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Had trouble tonight on the water


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2008 Malibu vlx

spent a couple hours surfing and wake boarding with no issues until the last fall, the boat wouldn't go forward or reverse.

 

After looking into it I found that the shaft that goes to the prop had slid out of trans, we slid it back in with the keyway lined up but I think it sheared in half because once the trans is spinning it still doesn't spin prop.

 

how bad is this going to hurt wallet.

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New prop shaft is about $450 for a 1 1/8 x 48" shaft with new hardware. Something as simple as keystock is a few bucks. But if the shaft disconnected from the shaft coupler you will most likely have other issues. The shaft coupler is press fit onto the shaft with the keystock aligning both together. The shaft coupler is held on to the shaft with a 1 1/8" nyloc nut which has a 3/16" Allen screw at a right angle through the shaft coupler pressing against one of the flat faces of the nut to keep it from turning. The shaft coupler is secured to the output flange of the VD with 4 x 9/16" bolts with washers and brass nuts if it is the OEM set up. I would guess that at a minimum the shaft threads are going to be messed up, but the nyloc might of given up the ghost before the threads got messed up on the shaft. Either way the shaft coupler will have to be removed to verify what damage occurred inside of it. Labor is what will be the biggest cost for an otherwise simple job given the correct tools and a ton of patience.

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Yea we were sliding the shaft in and out of the coupler easily. How does something like this even happen, is this a normal issue.

I've only been a boat owner for a month and a half, is there something I could be doing wrong to have caused this?

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I had the same thing happen but it wasnt installed correctly by the previous owner. The shaft un-threaded itself from the coupler and key way fell out. The Prop and shaft then moved toward the back till it hit the rutter(Not running but stopped from dropping the prop and shaft to the botom of the lake). 

 

It might be a simple as that, just need to reconnect. Its a little bit of a pain to work on since its under the Vdrive but very straight forward. After I fixed it correctly, havent had a issue with it. 

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It was not your fault, but you do need to dive into the preventive maintenance checks on a boat 10 times more than you would have to on a vehicle, JMO. Most likely it was removed or replaced in the past because it was damaged and not properly reinstalled. Removing a properly installed shaft coupler is a near religious experience due to the lack of room and the coupler being press fit on to the shaft. You will see a lot more shaft coupler bolts and nuts fall out the coupler and VD flange then you will this type of thing. When you do get it fixed the shaft coupler bolts will one of those pm checks that look at every oil change. Good luck. Bill

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The shaft is not broke as I can see the hole in the end where it bolts to the coupler, but if the shaft is a press fit into the coupler I'm assuming the shaft and coupler are assembled outside the boat and have to be installed from the topside, which means the VD would have to be removed correct??

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Take some pictures. My guess is the shaft is broke inside the coupler. You have to jack one side the boat up off the trailer and remove the rudder to get the shaft out. It's not to bad if you have a second pair of hands. 

 

I broke mine a couple years ago. Most likely what happened is they hit something and the shaft became misaligned. Your suppose to check the shaft yearly for proper alignment. 

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Just now, malibu2004 said:

Take some pictures. My guess is the shaft is broke inside the coupler. You have to jack one side the boat up off the trailer and remove the rudder to get the shaft out. It's not to bad if you have a second pair of hands. 

 

I broke mine a couple years ago. Most likely what happened is they hit something and the shaft became misaligned. Your suppose to check the shaft yearly for proper alignment. 

It's not broke I can see threaded hole in the end of shaft and feel the nut up inside of coupler with my fingers

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Everything is done in boat no removal of the vd, potentially the shaft packing assembly. If you have to remove the propshaft you may be able to get away with getting the shaft out of the boat after removing the prop, but the cutlass bearings and or the rudder may prevent that depending on the clearance. Assuming the key stock is the only thing damaged unlikely unfortunately, you will need new key stock, a prop shaft nut and an Allen set screw if missing. Steps: prop shaft, key stock and coupled are mated, shaft coupler nut is tightened, I braced the prop with wood blocks ensuring that the leading edges, "not the tips" of the prop were braced. I don't remember the torque specs for the coupler the dealer would know. Tighten the coupler nut set Allen screw against the coupler nut, draw the shaft coupler to the vd flange with the shaft coupler bolts and check the gap tolerance between the coupler face and vd output flange @ .003 iirc. Finish tightening the coupler bolts. After a few hours I would check the shaft coupler bolts.

Edited by wdr
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3 hours ago, Twitch02x said:

It's not broke I can see threaded hole in the end of shaft and feel the nut up inside of coupler with my fingers

Mine snapped inside the coupler. The only way to find out for sure what you need is to take it apart. My guess is you'll need a new shaft. 

Let us know what you find out. 

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I just had this happened as well, and it sounds like it was the same as what you have experienced. The mechanic was able to fix everything without removing the engine, but he did have to ensure shaft alignment. It was about 4 hours of work in total, but that included having to realign the engine as he found it was installed 1/2" to port. He also had to replace the dripless packing gland since it was worn unevenly due to the engine misalignment. Expect it will be around $1000; maybe less if you don't have issues with the packing gland.

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Well just got a call from the marina and they are pumping water out of the boat as it was almost to the bottom of seats!!!

 

how does the packing seal work? Does the shaft have to be seated all the way in the coupler for the packing seal to work??

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As in 6" of water on the floor?  This just got more expensive.  You left it in the water?  Get it out quick without starting it and have the marina go through a wet engine protocol.  Hopefully they can save your alternator, ECU, rudder cable, ballast pumps, etc.  Hope no water got into the engine intake or crank case.

The packing must have been disturbed by the shaft issue - or you coincidentally have another leak.  Good luck!

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Yes 6" of water in the floor

The batteries were turned off and not letting bilge pump kick on. The trailer is in shop for another week getting new axles but I'm headed there now with a spare trailer just to try and get the boat out of water. 

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4 minutes ago, minnmarker said:

Bilge pump should be wired around any battery switches???  Again, good luck.

From my research didn't start doing that until 2010.

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WTF????? For sure that is not right!

I just did the dripless conversion and had to go through all of what you are going through.

The dripless is rather inexpensive and if you have the shaft out, its the right time to do it.

You will probably have to buy a new shaft, also check your cutlass bearings and maybe upgrade at the same time.

Glad you got it out of the water in time.

 

good luck

Felipe

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In 2008 and 2009 it seems that Malibu tried a different shaft which had problems so they went back to normal style. I'm going to replace it with the updated shaft.

plan to install new seal as well

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