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Hey, I bought me a boat recently, knowing that it needed a bit of work. As I'm digging into it, I find the source of the problem is the pinion gears in the upper section of the OMC stringer outdrive. I can find the gears for a reasonable price, but the local boat shop wants "At least $1500" to do the repair. That's an actual quote. I think they work for the government, or the mob.
Anyways, I can find gears, and I'm not afraid to put them in myself, but if there's someone here who's had experience with the procedure, I'm not opposed to paying substantially less than $1500 to have it done right. Or if someone can point me in the right direction, i'd be grateful.
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Can't help you with your outdrive but I was wondering where you got your parts? I need some used gears for the lower end of my kicker motor. I've checked on new parts and they are too expensive. Are the gears you found for your OMC, used parts or new? WH2
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There's a few places I'm looking at right now. Ebay seems like the cheapest, but there's also a couple of sterndrive places. I haven't actually bought any yet. Average price seems to be in the $500 neighborhood, but that's still $1000 less than the dealer wants.
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Hey Matt I used to go to church with a guy that has a mobile boat service. Really honest dude and knows his stuff. His number is 737-2334. Just in case your interested.
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Hey, thanks. I'll give him a call.
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You should give danzilla a pm maybe he can help you out.
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I had one of those and I had nothing but trouble with it. My advise is to sell it quick. I did find one (a complete outdrive, upper/lower) for about $400 ($600 with shipping).
Something you need to know about the upper gears, they had a different ratio for each engine. 4 cylinders, and 6cylinders had "under drive" ratio (like16/10 and 12/10) each being different; and the v-8's had "overdrive" ratio (like8/12). I think the lower gears all had the same ratio. If you get the wrong one (upper) it will still work but you will not be able to get the proper rpm range out of your engine. Also you will find the props (pin drive) hard to come by. The lower units had problems shifting, and the shifting switch (I am assuming this is an electric shift outdrive) is not made anymore. Mine had a broken shaft in the lower unit, and I think it happened when the "shift switch" (in the throttle control) went out on the previous owner. I NEVER did find a "shift switch" I always just used a toggle switch on the dash. I also found that you can't run it out of the water, even with "earmuffs", because the "radiator hose" exhaust pipe would not get enough water to it and the hot exhaust would burn through it (they are about $20 a piece).
Once again SELL that OMC and let someone else have the headache. You will come out ahead in the long run.
The guy that said B.O.A.T. stands for "break out another thousand" was working on an OMC.+
P.S. I have a repair manual that I will loan you, that tells you how to do that job, if you choose not to follow my advice and keep that boat. P.M. about it.
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Also I forgot to mention, if you do decide to do it yourself there are some "guaging tools" that you will need, and I don't know if they are available.
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I've read a lot about the problems people have with these outdrives, and I'll keep that in mind, but I prefer to be cautiously optimistic.
I picked up some gears from a guy on ebay, and they're supposed to be here today. I'll take a look at what I have to work with. I also bought another manual. The difference between the clymer and seloc manuals is like night and day. That clymer manual is pitiful.
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I have an OMC Cobra outdrive hooked up to a 350ci engine. Never had a problem. Maintenance parts are easy to come by.
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That (clymer) is what I have.
My experience was with an electric shift outdrive (1972 155hp) and it seamed that every place I called realy didn't have much good to say about them, neither did they want to work on them (by thier prices). I have not heard anything bad about OMC Cobra's though, if that is what you have then it may be worth rebuilding.
I hope I didn't offend anyone who owns an OMC (like Ford vs Chevy vs Dodge) I just had a real negative experience with mine.
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No offense taken [cool]. Just offering my experience with OMC (even though it didn't fit the situation!) LOL
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I'm just hoping that this boat doesn't turn out to be another Ford Windstar for me[pirate].
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