Is my twin disc box stuffed??

[andrewbarker]

Solent to Poole last weekend when I lost drive on one side. Engine revved, still no drive. Turns out the bilge is full of stinking hot oil so I return home on one good engine.

When I looked into it, an oil pipe from said gearbox to the oil cooler had burst & lost all the oil.

Yesterday I went down complete with pipes, oil & funnel. Job done, I start up & gently go into forward. Nothing except for the most gentlle tubulence from stb prop. However, it's as good as ever in reverse.

The boxes are Twin Disc 506s. Have I b*ggered one? What's happened? Is it expensive?? Can you really lose a gearbox by having a pipe split?

Help please (advice, cheques, POs etc)

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[Moose]

"Is it expensive?"
Of course it will be! What do you expect?

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[PaulF]

IMHO you have probably knackered it! Sounds like forward clutch burnt out. This is a damn good reason for having gearbox oil pressure gauges, but a lot of boats, including mine, are not fitted with them. The gearboxes use the pump in the box to force the plates together so they dont slip, but give you drive. If the oil aint there, the plates will slip, overheat and destroy the surface. The oil is relied upon to a/. make the box work, b/ to get rid of the heat by passing through a cooler.

Hoik the box out, and take it to your friendy gearbox fixer. Dont knpow how much a Twin Disc costs to fix, but I had a Borg Warner fixed for £350.

Good luck.

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[ChrisP]

Had exactly the same problem as yours last season. Refilled with oil and box returned to normal, (leaking stack in the cooler). Contacted Twin Disc on the Isle of Sheppy somewhere I think, 2 years ago with suspected plate problem (turned out the drive plate had stripped). Never met such lousy customer services. Demented half wit on the other end cackled with laughter and told me it would cost £1200 plus bits and VAT for a rebuild and that I had no option as they were the only agents in the country. Replied with suitable instruction for sex and travel and put the phone down.

All the working drawings for the special tools are in the manual. Get your local engineering firm to make up the tools and order the spares direct from America.
Like most G/box's they are simple and easy to work on with a little care and patients. The stripping and rebuild instrunctions are in the book. As for pressure gauges the plug in the side of mine has refused all efforts to remove it to fit gauges. Given up and now just keep an eye on the dip stick.

Good luck

Chris.

<hr width=100% size=1>What do you mean the sea gull in front's walking !!!

 

[cliff]

Good info. I was about to place an order for a new lump and g'box - just had second thoughts if that is the attitude of "twin Disc" - guess what I was ordering, yes - a td box but stuff it, not with that after sales attitude - back to Plan B - Techno Drive /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif/forums/images/icons/wink.gif

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[andrewbarker]

......Sob, sob Thanks for the responses. What cr*p engineering - a safety critical, buttock clenchingly expensive item which can burn out like this!!

Anyway, I phoned Lancing Marine & they reckoned the clutch can be taken out from the back of the box without lifting it out. That firm of agents on Sheppey say noooooooooo. Any thoughts from boffin engineer types? I've got serious wallet strain right now.

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[tico]

Mike Bellamy knows what hes on about.

<hr width=100% size=1>Been there, done that, got the oily T shirt

 

[PaulF]

Take Mike Bellamys word for it. Very reliable man.

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[andrewbarker]

Thanks both

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[asteven221]

I tried to post a similar potential issue last week on my gearbox (Twindisc 506) but somehow it didn't post. Anyway my gearbox chucked it a year or so ago and it was expensive. First of all me and my mate took a couple of weekends to get the thing out. It weighs about 18stone. Had take half the boat to bits. I then took it to my local specialist repairer who charged £150 for an estimate. Spares from Twindisc are expensive. One gear was just under £1000 plus vat. As the rest of the gears were damaged as well the repair would be several thousand i.e. circa £6k. A fully tested factory recon was about £4000 to £6000 from the Twindisc agents and there is only one (I think agent) in the UK. Sorry if that seems bad news but that's my experience. Maybe your box is not as damaged as mine, so I would urge caution and don't try and use it in anger. Since replacing the box I have had a consistant loss of oil i.e. needs topped up every 8 hours or so. No obvious leeks, but suspect cooler as it was stripped and rebuilt in case there was debris in it. No obvious signs of water in the box but since reading your story I think I will esculate the priority to get it sorted properley. Best of luck.

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