ok - -slightly buzzed so with that caveat in place...

I'll lay out the whole scenario so it all makes sense. 6 weeks ago running along just fine and stopped to go swimming. Took off and noticed it being sluggish. I opened the engine hatch and had 200 gallons of water in the engine compartment. Quickly noticed that my transom assembly nuts had backed off and the top half of the drive was letting water in. Tightened up and bailed water down low enough to discover the bilge pump wire had come loose. fixed it, pumped out the water and drove the boat home. Transmission was flooded with saltwater and flushed it 4 or 5 times. Put the boat back in the water and the transom assembly was still leaking. Figured it was time to pull it apart and replace the gasket and reseal everything. I keep the boat in dry storage so doing this myself is basically impossible.

so i pay my local repair shop to remove the engine, tranny, drive, transom assembly and replace the gasket -- fix any other little leaks and put it all back together. Once back together the starter failed -- figures since it was submerged in salt water. Once that was replaced the boat ran GREAT for 3 outings. All total about 6 hours.

On the 4th outing running along 3/4 throttle just cruising and the boat falls off plane. I first thought I threw the prop off or broke a blade (no vibration) shut off engine, check prop, check blades, in and out of gear and the blade spins but no propulsion (torque). Figure the transmission was trashed and get towed back.

run into my mechs today at the local bar.. (bad sign or good sign??) they want me to come in tomorrow and look at what they found.

They say the drive -- drive shaft is not going all the way into the transmission and its only engaging like 1/4 of an inch - instead of the full inch or 1 1/2 it should go in.

they are asking me for some guidance for how this should all be setup. I'm a bit confused and am not sure what/how to proceed.

they took the drive off, transom off, engine and tranny out and put it back together - used the same engine mount same mounting holes... I don't see how that could be off.

What do i need to do ??


for starters I'll have another Jack....

Haha! I love that your buzzed at 10:30 in the morning. Bottoms up!

Sadly - the buzz was so good I forgot to hit submit last night...

Hey you can't drink all day if you dont start in the morning

Maybe the wrong size gasket or not installed properly, causing the shaft not to reach?

look at the splines on the shaft of the drive. it may have been that way for a while and just finally failed.

going to inspect at 2pm - what should the seat depth be of the drive into the transmission?

I have a trans that needs a rebuild (only has reverse) If you need it for parts or spare. Came out of a 79 donzi

There is a missing factoid here. If the rear mount bolts are attached to the inner transom plate the engine has to be in the correct position +/- a very small amount. The only other thing that would change the engagement would be the transom thickness. I would expect 1 1/2 to almost 2" of the spline to be engaged.

id say all of a inch-inch and a half. look for the wear on the splines. i dont have any trs stuff near me but i can look after work when i go to the boat shop and let u know. id be looking at your motor mounts on the stringers and make sure they are in the same place. make sure they cant be turned around causing motor to be moved forward. just some thoughts