Will 2.00 gear ratio SE116 lower be offered?

[mikemonk]

I was told, a while ago, that 2.00 gear ratio was not available ... since some time has passed, I was wondering if there are any plans to have this available in the future (or now, for that matter)?

Tks,

BTW, would there be any advantage to buying the upper/lower as a set, other than matching the gear ratio? Would it be advisable to have both sub-pieces from SE, or is there no difference plugging a SE lower onto a Merc upper?

[Technical Support]

We are just starting the process of getting the gears available to make the 2.00 ratio lower unit. I would imagine we would have it avalable in about 4-6 months.

The upper and lower will swap with the OE with no problems. In your case, if you are looking for a 2.00 ratio, you could substitute it with a complete 1.94 ratio. That should be very close as far as the RPM's are concerned.

Tech Support

[mikemonk]

Thanks for the reply. I have an OEM Merc upper that is OK -- the problem is with the lower. Its a 2.00R (counter rotation). If you're looking at 4-6 months (~ April 07), I can wait for that. Not going to use the boat until next Spring.

Let me know when you're taking orders. R/

[Technical Support]

The 2.00 lower unit you need is a counter rotation? We will not be making those any time soon. Actually this is the first time somone has asked for one.

Just to confirm, you have a twin engine boat, and the port drive is counter rotation?

Thanks,

Tech Support

[mikemonk]

I just noticed the reply -- I hadn't checked that e-mail account in a bit.

I don't have a twin engine boat. I have a Bayliner 175. I believe I found a plate in the engine compartment that indicated "Engine Rotation LH", and the sterndrive upper unit has a sticker with that says "Drive Ratio 2.00R" (adjacent to where the Drive Ser # is marked). I took those (the LH and the R) to mean that it was counter rotation.

I have not started the engine and looked at which direction the shaft rotates in forward. Unfortunately, now, I have the lower off, so I probably can't tell.

Anyhow, with a single engine boat, perhaps you mean it doesn't matter ... if not, and I bought a standard rotation lower (and my original were actually counter rotation) would I need a new prop?

Thanks,

[Sales]

If you have a single engine boat, your drive is standard rotation.

[mikemonk]

Great. Thanks -- I'm waiting on the new drive. I'll check this post and the news releases in a few months.

[mikemonk]

Can I check status on ETA for 2.00? Tks,

[Tech Support]

We will be testing in the next couple of weeks. We should have the units available in 6 to 8 weeks.

Tech Support

[mikemonk]

When will you be accepting (pre-?) orders for 2.00 lower? Tks,

[Technical Support]

There is no reason to pre-order it, once it becomes available we will have plenty of them in stock. Unfortunately we have not started testing them yet, so we are still looking at a good two months from now until they are available.

Tech Support

[mikemonk]

A question related to this thread --

After looking at a Merc shop manual, the drive gear ratio is determined in the Drive Shaft housing (upper) ; not in the Gear housing (lower).

Looking elsewhere on the web, it appears that the same part number lower is used with uppers from gear ratio 1.47 through 1.94. To me, that implies that the lower is not affected (doesn't change P/N) at different gear ratios.

Why, then, will same P/N not work at 2.00 (which is not far off of 1.94)? Shaft rotation will be virtually the same.

[Technical Support]

For the standard ratios (1.47 1.62 1.81 1.94) the lower does remain the same. They also have 2.0 and 2.4 ratios that were typically used for high altitude applications. A 2.0 uses a 1.62 ratio upper with the high altitude lower gear set. The 2.4 uses a 1.94 upper with the high altitude lower gear set.

If someone wanted to replace their complete 2.0 ratio we can and have sold them 1.94's with no ill effects. The issue comes up when they only want to replace the lower.

For some reason Mercury started using the 2.0 on the 3.0L engines instead of the 1.94 so we are starting to see more of a demand for it. Why they made the change I do not know.

Tech Support

[mikemonk]

How's it coming on testing the drive?

[Tech Support]

We now have the 2/1 ratio lowers available for the Alpha One Gen. 2 .

Tech Support