Yanmar SD40 Saildrive Premature Clutch Wear

[GrogRat]

Hi, The clutch cones on my Yanmar Saildrive are slipping after only 600hrs from new, from asking around it seems like this is a very common problem, also suspicion is that the GL4 gear lube is too viscous to allow proper engagement and that a synthetic ATX is a better solution, but unsupported by Yanmar, any ideas anyone ? cheers Steve (Cecelia, Warrior 40)

 

[matelot]

had a problem with slipping clutch cones on my yanmar 2 gm after a lot of hours. on this box (yours may well be completely different) the first thing to check is the adjustment of the gear lever at the box ie when in neutral, is it mid way between engaged forward and engaged aft. Is your slipping problem in one direction or both?

my yanmar dealer (cellar marine) avoided the cost for me of new cones by stripping the gearbox and shimming the cones to take up wear. they then filled the box with (from memory - 10 years ago!) SAE 10 oil, one issue being that if you use thick gear oil then by definition it lubricates the surfaces very well inc those of the cone clutch. apparently this is what they did with the inshore fishing boats which are their main source of work. might not be possible with your engine - mine was only putting 20bhpo through the bearings and gears

all this is old history and my memory might well be wrong. suggest you chat it through with john clewes at cellar marine - as straight a dealer as you will find anywhere. and good engineers.

 

[steve28]

contact is :John Skewes 01326 280214

steve