Hi gang.....

I have never worked on a TRS....so I need to know if there is anything I need to know about separating my lower from the upper...

Is it like a standard Merc that I can remove 5 nutz and let it down?

The local Marine shop said that there are shims and "other things" that I need to beware of....but I think it is them trying to get me to bring it in for them to get the labor bill on...

There are actually 7 nuts you must remove.Then you remove the small zinc trim tab with a allen wrench through the hole.Then you remove a bolt with a allen wrench which is located under the trim tab you removed.Upon reassembly be sure to put the trim tab bolt back in it's hole before putting the two halves back together. When you seperate the 2 halves there will be a tapered bearing cone on the bottom half and the tapered cup will be in the top half.If you remove the cup from the top half there will be shims under it.Be sure to keep them all together.If you make any changes it's possible it may need to be re shimmed.

Why do want to seperate the two halves?

I need to repaint the drives. The scheme on the boat allows for the lowers to be a different color.....and the uppers don't need the zinc chromate....paint is still good....just a scuff and shoot. My thought is that I can spray both zinc and paint in the same day without the tape up hassle if they a separated...

Also....I have no zinc back there....but the bolt is hanging down.....always been like that.....so that explains why the lower is "rougher"......

Another question.....in reverse.....it almost sounds like my motors have superchargers.....that signature whine....

Reverse only.....is that normal? I have been told yes and no by the same marina

The bolt might be hanging that goes to the zinc trim tab but there's still another bolt going upwards in to the top half right next to it.You can do it like that but there's 2 o-rings between the top and bottom you will need to replace.That's a lot to mess with just to paint them.What I would do is remove the top cover and stand them on end upside down and mask and paint them like that.That works pretty good.

That whine in reverse is your planetary gears in your transmission.Not much you can do about it.You may want to change your trans fluid just to be sure it's fresh and clean.Try not to run it real fast in reverse.Do you know which transmission you have? The TRS used 2 different transmissions.The Merc Trans ll and the Borg Warner Velvet drive.

When you say take off the top cover....you mean the very top of the drive with the loop in it? That means that I need to remove the entire drive...and that seems as though it would be a bigger undertaking...no? I'm not opposed to doing it, but that has to be more involved......

I have B/W Velvet

OK, sorry I was assuming it was already off. So anyway if you decide to take the two halves apart I think I would do it in the trailer position.Don't worry when it comes apart it's not like parts are going to go flying.Like I said there will be 2 o-rings you will need to replace.The bearing race with the shims under it should stay in the upper half.So 7 nuts need to come off and the one bolt which takes a allen wrench next to the trim tab bolt going up into the upper half.Also don't forget to put the bolt for the trim tab back in the lower unit before you put it back on otherwise you won't be able to put it in place after their together.You should really put a trim tab on it.I think you can even get ones that are just a round disk with no fin.Being zinc they help to keep the drive from getting ate up from electrolisis.Also as you join the 2 together you may need to turn the prop shaft back and forth to make the drive shaft splines line up as it goes together.

The TRS is actually one of the easier drives to work on and they have fewer parts beings they use a transmission.FYI The TRS holds 3 quarts of gear lube in the drive and 1 qt. in the reservoir in side the boat

Hmmm.....now I'm thinking to take the drive off....not at the transom, but at the pivot.....Thoughts?

Are you really serious? You are going to spend 3 times the amount of time jacking with taking it off and taking it apart than masking etc. $5 worth of tape, and 10 minutes to mask, or hours on taking stuff apart??

If it operates correctly, then you shouldn't even be thinking about taking it apart.

Ummm....yeah....dead serious.

There are areas that you can't get to when everything is together. I am really picky about this kind of thing, and I would hate to put a grand into paint and hardware and still have it look like I did it the "easy" way.

It works perfect, but again.....not big on short-cutting anything. My mantra is "what you do is a direct reflection on who you are. If you can't do it well, what does that say about you?"

Not "you"....you is a general term