Does anyone know anything about Yamaha outdrives?

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PCUK

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We've been looking at old stock brand new Yamaha outdrives in a surplus yard for an upcoming project. They look meaty enough but I wonder if anyone has experience of them and whether there are any spares available anywhere.
A workshop manual or even a spec' sheet would be very useful.
 
Unable to help sorry other than when I was looking to import a second hand boat a couple of years ago I started looking at a few Jap websites!
What was apparent looking at those sites was the local fishing vessels all seemed to be fitted with them!
And Im talking 25/40ft bracket,quite a few of thise craft seemed to have been well used too...
Only a guess then but if its good enough for them!!??
 
I had a pair on my Draco 34 Which I ran for 6 years and 900 hours.

Apart from replacing a scored propshaft, all we did was routine maintenance (when I say we I mean they were looked after by Volvolpaul).

The drives are silky smooth and I would not hesitate having them again.

Parts were a tad on the expensive side, however I now have Volvos and I would suggest that there is not an awful lot of difference in things like anodes and bellows.

Parts were fairly readily from BBMS, and I know there are other dealers around.

From a drivers point of view I loved them (gear engagement is so smooth they even fit a neutral light like on a motorbike), but from a technical point of view Paul knows them inside out.

Neil
 
I've always wondered about these. Drove a 'Hydra Drive' before and wow were the gear changes smooth... soooo smooth.

Wonder if there are any issues with them? And why aren't they more popular?
 
6 years and 900 hours- well done, you have been lucky to be trouble free for so long.

They are great drives, very smooth when they work, but eventually the clutches will give up, probably due to falling oil pressure.
Several RIB owners have tried additional water cooling jets over the upper casing to cool the oil down, but with little success.
Unfortunately the biggest problem is Yamaha themselves refusing to accept that there are problems, although the dealers on the ground are good, their hands are tied.
Oh yes, and the blades fall off the 23" props!

All the above relates to personal experience of two friends with 9 and 11m RIBS, twin engines and commercial use- between the two, over 8 years, destroyed 5 or six outdrives, one engine and countless props, without hitting anything!
 
After reading moodys post ill add my bit.

The drives after nearly 900 hours were in ten times beter condition than any volvo leg ive ever seen stripped down.

The clutch packs only fail because owners dont change the oil every year, moody did and never lost drive in all his years he had them.

The design is very clever its all in the leg and only requires 2 rams to trim and hold the leg inplace, its very simple, the uj joints never failed, the gearchange cable just moved a spool valve to direct oil to the reverse or forward clutch thats why there so smooth as a car autobox changing gear and no stiff cables due to worn cones or water ingress mechanism sitting in mud half the year behind a cover that falls off!!! sorry volvo but you still havent got it anywhere near right yet.
 
We didn't do annual oil changes- just every 100 hours! On the recommendation of our yam dealer we changed to a synthetic Mobil oil, cannot remember the type now, but was not much of an improvement.
(and I agree with you about Volvo...)
 
You're talking about the sterndrive which they installed on 5.0 and 5.7 engines, I guess?
IIRC, they also made a totally different one, hydraulic driven, which was coupled to the 7.4 block.
I'm not sure about which one PCUK is considering.
Though at that time (early 90s), I heard nothing but praises about both.
 
Mapis I was talking about the diesel hydraulic one which I can agree must be praised, its a shame they dont fit it to the larger yanmar sterndrive packages if they did and it worked volvo would be out of business and laying another 100 off in sweden.
 
In my lmited experience they do seem very good drives, but what let's 'em down is they are sooooooooo NOISEY. Gear whine is chronic, but seems worse outside the boat.
 
Woked on loads of these a few years back for the MOD (fitted on the Mk 3 raiding craft). As Volvo Paul said they are very smooth due to being a hydraulic clutch instead of a mechanical dog gear (alpha 1) or cone clutch (volvo). A bit like the old BMW drives just a lot better.

They were generally coupled to the Yamaha 420 diesel (260hp) with no problem at all, although I have come across one on a 7.4l V8 petrol.

Tip: there is a little wire gauze filter which requires cleaning, not many non-yam service guys know its there so it often gets over looked. If you are buying I suggest inspecting the filter for metal particals, it is located behind a diamond shaped plate secured with 2x 10mm head bolts. The plate is inside the plastic box behind the main plastic cover, covering the main nuts which hold the thing on.

Parts are still available from Yamaha main dealers though most yamaha parts guys are outboard men and really struggle with the stern drives. Best try Bill Brown at BBS Marine, Southampton.

Other than that its a great drive.
 
Volvo Paul has already mentioned it but I have also heard that it is VERY VERY important to keep on top of the oil changes in the leg.

Other than that I have driven a boat with them and love the smooth changes. Can't say I remember any excessive whining noise.
 
Thanks all. I have just be given what I assume is a model number:- DE-DHD
Does that ring any bells?
Incidentally the unit I am looking at is in a Navy surplus yard so maybe they are the same type that Ady mentioned?
Volvo Paul, we are currently just looking to identifying the model and what it's power handling limit is. Probably be using something like a 6354 around 140hp @2600
 
hi im looking to repair or by a replacment drive can you inform me of your contact if there is more than you need
thanks lindsay moore
 
i have a HR 23 with this exact set up a 420 yam and leg and i lost drive on her 30 miles out never hit any thing at all just stopped so a mechanic changed the oil and bugger me she went but only short term ,,,,so another mechanic has been to the leg and found this little filter clogged up badly with bits of swarf and sludge so he is flushing her out and should be all sorted soon ,,,i am in mid wales and there are very few yamaha personnel/mechanics up here ,,,yes i do agree they are very smooth gearbox s ,,just hope this will be okay from here on in ,,,
 
I’ve had a few of theses on ribs. All said above is correct, however a point to note is that the debris that blocks the filter is normally either bits of plating from the taper roller bearings, bits of the bearing cages or shavings from the gears, if you have debris in the filter then i suggest you examine it closely and monitor, if it gets worse it will clog the filter, the clutches will lose pressure and the plates will start to slip / burn out.
There was a New Zealand based charter boat operator had a great warts and all section on his site with his recomended maintenance schedules, specific manufacturers of bearings to use as replacements and when to do it. Diveworks Charters.
if you are used to the volvo / mercruiser clunk then these hydradrives are a revelation!
 
many thanks Machaseo, there was a few filings in there as suspected and the oil and filter has been changed and changed again to check if there is a lot of wear but it seems to of been caught soon enough ,,,no more filings showing in the new oil !!! only proper test is a good run out to test the clutch plates and see what happens when she gets up to pressure and heat ,,, as you say most boat yards do not know the filter is there ,,like myself,,,
 
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