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vibration not from prop


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We took our 06 LSV out yesterday - there is a horrible vibration while under power. The prop is fine, there are not any "impact" marks on the shaft and we cannot recall hitting anything. However, the shaft is not turning straight as it goes into the bottom of the boat. Any ideas? The vibration was light, then got worse really quickly. I'm thinking it may be in the drive?

Edited by cricks
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We took out 06 VLX out yesterday - there is a horrible vibration while under power. The prop is fine, there are not any "impact" marks on the shaft and we cannot recall hitting anything. However, the shaft is not turning straight as it goes into the bottom of the boat. Any ideas? The vibration was light, then got worse really quickly. I'm thinking it may be in the drive?

Can you go into more detail about this? I am not following you....are you saying the shaft is bent?

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Can you spin by hand? Is it binding? Sometimes you can't see dings in the prop, but they are there. Might be worth bringing the prop to a shop and having them balance it before you start with the bigger stuff.

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i would do as suggested, check the coupling at the trans. check with feeler gauges for correct alignment.

if thats ok then remove the prop and have some spray water from a garden hose at the strut bushings. put it

in gear and check for vibration. no vibration, then most likely the prop. if a vibration then pulled the shaft

and have it checked, .008 run out will feel awful. just isolate one thing at a time until you find the problem.

i also agree with just in time, you would need to hit something really hard to bend the strut and you might even

see some stress cracks where the strut bolts up.

Edited by sgt1970-442
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  • 3 weeks later...

So, it looks like the coupling bolts were loose (2 came out completely- looks like there is supposed to be 3). Do I need to pull the transmission to put them back in tight? Also, do I need to repack the bearings (hole where the shaft comes into the bottom of the boat) and are there any tricks/special tools/ideas for doing this?

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Only "special" tools you might need would be a feeler gauge to set the alignment. If the shaft was properly aligned and the bolts just came out then you don't need to reset the alignment, just bolt it back together and torque it. My 97 uses 4 bolts so make sure you aren't missing one.

As long as you didn't run the boat too long with the shaft loose and vibrating bad you shouldn't have damaged anything, so bolt it back together and go test it out.

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I had the same problem this past summer. It only took a day on mine and the bolts came completely off while on the lake. Lots of water came pouring in. I thought it was going to be an expensive fix but all I needed to do was spend about five bucks in new lock nuts and reassemble. It runs great now.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I had the same problem this past summer. It only took a day on mine and the bolts came completely off while on the lake. Lots of water came pouring in. I thought it was going to be an expensive fix but all I needed to do was spend about five bucks in new lock nuts and reassemble. It runs great now.

Wow! We only had 1 bolt - it was loose. The others have still not been located. Should there be some sort of marking on the shaft to indicate that they were ever even there?

We also had water pouring in - we don't need to repack the hole where the shaft comes into the boat? (I think this is where we were getting water into the boat.)

You didn't have to take anything apart at all? Just re-assemble? I really like that this didn't turn into an expensive thing!

Thanks so much for your help.

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pull the prop and run in water

sounds like aliment might get it

if you hit the strut, drive shaft is toast also

harder to bend a strut then bend a shaft

I disagree with that, we've done a lot of jobs that have a bent strut and the shaft checks out ok. Cast brass is a lot softer than machined Stainless Steel.

Wow! We only had 1 bolt - it was loose. The others have still not been located. Should there be some sort of marking on the shaft to indicate that they were ever even there?

We also had water pouring in - we don't need to repack the hole where the shaft comes into the boat? (I think this is where we were getting water into the boat.)

You didn't have to take anything apart at all? Just re-assemble? I really like that this didn't turn into an expensive thing!

Thanks so much for your help.

Sounds like the boat didn't have it's break in service done or done right? The coupler bolts get checked at that break in service as they are a common item to work their way loose. The coupler definitely has 4 bolts. If you only have one there, i would be very concerned that the shaft or transmission couplers could be damaged. I've seen this on boats before and the holes can get hogged out from being bolted up loose. If they do get oval-ed out, you can never get a bolt to tighten up again because there is too much slop.

Do you have a standard shaft seal that looks like this or do you have a drip less shaft seal like this?

Most likely the coupler being so far off balance it's damaged or loosened the shaft seal.

If everything looks ok, re-assemble with the correct bolts, use blue loc-tite on all the bolts with a nyloc nut. Use a feeler gauge and make sure the alignment is within .003 or less all the way around the coupler.

-Paul

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Wow! We only had 1 bolt - it was loose. The others have still not been located. Should there be some sort of marking on the shaft to indicate that they were ever even there?

We also had water pouring in - we don't need to repack the hole where the shaft comes into the boat? (I think this is where we were getting water into the boat.)

You didn't have to take anything apart at all? Just re-assemble? I really like that this didn't turn into an expensive thing!

Thanks so much for your help.

Are you sure you're talking about the bolts connecting tranny coupler to shaft and not packing nut and/or set screws in coupler?

Engine alignment may also need to be checked if feeler gauge is correct at coupler but struct looks like shaft is not in there straight.

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