Reply With QuoteHitting something is not a warranty claim regardless of the brand, have you tried looking for a complete second hand lower unit? Can't see any damage to the prop or lower skeg?
Damage to Honda Lower Unit BF50D
hey,
I thought I would share some photos of the damage that occurred to my 2016 BF50D Honda outboard caused by an underwater strike.
I was travelling through the middle of main 'channel' (former creek line) within the sticks area of Kingaham Creek in Lake Borumba. This is go slow area even though some people tend go a bit fast. I was definitely doing 6 knots. All of sudden the motor got a fair bump of possibly an underwater tree. I didn't actually see it but certainly felt it. It wasn't a massive bump but wasn't a tiny one either. Anyway, I continued on as everything seemed normal. Fished a bit more, caught some fish. Got back to the ramp late afternoon and noticed an oil sheen in the water. I thought it was the boat next to me on the ramp and didn't think too much about it. Later that night at camp I decided to check things out and to my horror I noticed a hole in the lower unit where something got squashed against the side wall of the casing and the internal gearing. I was up all night stressing about how much it was going to cost me to fix as I'm not insured. I was in my last year of warranty and I hadn't got a service done in while.
Anyway, i took it to my dealer/service agent whom I purchased the outboard from. Honda refused to repair under warranty as they said it was from actual use and not workmanship or defects. I was looking at a hefty bill for a new one. Attached are the photos of the gear box pulled apart to look at the issue. Wow! Broke a complete tooth from the dog clutch, damaged the pinion and broke the clips. My dealer said he hasn't seen a dog clutch that bad before. I'm surprised it happened on such an innocuous bump but its possible it was caused from a combination of strike. I hit a rock bar about two years ago. i was going slow for that one as one but its possible I weakened then and I'm just unlucky and happened to hit in way that delivered load again to a weak point perhaps....
Thankfully it is repairable but still cost me a bit but not the 2.5k I was originally looking at.
Lessons Learned
Insure your pride and joy if you cant afford to repair/replace;
Get your servicing done at the proper intervals;
Last edited by Si; 05-11-2020 at 12:17 PM. Reason: added more photos
Hitting something is not a warranty claim regardless of the brand, have you tried looking for a complete second hand lower unit? Can't see any damage to the prop or lower skeg?
yeah i have. they are hard to find. rare as hens teeth and actually still pricey. the repair cost will be less.
A machine shop can repair that dog clutch and reharden it but i think the gearbox warranty would be voided for future repairs
At the machine shop they would test it for futher cracking with a die than clean and prep it for tig welding than they would put it into the milling machine and recut the teeth, reharden than send it out
I would be more worried about that bulge in the gearcasing thats what will cost a lot of money to replace, its funny how aluminium cost $1 per kilo but if u shape that aluminium it turns into thousands of dollars..
Stainless or alloy prop ?
Doesn't make much difference, the rubber "bush" is exactly the same.
well I’ll disagree with you on thatOriginally Posted by Noelm
stainless will transmit more shock to the box. Ally will shear a blade off
have seen it enough times to say it’s a thing
Alloy. Original.
Very surprised to see such little damage to the propeller in the first post
For the pinion to break thru the dog cluth like that it must have pulled on the propshaft rather than push it up
I'm calling bullshit that the knock caused that damage.
A dog clutch drives consistently on 6 teeth all of the time so it does not make sense to shear one tooth out in an event.
I suspect the part was faulty prior to failure.
Do not take the dog to an engineering workshop for repairs...it is a forged item and can not be repaired to original quality regardless of Gazza's advice.
Jack.
To be honest I’m surprised of the damage myself from a knock that didn’t seem to hard at all. It’s not adding up 100% for me either. Would be very hard to prove otherwise I think as well. The repair involves replacement with new clutch, pinion etc and then a weld repair to the casing.
Hey Tuna it appears the tooth didnt fail the shaft was yanked on which pulled the pinion pin backwards which tore the tooth out
What did the motor do when you hit whatever it was? Did it keep running/driving?
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Ive smashed a prop on both 25mercury 2st and just bent the shaft but still dear back then to fix and smashed a prop on my DF50 but never seen a gear box and lower unit look like that something is not right as the prop doesnt look that bad the rubber bush should have broken before gears break, your between a rock and hard place pardon the pun a,shaft is expensive so I would not like to guess how much a new dog gear would be, keep us posted on the out come and good luck with it.
I suspect the "knock" you felt was the gearbox breaking...possibly jamming for a split second jolting the motor.
Jack.
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