Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

WOw, im like a friggin problem magnet with this boat.

so as you read in another threat i bumped a rock and bent my prop... so i ordered a new prop. put it on tonight, and low an behold i have a bent propeller shaft, do i need to drop the lower end on a suzuki to change it??? or can i take it all out the back??? any help wold be a start!!! thanks!

farmer_dre wrote:WOw, im like a friggin problem magnet with this boat.

so as you read in another threat i bumped a rock and bent my prop... so i ordered a new prop. put it on tonight, and low an behold i have a bent propeller shaft, do i need to drop the lower end on a suzuki to change it??? or can i take it all out the back??? any help wold be a start!!! thanks!

Wow, this is one of my biggest fears as I am on a rocky lake with water levels changing all the time (Like is dam'd) This will be my first year running a stainless prop, but I feel I have to because of all the Horsepower I have.

Sorry to hear that happened, I have no experience on how to fix that but would like to know also myself.

Ouch! I know for sure that you have remove the lower unit on a Honda! Don't know squat about Suzuki, but I'm betting you do on it as well.

Scott1 wrote: This will be my first year running a stainless prop, but I feel I have to because of all the Horsepower I have.

I swapped out my VP stainless props for an aluminum set from PowerTech; great investment! The new props get my best speed ever, handle great in reverse and handled all 235 HP out of my 5.0 I/O. Check them out!

I just assume you have insurance on such a new boat. You'll have to remove the lower unit to make such repairs. They're usually disassembled on a bench in a vise.

This is a job that's best handled by a qualified marine technician. While the lower unit is off, you'll also want to have the seals on the lower unit pressure and vacuum tested to make sure the seals are good. Just a set of new seals is a $300 repair with labor.

Suzuki repairs on a lower unit are a little different. They have a reduction gear in the drive shaft, and Suzuki drive shaft have very low gear ratios--requiring very high pitch propellers. And Suzuki Outboards doesn't have the best supply of parts.

We're located on a rather deep, rock bottom lake. I used to get into the weeds and crunch an aluminum propeller every year. Fortunately our cousin owns a prop shop and he fixed my props cheap. Since I switched over to a stainless propeller in 1980, I never crunched another propeller. I look to a stainless prop as a long term investment--no more bent and scratched props.

farmer_dre wrote:WOw, im like a friggin problem magnet with this boat.

so as you read in another threat i bumped a rock and bent my prop... so i ordered a new prop. put it on tonight, and low an behold i have a bent propeller shaft, do i need to drop the lower end on a suzuki to change it??? or can i take it all out the back??? any help wold be a start!!! thanks!

Is the actual shaft bent or is your new prop one of the "universal hut kit" types and you noticed a wobble after installing the prop? I've got a bad hub kit before where the prop wobbled when rotated since the square insert was made off center.

I would get the run out checked. The shaft can be bent back if needed. Also your insurance will cover repairs to the lower unit.

hey all!!! thanks!

i got myself back in business Friday evening.. i did a lot of reading and Friday AM i took the boat to work about 5:30. im quite mechanically inclined.

so i pulled the lower end. off.. took the bearing assembly out of the outter drive for that prop shaft.. still wouldn't come.. what ended up holding it in was the shifter! so i popped that out and out she came! had it off the boat and out in an hour.

took it to the local machine shop at 8am, we put it in the lathe and it spun like a flopping waterhose. put the other end of the lathe on it. and a dial indicator . 105 thou she was spinning out of wack. (1/8th) of an inch

put it in the press a few times and got it to 2 thou.. put it in the boat. ran it all weekend.. no problems at all!!!

to order a prop shaft from zuki it comes from Japan, 3 weeks away. and $600

lets hope this is the end of my problems for the summer!!!