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Leak around drive shaft


Big Beaver Crew

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2003 Malibu wakesetter. Noticed a fairly good drip coming from drive shaft bolt. Someone said it was suppose to leak a little but this seems a bit more than a little. Is it able to be tightened or does it need repaceded. Thanks in advance.

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2003 Malibu wakesetter. Noticed a fairly good drip coming from drive shaft bolt. Someone said it was suppose to leak a little but this seems a bit more than a little. Is it able to be tightened or does it need repaceded. Thanks in advance.

has it ever been tightened, how many hours? I think they recommend replacing it every 300 hours.

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has it ever been tightened, how many hours? I think they recommend replacing it every 300 hours.

Is there a write-up somewhere on tightening the nut?

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has it ever been tightened, how many hours? I think they recommend replacing it every 300 hours.

I am second owner so not sure. Had it last all last yr. Always had some water in the boat but just normal amount. Not sure if i just noticed it more this spring because i winterized myself and really went thru the boat to check everything. Boat has about 655 hrs on it. Thanks for the advice.

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Is there a write-up somewhere on tightening the nut?

Come on JP, you've been around here long enough :biggrin:

the shaft has 2 nuts..... :unsure: Anyways, they're 1 1/8', I took and made 2 stubby open ended wrenches out of 1 wrench by cutting it twice (not fun, get a sawzall). Break the 2 nuts apart, screw the bigger one down as far as possible by hand and then another 1/2 turn or so. Screw the thin locking nut back up to the bigger nut to lock them in place.

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Come on JP, you've been around here long enough :biggrin:

the shaft has 2 nuts..... :unsure: Anyways, they're 1 1/8', I took and made 2 stubby open ended wrenches out of 1 wrench by cutting it twice (not fun, get a sawzall). Break the 2 nuts apart, screw the bigger one down as far as possible by hand and then another 1/2 turn or so. Screw the thin locking nut back up to the bigger nut to lock them in place.

So Ndawg12 is it suppose to leak a little or is that total BS? Thanks for the advice.

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I have grown to hate that stupid shaft seal. I tightened the one on my old MC & never had another problem with it. When the one on the Vride started leaking, I was pretty confident about tightening it. But then it failed miserably. So over the winter I replaced with the new "semi-dripless" Gortex seal sold by Skidim.com. It's in now & hoping we have a great summer with it in there!

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I use an 18inch crescent wrench and 12inch pipe wrench. According to what I have read, you should have 1 drip every 2-3 seconds. Some drip is better than none unless you have a newer BU with the drip-less shaft.

If you are going to take it apart, it might not be a bad time to check the packing.

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Come on JP, you've been around here long enough :biggrin:

the shaft has 2 nuts..... :unsure:

WHAT? I'm sure there is a more appropriate forum for that type of discussion

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They drip more the first few outings of the year. Use it before u tighten it.

Mines tightend so that it doesn't drip (that I've seen). 5 years, no problems. I check the temp of the assembly every so often, it never gets hot.

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They drip more the first few outings of the year. Use it before u tighten it.

Mines tightend so that it doesn't drip (that I've seen). 5 years, no problems. I check the temp of the assembly every so often, it never gets hot.

True, you have to give the packing time to get completely saturated before it will work the best. Not sure what that time frame is, 5-10 hours..?? After that if you use the boat every week or so it should be good to go. But after a long winter lay-up it dries out so the first couple outings it may leak. Make sure you give it time before you bother with tightening it. Mine drips at 1 to every 2/3 seconds.

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True, you have to give the packing time to get completely saturated before it will work the best. Not sure what that time frame is, 5-10 hours..?? After that if you use the boat every week or so it should be good to go. But after a long winter lay-up it dries out so the first couple outings it may leak. Make sure you give it time before you bother with tightening it. Mine drips at 1 to every 2/3 seconds.

Thanks i think i will take the approach of waiting and letting it get saturated like you suggested. I have it on a lift this year (fresh repaired water blister) so it is out of the water. Thanks for the advice.

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