Trojan Boat Forum

Today i finally was able to take the boat out after purchasing it last July. Yes long time but wife had been told she had lung cancer a week after we bought it. So boat has been sitting at the marina since. Today about a mile out the starboard drive made a clunk and no forward, but had noisy reverse. Limped back to marina then reverse went out. Shaft from trans is turning, detached V Drive, but not the prop shaft. Any suggestions as to what it might be?
Motors are 350 Mercruisers. Velvet trans 71c

hi and welcome, so sorry to hear about your wife

is the problem in the V drive ?

Welcome aboard. I have a tri but not the V-drive. Were you at full speed when it failed?

OK the shaft coming out of the Velvet drive is turning but the shaft coming out of the V-drive is not . Correct ? Look at the shaft coupler coming out of the V-drive conects to the prop shaft. If it is also not turning then the isuse is inside the V-drive .

is the above correct? tranny shaft turns but not output on the walter? Just to be sure you have a seperate transmission and v drive, not an all in one.

first thing is check your fluids, low fluid can cause many problems, also is your u-joint still in one piece? Let us know these answers and we can go from there

oh one more thing...BE CAREFUL!!!!!! your v-drive is connected to your propshaft with a stuffing box, do not mess with this, be careful boats can sink if the box is compromised

Excuse me for hijacking this post, but I am getting ready to remove both my working V-Drives and want to know how to go about it without "compromising the stuffing box" and other pitfalls. Both my engines are seized and I'm not replacing them so I am removing both working V-drives and velvet drives. Thanks for any input "75 Tri Cabin" may need this info as well.

V drives, I have removed both my engine assemblies with v drives. unbolt the coupler and seperate. Assembly should lift out. If you are just taking out the tran/vdrive. then will have to prop up the back of engine somehow as rear motor mounts are on the transmissions. Mine has paragon vdrives and they weigh about 200 lbs each, just about easier to pull the whole power package.

No need to remove the trans if removeing the walter v drive on a tri. It is a remote V drive not bolted to the trans

Problem is in the transmission. I had the same thing happen on my v-drive and the clutch plates had slipped. Probaly has rotation when you rev. the engine some ? Transmission will need to come out to fix. Walter v-drives are pretty simple and bullet proof.

Thanks guys. I had a tech look at it yesterday, he said the tranny appears to be stuck in fwd. No neutral just goes to reverse when shifting to neutral postion from fwd. Fluid burnt smell. He also thinks I might have stripped the input shaft to the v drive that runs to the driven gear. He luckly is a person who I sub out work to and is a friend so he has nothing to gain like a yard does. He works for a large Sea Ray dealer here. Will ask him about your suggestions. I was just going about 1200 rpms when it happened. Another 15 mins on the sea trial and this would not have been in my pocket book. We love the boat for sure. It was a sort of rare thing to find such a clean and never in salt water boat, for the year of it. The wife is doing much better, that is why we went out Sunday. Even though it was short lived was great to be out with the boat and her finally.

If the trans was stuck in forward the shaft would be rotating . Was I correct that you said the shaft was Turning coming out of the trans but not out of the V-drive ?

But since you know and trust the guy looking at it I would tend to go with what he says asuming he know marine drive trains eyes on are better then words for sure .

Yes stuck in fwd is what he is thinking. Yes shaft turns out of trans just not the prop shaft out of the vdrive. There is no neutral, shaft contines to spin out of the trans, even when put in neutral. I know it's sounds crazy, we are pulling them Monday and will keep you updated.

sounds like burnt clutch plates, Bob at beacon has them and the seal kit you need.

word of advice, the velvet drives have a pump for the fluid, the pump can go in two ways, the port pump will go in backwards as to car engines and half of boat engines, if you swap out the counter rotating engine the pump goes in backwards.. just saying.

while I'm here and for others, when you disconnect your exhaust make SURE it stays above the waterline!!!!!!!

close your seacocks on your v drive, probably a good idea to close the seacocks on your engine too, the hose goes under the oilpan and you will have to prop the engine up to get the tranny out, if anything slips and a hose gets cut....also the port hose goes over the stringer where you would like to block as a back up and you don't want to pop it.


and if you are doing any of this yourself, your first mission is to DISSCONNECT THE BATTERY as you have to pull the starter and bad things can happen with a live main feed hanging around...

ok thats my 3 cents worth, also I think some one else wanted some of these tips, anyone else? what did I miss?

Thanks Dave for the information. I will be contacting Bob this week. Really not looking forward to this at all, but gotta do what needs to be done. Hopefully have it done and back together for 4 th of July fireworks here at Lake Hartwell.