Any Mercury Marine techs in here?

[Gix1k4]

How hard is it to re & re the propshaft on a 1999 200hp outboard. Smoked the prop on a submerged log and tweaked the prop and the shaft at low speed. What are the chances that it's more than just the shaft/prop that were damaged?

This isn't my boat, but one that i'm considering buying. I've worked on smaller, older outboards before, just wondering if it's something i could do, or if there are special tools needed.


Thanks

 

[dogmush]

IIRC It's not too bad, but there's some bearings and the (fwd/rev) gearcase is in there. I haven't worked on one of those in a while, but I'm pretty sure you need a press and good vise at min. I don't recall special fixtures. There's also some tricks you need to know (In fwd gear before you drop the lower unit and such) that can be looked up on an outboard site before you start.

What's your skill level like? Are you a mechanic, or more like a home hobbist? What's your shop like? If you can rebuild manual transmissions, you can probably do this.

Here's what it looks like in there:

ETA: Also, are you SURE you tweaked the propshaft? That's really rare. The prop hub is designed to keep that from happening. You'd have to pull the shaft and mic it to know it was bent. Have you tried just a new prop/hub assembly?

 

[Gix1k4]

Thanks for the reply. I used to work in the auto repair trade (9 years) before my current job in manufacturing. So i guess you could say that i have a decent selection of tools. I also have a friend that owns a transmission shop. He has several presses there, a couple hand operated hydraulic shop presses and a dake bench-top press.

The boat isn't mine, it's one that I'm looking at buying. It's a 20' Triton, and the owner says that he hit a submerged log at "low speed". From the pics he sent, it looks like just the one blade hit it, there are no obvious marks on the case or skeg. I'll post the pics of the damage on here for you to check out.

The price seems ok for the year/options and taking the cost of the repair into account. I'm more interested in knowing if there's any chance that it might have done damage further up the chain. The boat is located about 45mins from me, so i might go take a peek at it on Monday.