Dumb...dumber..... can a long shaft gearbox be shortened? motor is a sh1tbox...

[Hodad3230]

Cut to the chase - Got VERY limited toy money. Frankly got even less other money...
Blew up gearbox in an old motor - 83 suzuk dt50.
Was told by a wrecker that they are virtually all long shafts.

Not easy to find another - found one in good nick(privately), payed & got it freighted to me without asking/measuring/thinking......

Dumb.

Went to put it in, its an inch too long. My motor must be an exception.

Haven't found another yet, after a couple of months of occasional googling/phoning.

Is it conceivable that a machine shop could cut more spline on its driveshaft, lop it off, and jerry rig some way to shorten the shift rod using maybe a sleeve and pins etc?

Dumber????

[BM]

Raise the motor on the transom.

[Hodad3230]

Thanks BM, what Im getting at is that when the driveshaft is pushed up the leg and stops, there is an inch of clearance between the mating surfaces of the leg and box. Measured from the flange, the driveshaft on the good gearbox is 25mm or so longer than the old screwed one.

[Noelm]

Old Suzukies had a few "features" like that, it is still a long shaft, but a different model, not too sure hat you will need to do to fix the problem, but just to be sure, the drive shaft is going all the way in isn't it?

[BM]

I think the simplest case is to hunt down another lower unit that measures the same as your original. Get hold of a Suzuki dealer who was around in older Suzuki days as they will have old engines floating around. Leisure Sports Marine in Melbourne are a Suzuki dealer from way back and they may have a lower unit to suit your model. Freight wouldn't be too expensive. Or try a more local Suzi dealer.

[aussiebasser]

The shaft length refers to transom height. Short shaft is 15", long shaft is 20". Are you sure you have the gear selector in the same position as the gearbox? Ie. gear selector in forward and gearbox in forward.

[fisho64]

sounds odd because they dot have a difference of just one inch between the short long and XL
If you are certain its going fully home (look for spline damage stopping it) then swap the drive and shift shafts from your old one.
If they wont fit its the wrong unit anyhow.

[Hodad3230]

Here's some pics.

The original gearbox was blown up by a 'mate' years ago. A local wrecker had one that fitted, but was from an earlier model, it used less connecting bolts, but it worked and I had 5 years of no problems. Then, I killed this one myself - a loose bolt from the cable linkages made it's way down the shift rod shaft and got jammed. Me removing the box to sort it out resulted in the shift rod popping out of the gearbox. I've been told by a few people that trying to repair the old box is folly, and to source another one as the casings are notoriously weak and the price of new internals is stupid. So I did, and it appears to be from the same year or slightly later model as my motor.

Here they are....

102840102841

The one on the right, the replacement to the replacement, has the longer driveshaft. They are obviously different vintages, and the silver one's driveshaft, from the flange, measures about an inch longer. The casing on the blue box is a little longer, but the pic reasonably closely represents the different shaft lengths. Not sure about the shift rod length, as it is disengaged on the older unit.

[The Woo]

You won't successfully get Suzuki gearboxes of that era apart without damage typically. I'd just cut and shut the shafts to suit.
Cut, weld, sleeve over, weld each end. Closest to the top as you can wherever there's space for the sleeve. It's only a 50 and it won't break. Just make sure it's straight, and minimize heat reaching the seals while welding.

[Hodad3230]

Thanks guys for replying, and thanks woo, i'll get out the hacksaw abd araldite. Or take it to an engineer...

[The Woo]

Liquid nails mate, that's where it at ;)

[Noelm]

liquid nails.. are you kidding?, never be strong enough, it would take duct tape AND cable ties to hold that!

[RayLamp]

You beat me to it Noel! There is nothing sticky tape can't fix!