Is my outdrive scrap?

[realslimshady]

Set about changing bellows and oil on my 280 drive today-the boat had been unused for over 2 years, out of the water, but has been afloat since december.
On removing the drain plug, got about half a pint of beautifully clear water, then a load more milky oil.
Next discovery was the drive bellows FULL of mud and water-once all dismantled, found drive bellows split.
Not being too sure about the internal arrangement of these things-would the split drive bellows allow water into the leg itself? Or is there another leakage issue somewhere? And what are the chances of the internals still being ok?
I've brought the top gearcase and U/Js back home and will have a better look tomorrow, but apart from a little surface corrosion on the U/Js, don't seem too bad...
On a positive note-the engine ran! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[[2068]]

Oh dear /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I'm sure volvopaul or spannerman will be along to comment, but if the u/j is sitting in water, it can get past the bearing/seal into the upper unit. Time for a stripdown to see if it's a basket case or not.

 

[oldgit]

The actual 280 leg is built like a brick s....house,will be very suprised if something cannot be done with your unit.The U/J may be knackered bearing wise but can probably be rebuilt and although water has got into the leg itself you may lucky and no actual damage has been done to the bits inside.
Get it to one of the the usual suspects,can personally recommend IVSS Marine 01303 870010 down in Kent,complete tart up of my leg for around £750 quid and was fixed after at least two occasions when water was found in leg and "fixed" /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gifby me.

 

[Peanuts]

Hi
Oh dear,not the sort of thing you want to find but not the end of the world, as Oldgit said the 280 is brick built.

One question for you before I start, is the boat in fresh or salt water?

To get back to your questions, yes water can get into the leg via the split in the bellows but are you 100% sure it was all via that route. It is not a difficult job to change the shaft and gear selector seals to but your mind at rest.

However do not forget that you had water in the area of the shaft bearing (part no 11013) on the transom shield. Whilst the leg is off I would check this, dispite what some people say it can be done without removing the engine - I have done it twice no problem. If you do need to replace the bearing it is a standard size easily obtained without the 'marine' price on it. Also ensure plenty of grease via the grease point on the inside of the transom shield, I fitted a grease nipple on mine to make it easier.

If you do have to change the UJ's there is a commerical vehicle equivelent - cannot remember part number at the moment but I bought 4 for less that 1 VP one and they had grease points on them as well!

I hope this is of some help.

 

[rickp]

Add Col to that list too.

 

[neale]

Not sure what the T stands for, but there is a whole 280T here for less than £600.

Might be worth considering.

 

[[2068]]

He's probably busy fixing everyone else's engines!

 

[realslimshady]

OK, have pulled the U/J and drive gear assembly out and the gears just have a little light surface corrosion-cleans off with a suede brush, all the bearings look nice and shiny.
The question is how the water/silt got in there-I notice the fill/vent plug on the top was fantastically tight but had no seal...or is it the shaft seal or the seal on the gearshift mech?
Anyone know what size allen key to undo the drive gear bolt? It's not 8 or 10mm..3/8 maybe?

 

[oldgit]

The "T" is for a really obscure hybrid that sneaked out of the VP factory just before the 290 proper appeared.It was more popular over in the states where it was used in a few single engined sport boat application.
It (280T) used 2 x hydraulic rams instead of the more normal Electrolux hoover motor power to lift up your leg and also to enable you to trim the leg underway.
One thing you must watch is not just to go out and buy any old 280 leg.There are 3 different gearbox ratios and the petrol ratio stuff is no good if you have a deisel.Normal ingress of water is via gearchange and propshaft seals.
Also ...trust me if you have a AQD40A and a 280 leg the engine has to be shifted before you can replace the transom shield bearings.....both inner and outer .
Should you decide to do the job,have some nice photos to give you an idea of what is in..volvo..d. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[alt]

oldgit - i'd love to see those photos purely out of curiousity? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[realslimshady]

my intention is to replace the seals on the gearchange shaft and where the driveshaft enters the upper housing-are those the ones you mean, oldgit?

 

[oldgit]

Re:Well shagged dept.

Will find other photos and get them on here ASAP,but for now this is a good example.
These were sent to me by a forumite when I put a request out on the forum for help about a year ago.
The "normal" things to fail are the gearshift seal (very common) and the prop shaft seal behind fish line cutter.
The gear seal is a simple job but the prop seal really needs a slide hammer to make the job easy.
This is what was left of my transom shield bearings after being marinated when my drive gaitor split...the noise alone was dreadful.

The bearing photo is from my personal (large) and treasured collection of totally shagged boat bits pix.
The one below was from the helpful forumite.
The jack shaft showing a bearing still in situ.

.....and beware if you buy a s/h jack shaft ....the number of splines varies from engine to engine.

 

[oldgit]

Re:How to do it

A couple more pix.

 

[alt]

Re:How to do it

Thanks for those pics, excellent!

 

[spannerman]

Ususally if the bellows have had water in for some time the input shaft rusts and knackers the seal on the top section allowing water into the drive, Vp drives tolerate water better than others, so a good rinse with diesel and new oil usually is all thats required. But also check the seals on the propshaft and gearshift nmechanism.

 

[realslimshady]

[ QUOTE ]
Ususally if the bellows have had water in for some time the input shaft rusts and knackers the seal on the top section allowing water into the drive, Vp drives tolerate water better than others, so a good rinse with diesel and new oil usually is all thats required. But also check the seals on the propshaft and gearshift nmechanism.

[/ QUOTE ]
thanks spannerman
my feeling is that with a clean and new seals it's going to be ok-any advice re changing the propshaft seals? It looks on the exploded view to be a straightforward remove two bolts, extract shaft/bearing/seal assy....

 

[oldgit]

Thanks for that. Murv.
There were definately some prior to those from another forumite, featuring a AQD 41/280 leg combination showing the leg off and the engine moved slightly forward and the jack shaft both in situ and extracted and the shagged bearings after removal.
Think actually one bearing corroded to shaft and literally fell out of its aluminum transom housing.New one needed peening and some Locktite to make sure it stayed back in.
Convinced one bearing had to be removed externally and one internally.
But might be wrong

 

[Bouba]

The pictures didn't work for me, but as long as this leak happened only while it was sitting for two years then it should be recoverable, if you do a lot of the work yourself then it might even be economically viable. The good news is that it didn't sink the boat

 

[Murv]

I've had a good trawl through, I'm normally quite good at finding stuff with the google advanced search but just can't find any images. If you can think of any more specific keywords I can plug them into the search, but the usual suspects aren't returning anything relevant with images.

I've got one of my leg when it was off for the 423rd time, but it doesn't show any detail and was only a 270 not a 280.

EDIT: Just for clarification, this was an old thread I linked to from a current one, OG was trying to find images of an AQD41/280 combo with the engine moved to facilitate removal of the jackshaft and showing the bearings afterwards to help a forumite.
Anyone remember the thread or have any images they could post?

 

[Croftie]

EDIT: Just for clarification, this was an old thread I linked to from a current one, OG was trying to find images of an AQD41/280 combo with the engine moved to facilitate removal of the jackshaft and showing the bearings afterwards to help a forumite.

Probably having OUT DRIVE trouble with his new boat already....