Alpha L/H- Who has experience?
 

As mentioned in several other threads here in the last few weeks, I am looking to replace one of my R/H alpha drives with a L/H counter rotater.
Now I have been told by a boat dealer NOT to. He stated that the L/H counter rotating alphas are weak and prone to breakdown.
I need advise, if this i so, I certainly would NOT want to replace the drive.
This is on an 87 Baja Force 280 with stock twin 454s. 250 hrs total on the boat.

Thanks, Jim

I checked into it. I had heard they were just rh alphas running in reverse, which it isn't designed to do. Two weeks ago, I had to have a drive rebuilt and I asked my mechanic if it was true. He assured me that it is actually designed to hold the load in that direction. He has Mercruiser's highest award for mechanics, so I tend to believe him. If someone knows where one is, I'd like to check into it. Never hurts to have a spare Alpha.

LH Alpha is OK
 

The left hand drive alpha is almost entirely different than the right hand drive Alpha. The difference is in the lower gearcase. You need only purchase a new gearcase to convert over to a counter rotating prop.They seem to hold up just fine but many mechanics won't work on them because they are a little more complicated and require special tools. Many times these same mechanics will steer people away from them for this reason. Any Alpha drive in front of a 454 engine is going to give reliability problems if not driven VERY carefully. I would hate to be on vacation and need to find a mechanic to repair a LH Alpha drive. Because they are not very common you will have a tough time finding a mechanic that will rebuild it with confidence. I am a Mercruiser Master Tech and have only rebuilt a handful of them and most factory trained Mercruiser mechanics have only rebuilt one in service school.
Sincerely
Dennis Moore

Cuda,

I have found them rebuilt at this website: http://www.sterndrives.com/

Don't know if there are better deals out there or not. The counter rotating alphas are $3,000 rebuilt.

Dennis,

Always nice to have someone in the know give it to you straight. Thanks for the info.

Jim

I know that this is probably not what you want to hear, but 454's make quite a bit of torque for an alpha, have you looked into Bravo one conversions? Or into Alpha SS's?

I wonder is the ever made an alpha ss CR.

HyperBaja

Going to Bravos is more money than I want to put into this old boat. I'm told the alphas will hold up with stock motors.

Jim

My mechanic put over 3000 hours on a heavy fishing boat with 454 and alpha. I'm sure that is from keeping oil in them instead of salt water.

Two questions. 1 Is the Alpha SS that much stronger than the Std Alpha? (I have twin SS with 320 horse efi small blocks)
2 Is there a LH SS?
Thanks

Not sure about an alpha ss lh. Good point, not putting all that money into an old boat. As for the alpha holding up....A local guy installed a 350hp small block with a 125 shot of nitrous on a ski boat with an alpha back in 1991. So far, no problems. So as long as you take your time getting on plane, you should be fine.