Check a couple of things...
1) Remove the motor, then slide the flex shaft all the way in until the drive-dog seats against the strut. Make sure that the front of the propeller shaft it's not contacting the teflon.
2) Make sure that the teflon isn't rotating inside the brass. This is really NOT likely to be an issue, since the teflon in these is pretty hard stuff and fits pretty tightly in the tube, but worth looking at.
3) Make sure that the motor is mounted such that it's not forcing the flex up against one side of the stuffing tube/teflon.
4) Look at the propeller shaft and make sure it's polished smooth where it contacts the strut bushing. If it looks burned or like it's seizing, then your strut bushing may need attention. I always run my propeller shafts through my buffer and polish them to a mirror finish. Seems to help. The bushings in these struts are hard, and not very forgiving. Once they start to go, they can seize on the shaft. Haven't seen this much, but it's something to look for.
5) Make sure that the wood around the area where the motor is mounted is firmly glued down. The large flat motor-mount area isn't glued in all the way around, and I've seen them get loose. I epoxy coat all of the wood and seams in this area, and a lot of the noise from the boat running goes away. The wood here resonates the any vibrations and vibrates against itself in the joints. Epoxy it all and that will help.
6) Don't use TOO thick of grease... The Pro Boat or Grim Grease is great stuff. I would also look at using some 90W, or similar (I use Mercury lower unit lube) on the propeller shaft itself. It tends to get into the bushing and stay there better. If you use too thick of grease on the shaft itself, it'll cause drag, especially when it's cold out. It's in the bushing itself where it's the most important to grease/lube things.
Hope something here helps!
Darin E. Jordan - Renton, WA
"Self-proclaimed skill-less leader in the hobby."
Bookmarks