David Stotz

Thanks to everyone once again. The drive is off the boat on my homemade drive stand. It is also in excellent condition because the boat is not kept in the water. Most people could not tell it from new. There is no oil that I can detect in the bellows. Also, as it got warmer over the past couple of days the pressure has gone up in the drive, but still the oil had water in it. Right now the plan is to split the upper and lower, ship it to Chris at Sterndrive Specialties and let him go through it. Again thanks to all !

outdrive man

Goodt, Your Talking Retail Prices On The Parts. Why Would Someone Pay $600 Plus Dollars To Reseal An Alpha When You Can Buy A Brand New One For A Shade Over A Grand From Sterndrive.cc. Fact Is I Am A Master Certified Merc Tech, It Only Takes 10-15 Minutes To Remove A Drive, Lets Face It Flat Time Gives You That One. It Also Only Takes An Hour To Reseal Each Half Thats Not Hurrying Or Any Thing Because I Have Done Them Faster Under The Right Circumstances. We Are At $75 Per Hour And Have A Very Good Reputation. In 2005 You Must Stay Competitive I Have Drives Shipped From All Over Because People Find Out That The Smaller Shops Aren`t Equiped To Efficiently Perform Their Service Needs And The End Result Is That The Customer Pays More. Not Trying To Start Chit But, You Would Be Very Overpriced In My Area. Trust Me I Would Love To Make $600 On A Simple Reseal Job But It Is Just Not A Reality In 2005. You Dont Know Me, A Lot Of People On This Board Are My Satsfied Customers. I Don`t "cut Corners" Like You Suggest. I Just Dont Take Advantage Of People. This Is Why We Have The Amount Of Work We Have. This Is The Exact Reason That I Dont Usually Post Here Because Some Other Dealer Will Get Pist About Me "letting The Secret Out." I Think I Will Go Back To Lurking. Sorry Mr. Goodt

GOODT

Outdrive man,
you sound like you know what you are doing and I resepspect you for that but........Im not a dealer and I have customers bringing me there drives from all over the country because my drives dont come apart unless they hit something. anyway most of the time it takes 15 - 20 min just to get the old gasket off and grease every thing if done right. im not looking for a chit match but be real! I have certs from merc omc and volvo another hour to 2 to clean parts and thats if all come apart easily which in most cases it doesnt...... im all about the customers they are my rep which is the most important thing to me. When I worked for someone ( American Performance) they charged 95.00 an hour I charge 75 for the same work..
but I dont cut corners and 95% of the boats I work on are 500 + HP if you say you can r&r an alpha drive, pressure test, vacum test it, reseal it, hang, test run it in less then 3 hrs something is wrong and yes I get retail (-) 10% for parts most shops get retail at least but most of my customers ive had for yrs so I give them that and they know that im not the cheapest but I am one of the best and when they have a problem they know it doesnt matter when it is they can call me and ill be there sat, sun doesnt matter they come first !!!!!

what do you get for parts wholesale???? ask the board members how many sale there products at wholesale???


Im proud to say Im not the cheapest but what I do I stand behind and my drives DONT come apart ......thats what counts !!!!!!!!

outdrive man

like i said this is 2005 and nobody pays retail. as a mater of fact i do wholsale parts this time of year when i bid jobs. as a mercury premeire dealer i also buy them cheaper than a service dealer. i also asked you not to assume my drives come apart, after all you dont know me. your the one that seems to take offense to the whole pricing issue. as for drives coming apart, think about it HOW HARD IS A SIMPLE RESEAL. i look at them as i do oil change. they are very hard to screw up after all you are only replacing three seals and two o-rings in the upper. and in the lower you are only replacing two propshaft seals, the carrier o-ring, a water pump base, and a shift shaft bushing/seal. pop a quad ring and a water pump on, re-assemble the two halfs, test for leaks,pump some grease in the u-joints, fill with gear lube and put the drain screws in with new felt gaskets. for this procedure i only count five special tools that a person would require. one to install the propshaft seals, one to install the shift shaft bushing, one for the propshaft gland nut, one for the upper seal in the driveshaft housing, and one for the gland nut around the u-joint yoke. other than that a person would only need basic hand tools. so what corners are being cut? there is no shimming involved here, its pretty cut and dry. replace the u- joints? maybe, i just dont consider u-joints to be part of a reseal and if they are servicable why waste the customers money. i didn`t write that to piss anyone off, i was only being informative. your saying cheaper isn`t always better, all that i am saying is cheaper doesn`t make it inferior... it just makes it cheaper. i am not going to get into some ego fight with you but i do have two master plaqes from merc one ob, one mercruiser, i also have all the mercury racing certs, i have the volvo certs, the yamaha certs, and the brp (OMC) master certs. i have one 12,000sf building filled with performance boats from 27ft to55 ft. so dont attack my work when the only thing you know about me is that my prices are competitive. it took me longer to write this than to reseal a drive like i said goodt i have no beef with you, i was only trying to asstis the guy that started this thread with what our local average is. sorry for the misunderstanding.

GOODT

no dout about that ( writing this longer then to reseal) ive said what I had to say it comes down to the customer decieding... do I pay the average price for great service so he can stay in buisness or do I pay great low price and who knows if hell be here tomorrow sorry but most of my customers know im here to stay and they know about P&L statements and know price isnt everything and guess what if thats all that matters then they can go to the guy that hires 20yr olds to be there lead techs and charges half what I do. I dont want them as customers and wont work on there boats Im not trying to put you down. but dont you think any one will resect you if you make a profit....I dont make a ton but I dont starve either and my customer know that im here to make money but they Get a lot for the dollar (quality) merc warr time is 1.5 just to r& r a drive

cuda

The outdrive guy I use is at $89 an hour.

GOODT

outdrive man,
if you are ever in in this neck of the woods I would love to buy you a drink and debate this. you sound like someone I could like!!! ( you stand by your guns) still think your thinking is wrong but like you already

formula31

I quarantee hes been in the business a whole lot longer than you have (since you just went on your own).

Get the popcorn out.

David Stotz

Gentlemen, let me start by saying I don't post here much because i'm not a very good typist and it takes me long to post. That being said the reason I started this post was to get some advivce for a problem I know little about. What I do know is that there are alot of knowledgable people here that I think can help. Our boating season here in upstate NY is very short so I would rather pay someone I think I can trust to perform this kind of service. I don't trust anyone I know in this area. I'm not saying thier not here, I just don't know them. As far as how much this will cost, it's not that I don't care but I'm willing to pay to have it done right. I can certainly see both sides of your dissagreement as I have my own business too. I've spoken with Chris on the phone, he seems to be knowledgeable and he comes recommended by people I recognize on this board. Thank you again!

GOODT

David,
Thats great the most important thing is that you find someone that you ARE happy with any that you can trust his work !!!!! and yes you are right there are alot of very knolagable people here that will help you all that they can enjoy and happy holidays !!!!!