fund razor

Ok. Looks like the boat's coming out and the drive's coming off.

Have never removed a Cobra drive. I have done an Alpha about 8 times.

Looks pretty similar. (Except bigger/heavier) Anything that I need to be aware of that's different?

The Alpha procedure was pretty much: 1) put it in forward. 2) remove all the nuts and deal with the trim cylinders. 3) pull drive straight off without dragging spline on bellows. 4) grease everything. 5) try to support drive while keeping spline off of bellows and hoping that the spline and the coupler line up. 6) cuss. 7) try again, and line up the shift shoe. 8) cuss. 9) try again. 10) cuss. 11) turn motor a little until the SOB finally lines up. 12) cuss. 13) try again, and line up the shift shoe. 14) tear gasket 15) cuss. 16) get new gasket 17) cuss, line up shift shoe. 18) it slips in.


That's how I get my Alpha on and off. Will the Cobra be the same?

Island Time

Fund Razor,

Sorry to hear about the shifting woes. Had a friend w / similar experience, hope you get it figured out. Know people w / SX drives and are very happy w / them...Maybe next year.

Was wondering if you topped it out yet this year...I have the same boat w / 5.7 Alphas and planning on rebuilding this winter...Got the Dennis Moore book last week.

J-Bonz

iTrader: (3)

fundrazor,

First thing I would have done was disconnected the shift cable (from drive to motor) and tried manually shifting it with boat tied up. Also while unhooked, try shifting the binicle to see for easier shifting. If it does not shift take drive off.
STEPS
1.remove trim cylinders
2. remove 6 5/8 nuts
3. keep drive in nuetral
4. pull off


Drive could have old style gears and clutch dog that only catches in three spots. Take to a certified marine Mechanic.

Also to adjust a new style omc shift cable, there is a specal tool that is held on the gimbal housing.

This is to the best of my Knowledge, i have not worked on one in 3 years.
if you have questions, email me, Good luck,

Jack

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

man that sux about the drive probs. i blew one of my lowers on the poker run saturday but i have alphas on my Scorp. hope you resolve the shift issues soon. if i can help in anyway let me know. i do have a friend locally that has some knowledge of cobras. he has one on his 4winds. later

fund razor

Ahh,

So you leave the Cobra in neutral. Did not know that.
Sounds like that is the only difference. Probably same amount of cussing.

I will try to shift it "manually" (just the drive link of the cable) with the drive on,
but it sounds like you still have to pull the drive to adjust. I noticed the note about the adjustment tool in my book. Must be newer than the shift cable update.

Island Time,

How's it going? The shift issue is just the last in a long line. I have had the boat working (all at one time) a couple times this year. The top that I have gotten is 52 on my gps. That was with a WOT rpm of about 4k. I think that it has a little too much prop. Not getting the 4500 that I would like to see.

Plus, that 52 was without the drives tweaked up. I know that I could get a little more if it was trimmed max.

I am going back and forth on selling or keeping. If I keep it I am going to repower and redrive, which will put me over the value of the boat....we'll see.

When it works, it works, it's just slow. Good wave crusher tho... and not bad on gas, just like you said previous. Haven't had any other problems with the drives, but the are not counter rotating, so I get no lift in the stern. That would be one of my reasons for going with SX drives instead.

Thanks for the input guys. We'll see what I can figure out.

fund razor

Hey Dave,

Didn't see your post.
We'll see what I can do... I'll let you know. Plus I need to talk to you about glass sometime. (Didn't get a chance to talk to you downtown.)

Maybe I'll see you at LP. If not, I'll shoot you a PM.

My guess is that you have already solved your alpha lower issue?

Anyway, thanks for the post. I'll track you down soon.

J-Bonz

iTrader: (3)

fundrazor,

where are you from, I could give you a hand if your around cleveland area.
The mechanic I used to work with has probably rebuilt at least 35 w/ no problems

Good Luck,

Jack

fund razor

Hi Jack,

I'm in Toledo. Come on over!

I'm proceeding with the hope that it is something in the cable/control box/adjustment realm. Mostly because I haven't heard any of the noises that come with gears colliding. Second, because I want to get through the rest of the season without doing drive(s). If I have to have a Cobra rebuilt, I will seriously think about ditching the cobras.

It was very cool for you to offer to try to help. Maybe if I get any specific questions I can bounce them off of you. Liberator21 is also very familiar with Cobras.

It looks like the side in question has NOT had the "warranty" cable done. So, maybe that's part of the problem. I'm gonna call around and see what the new shift cable would cost me.

Thanks again for the offer Jack. Lot's of very cool people on this board.

Wildchild212

I just got done working on one that is doing the same thing you are describing. Like J-bonz said, check the clutch dogs and the forward gear. This was a reoccurring problem with them drives. You are looking at around $500 for new gear and clutch dogs.

fund razor

Thanks Wildchild (bummer, but thanks).
I haven't had a chance to pull it.

Curious what year you just did?