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Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:21 am
by wowzer52
If boats had u-joints, can you imagine what a set of u-joints would look like in a boat that had been sitting for a while in a salt water atmosphere, like many do. It would definately be a very high maintainance item and loosing a u-joint while under way would be common and could be life threatening. You can't just push it off to the side and walk home, unless your name is Jesus.
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:34 pm
by rossjo
On the subject - U-Joints are not designed to transfer thrust - just rotation.
Off subject ... Just imagine all those 30' and smaller SeaRays sitting at the marine that never get their shaft spline (between the outdrive and the engine) greased. Mercury recommends frequent lubrication of the zerk fittings (which are usually rusted up) to prevent failure, but 95% of boats never get lubed. When I rebuilt my 26, I put stainless, 90-degree Zerk fittings on my Bravo-1 outdrive. I lube it annually (VERY difficult to get to).
When I pulled the engine, I couldn't free the engine from the outdrive due to rust from lack of lube on the transmission spline (lubed with the Zerk fittings). I had to buy hardened blades for my SawzAll and spent an entire day (and around 40 blades) cutting the hardened shaft from my Bravo1 to the engine. Threw the engine away and had to get a new new splined drive shaft for the Bravo-1 when I rebuilt it. Not fun.