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Pinion shaft play normal?

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  • Pinion shaft play normal?

    I resently pulled the lower unit off to replace the impeller. I noticed when I removed the impeller assembly, the shaft could move about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch up and down. I have not had any problems out of it nor has it jumped out of gear. I did not find any metal in the oil. I run a mercruiser 350mag. so I am concerned about wear. Is this normal to have so much play? Thanks for any advice.

  • #2
    That is perfectly normal, even on a new one.

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    • #3
      Any reason why so much play. I would think this would cause problems. Im guessing that maybe the impeller housing and impeller take up the additional play? I forgot to mention before that it is a 1990 alfa one, dont know if that makes a difference. Im used to working on car/truck transmissions and never seen anything with that much movement without being worn or damaged. Thanks for the reply.

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      • #4
        play

        The reason is because of the way the gears are cut. Early drives had a pre-load pin that pushed down to set the gear lash, Alpha types have no pin and the gears actually push up to set the preload.The manual even says to turn the drive upside down to check it.The tool is spring loaded to raise the shaft when checking backlash
        page 2-22 this link
        http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Techbk/97/97hs2.pdf
        Last edited by Bt Doctur; 09-07-2009, 10:01 PM.

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