PS -alignment should be checked annually.

that will be my next step
you guys may have just saved me 5-10 grand

will let you know how it turns out

thanks for the direction

If your mechanic is calling the coupler a clutch, he's probabaly not smart enough to be aligning the engine right either.

bingo

1200 bucks and the guy doesnt check the alignment

I didn't want to say it

I hate to point fngers, really hate it when someone does it to me

i will see what he has to say

it should be interesting i will post his statment
tomarrow

i do know he was bambarded with work at the time he did this ,it wouldn't surprise me now that i think about it
if this is the case it better not cost me another nickel

Sorry,
I should have gatherd more information before (Opening My Mouth) Typing the standard reponse.I just figured that an Alpha setup in a Heavy boat was eating drives.

A weak transom can flex enough to cause the coupler to get torn up also.Check the transom by trimming the outdrive all the way down and stand on the drive and bounce up and down on it if the transom moves at all you have other problems.Believe it or not this a fairly common problem in a lot old cruisers that have single engines and are heavy.

tommymonza i pray you are not correct but from the looks of it you may be, directly between the lower unit & drain hole
there is a crack in the fiber glass i did what you said & it does flex the crack shaped like a smile & this guy is not smiling