bent shaft

[itallushrt]

I hit a submerged rock at about 1/3 throttle with a F50 w/ SS prop. Hard enough to dent up the SS prop. I've run the motor a few times since and then decided to spin the prop while the boat was trailered. It wasn't till then that I noticed the prop shaft appears bent.

Is it possible that running the motor after this incident has caused additional damage and if so what?

I'd rather change the shaft out myself since I'm getting "ball park" quotes of around 350.00 and up.

Whats the degree of difficulty and is it even feasable for a shade tree mechanic to undergo this ??

thanks.

[lasniper]

Hello itallushrt,

Get the prop looked at first before opening the lower unit !! There are several "failsafes" if you will..the rubber bushing, brass sleeves, shear pins, etc., etc., to try and limit the damage the lower unit, and the drive shaft and the engine when an object is hit with the propeller.
Stainless is a farily weak metal and bends easier than iron.
I wold take the prop to a shop and see how bad it is first though as props are designed to "break-free" from the pressed rubber bushing inside them if the strike something with enough force to damage the motor. Mainly what I'm getting at is "Dont cut your throat yet" !
I have done this in the past on a different model and make. The one thing I would suggest is BUY the shop manual. There are torque specs you need in it among other things. It also contains a description of how to inspect the lower unit for damage. And this is not a hard project to tackle, if you can stand the smell of the gear oil !!


Hope this helps, let us know what you find....

[Ken]

itallushrt,
I agree with 'sniper - let a prop shop take a look. What you see, hopefully, is just wobble of the prop hub.
If indeed the prop shaft is bent, then I recommend you let a qualified mechanic who has done this before tackle the job. You are probably gonna need a shaft bearing also, and the casing needs to be inspected for cracks.
To dissassemble the lower unit, it takes special tools like a ring nut wrench, impact driver, blow torch if everything is corroded up, and a few others that I can't recall. I watched my mechanic (the one I go to when I am in over my head) do this on a 94 C115 - it was a tough job, and he knew all the tricks that the book does not point out.
You can save a little money by removing the lower unit yourself and taking it to the mechanic. That saved me about fifty bucks.
Ask the mechanic if he will let you watch. Take your shop manual to jot down notes, and then next time you might want to tackle the job yourself.
Good luck [img]smile.gif[/img] ,
Ken K

[itallushrt]

Thanks for the replies guys. After thinking about it and seeing that I would need some required speciality tools I think I'm just going to hand it over to the experts.

I'll limit my mechanic duties to changing the oil / filter, and experimenting with different props.