I/O or inboard with cat converter exhaust, because it makes the job of changing the manifolds and elbows jump in price from about $750 parts (good aftermarket) to $4500-$6000 (oem Merc or Volvo) and to me that's a deal breaker. They do make better tools to get the gimble bearing out, since I've always pulled the drive and replaced the bellows on schedule, I haven't had to change the gimble bearing since....2005 or so....still like new...
Time, grease, an outdrive jack and a bit of work is all it takes.
Modern outboards are great...for about 10-12 years in salt water before corrosion catches up with them. If I repower this boat it will get a new engine + closed cooling and I'll be boating on...
 
Previous onwer said the outdrive was pulled in the fall or 2019 for gimbal bearing maintenance.
 
Well if that's the case it makes you wonder what happened? I'm sure any marine mechanic would have checked the bellows if they were looking at the gimble bearing.
 
If it was pulled in 2019 the shop will be able to force it off this year. Once it gets a little warmer out.
 
My Volvo DP props were not off in years when I bought the boat. Needed to pull them to check the outdrives fluid. We ended up have to use a hydraulic gear puller with steal cables and a torch to get the front props off. Did damage to the prop shaft seals that also led to a bunch of other work being done inside the outdrives when the marina tried to repair them. $4k later and I wished the guy before me had done a better job with routine maintenance. Guess he saved money...
Jim
 
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