Propeller rubbing on gear box lip? normal? Brand new 40hp merc 2 stroke.

[burleygu]

Not quite sure what its called but where to propeller recesses into the gear box 10mm or so is what im reffering to. I realized I had to pull my propeller off to get the numbers as I wanted to buy a stainless prop. And upon further investigation I noticed the propeller had abit of up and down movement in it. it wasn't in the gearbox shaft but in the propeller spline. And once I removed the propeller I seen it was rubbing on the gearbox lip. quite abit on one side this motor is lucky to be 3 hours old and I purchased it new. Is this normal at all? or should I start making enquiries? On my last 60hp Yamaha The propeller never rubbed like this and nor has any other outboard ive played with? Opinion from people with abit more experience is greatly appreciated!! Photos tell the story

Cheers

Tim

[Captain Seaweed]

thats strange I think, what could be causing it? shaft on the piss ? If it is taking paint off then cant be right.

[burleygu]

well that's what I am assuming Possibly the hub inside the propeller does not have tight enough tolerances Mercury offer a 5 or 3 year corrosion warranty I believe and as soon as you take paint off anywhere and bare alloy is exposed then that's a good area for it to start would love some more info before I contact where I bought it from.

[mitch_wahoo]

You may have hit a submerged stick or log in the water sometime and not realised. It could have bent the shaft the prop sits on causing it to be a bit out of balance. Run the motor in gear and see how it spins.

Cheers, Mitch

[Toddy_again]

Both the 40 and the 50 Mercs did similar.

Toddy

[marto78]

My first thought was that someone had forgotten to put in a spacer but you may be on the money with the hub not put in correctly in the prop.

[burleygu]

both spacers are in the propeller the front and the rear Havnt hit anything that I know of. propeller has no marks paint missing etc. the problem seems to be slop in the propeller hub with up and down movement when the propeller was installed I could wriggle the propeller and it would touch that inside lip.

[burleygu]

so is it normal?

[bluefin59]

My 04 60hp mariner has nearly 900 hrs on it and it doesn't show that sort of mark or wear on the prop or housing , I would be getting it checked myself and the answer is no I don't believe it is normal and if it turns out it is mercury need to look at their quality control .....Matt

[Gon Fishun]

You would have to say no, it is not normal. To my mind there should be no movement in the output shaft and no movement in the prop. If the output shaft has movement it will flog out the bearings, gears and the gearbox will disintegrate. The prop might be rubber bushed and it should not have any movement either.

[LittleSkipper]

That scoring on the inside lip of your lower unit & the scoring on the outer lip of your prop is definitely not normal.

I have a Mercury 75hp 2 stroke & have never seen that type of damage on or occurring on my unit or prop.

How old is your OB? & is it still under warranty? If so! Take it straight back to where you bought it from!

[Moonlighter]

Go back to your dealer. Do not stop, do not pass "Go"!

That is definitely not right.

[ozscott]

My 2000 model Merc 60 did that.

Cheers

[Lancair]

I just have to say this. "See, it's not only Etec's that have problems!!!" :P

[patrol50]

mate i really would not be too happy if my new merc outboard was doing that and although i am not a qualified marine mechanic that could be a misaligned prop shaft during assembly issue and possibly a future gearbox problem will result - so i would be taking it back to the merc dealer i bought it from and i would be sending mercury australia an email or a phone call setting out my concerns to get it inspected and repaired if needed under warranty - they mercury do have a couple of people located up here in qld and they are helpful
cheers

[johncar]

I had the odd prop touch slightly on the outer housing but nothing as severe as that. It certainly looks excessive to me and also recommend having it sorted by your dealer.
Good luck with it.

[Fed]

Is it a genuine Mercury prop?

[PixieAU]

Damn that's a good question! But with 3 hours you'd expect so. But still worth asking.

[burleygu]

Thank you for the replies guys. I rung the people who I bought the motor from today they said to some extent rubbing is normal due to to much paint etc. however I think there is to much rubbing for it to be 'just paint'

They said I have to take it into them next week so they can have a look at it as they are to busy with the boat show ATM.

Hmm

[LittleSkipper]

Too busy because of the boat show?

What a pathetic excuse!

The rubbing is not normal, they are full of Shit!

I've had my Mercury OB for 3 years since new and have never ever seen that kind of scoring on my OB.

I would go and find another Mercury agent?

There's a perfect example of why consumers shop abroad/elsewhere and are so pissed off with Oz retailers?

[burleygu]

I was a little off put by saying I could bring it in next week. I mean what if I wanted to go boating this weekend? We will see next week with how they deal with things

[tunaticer]

Can you hear contact between the prop and the hub when you spin it by hand in neutral?
If you can not, I reckon you have clearances that are about correct and you have picked up a little sand or grit in that space and it has scoured the paint where the tolerances are so fine.
Movement whilst under load in any direction apart from the rotation of the prop should not exist. Unlikely you have any movement apart from pure rotation in a new motor.

All of my motors has scored the paint in that area during their lifetimes, none of them had any damages or abnormal movements.

[burleygu]

Can you hear contact between the prop and the hub when you spin it by hand in neutral?
If you can not, I reckon you have clearances that are about correct and you have picked up a little sand or grit in that space and it has scoured the paint where the tolerances are so fine.
Movement whilst under load in any direction apart from the rotation of the prop should not exist. Unlikely you have any movement apart from pure rotation in a new motor.

All of my motors has scored the paint in that area during their lifetimes, none of them had any damages or abnormal movements.

I can't hear any contact but you can deffinately see that the propeller isn't spinning on Center so every rotation it comes very close with the gearbox lip and I imagine when the engine is under load that's when there is contact made.

[marto78]

Thank you for the replies guys. I rung the people who I bought the motor from today they said to some extent rubbing is normal due to to much paint etc. however I think there is to much rubbing for it to be 'just paint'

They said I have to take it into them next week so they can have a look at it as they are to busy with the boat show ATM.

Hmm

When there is a boat show about to happen the dealers don't give a rats ass about repairs its all about trying to sell as much as possible. I have learnt from experience not to get work done on a motor in that period.

I took my motor in for a recalled part because I was going fishing for 3 days that weekend and instead of changing the recalled part they changed the starter solenoid which then crapped itself 3 months later (and they changed it again).

I only found this out 2 years later when my new mechanic checked up on the motors history and changed the recalled part.

[Smithy]

Have had that before and never a drama but being that new worth taking back for sure.

[patrol50]

mate which dealer did you buy it from then ??? - and if its only rubbing the paint off then maybe not that big an issue as smithy and others say etc but if its rubbing away some of the material then thats different and i would get it fixed under warranty
cheers

[cormorant]

Interested to hear how they fix this. Is the prop the issue or the prop hardware, gearbox internals or the gearbox housing out of spec. I've seen linished props beforeand then on prop replacement teh same happens again. Make sure it is fixed properly

[QuinTin]

my 2002 model 50hp merc did it to had it look at north side marine at 25 hour service they said the same thing about to much paint apprently on it but have ss solas prop now still going 11 years on but yours looks like more paint off than mine did.

[Steeler]

I was a little off put by saying I could bring it in next week. I mean what if I wanted to go boating this weekend? We will see next week with how they deal with things

Without wanting to sound like play'n the devils advocate here but from the time you first noticed something maybe a miss and had concerns to the time you contacted them how many jobs do you reckon the dealer may have booked in. If you called them much sooner to express your concerns you would have got the jump on them.

Just say'n