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Walter V drive drains


BlindSquirrel

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Hello, new 1998 Sunsetter vlx owner here. I winterized my boat last week and noticed the 2 walter drain bolt/plugs the manual refers to had no visible signs of being removed...ever. Is having both the input and output hoses off the v drive good enough if it freezes or am I risking damage by not removing the bolts? I assume since the hoses are off the water has somewhere to go if it freezes. Just making sure I'm not missing something here.

 

Thanks.  

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On my '98, the drains have never been out either.  At some point in the past, someone rounded over the square plugs completely.

I remove the hoses and use my shop vacuum to suck water out instead.  There's usually very little left after the hoses are off.

Edited by Mechmaster
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On a Walter you will have water in the top of the VD as well. If you pull the 6 top bolts in the plate that the dip stick goes through you will see water sitting under that top plate as well. IIWM and I was sitting any where near where I could buy a chesse curd or a bag of milk ? I would pull the drain plugs just to be safe! If you can't pull the plugs, pulling both hoses and using the shop vac trick should work for the lower side, but what a PITA it is to pull the hoses! JM2C Bill

Edited by wdr
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On my Hurth, I haven't actually looked for specific drain plugs as I shop vac out the whole system but I would guess there are actual drain plug(s). Both of the anodes sit on the gas tank side of the VD in between the inlet and outlet hoses and appear to be at the low point in the VD. So, from the looks of it I would say I could pull them to drain it if there wasn't any drain plugs. The problem is I can't fully pull the anodes as they are about 1 3/4" long and there isn't enough room to pull them all of the way out of the VD w/o removing or lifting the gas tank. Going on 7 years I am guessing I am due for an anode update! The Walter you can just pull the plugs. Word of caution on the "Walter". Make sure you are pulling the correct plugs or you will end up with a bilge full of 30w instead of water.:(

Edited by wdr
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I pull both plugs each time.  This year, I used my air hose and blew water out of both as well, as I decided to put the plugs back in.  I felt safer doing that after blowing them out (otherwise I would have left them out over the winter).

The plugs can be purchased for a few dollars.  I had to tap both of the holes in the V-drive this year due to corrosion eating away at the threads.  Good to go now.

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20 hours ago, Raimie said:

Can you just pull the plugs to drain the v-drive?

Mine seem to be fused since they have been in the same place for nearly 20 years, they will not budge. The tops of both plugs started to twist because of the force I was applying to them..... I tried heat too to no avail. With the two hoses off, if there is any water left in there, it has somewhere to go if it freezes. I guess I will update this in the spring whether I'm right or not. 

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My plugs are stuck too.  No movement and the heads start to deform when twisting with wrench. 

So to winterize I run about a half gallon of RV antifreeze backwards through the V drive and out the bottom just after I finish flushing antifreeze through the engine.  My flushing T is just downstream of the V drive.

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5 hours ago, Raimie said:

My plugs come right out, but the hoses will not. We fought those things for 45 minutes last year and never got them off. Seems like there is room to improve this design...

 

I have never been able to get one off w/o cutting a slit in it. Fortunately the hose was having a sea strainer put into it, so losing that 1" of hose wasn't a big deal. On a newer hose a guy/gal might want to use a heat gun to heat the hose, pull them off and put some anti-seize or other some such loosening agent to make pulling them later a lot easier. 

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