Tennessee River

Just a heads up. I may have to cancel my trip to the Tennessee. It was a bad day at the lake for me today. Having shift issues with the main again. Earlier I was experiencing ratcheting or grinding gears when trying to go into reverse if going forward more than just a few miles an hour, but less than 5mph. I thought I had that fixed with the replacement of shift and throttle cables, and tightening down the one screw that holds the shift shaft bracket. In fact, I think it was that lose bracket. Outboard worked fine after that on a short test on a local lake. Kicker throttle cable was getting stiff, so just replaced both it and the shift cable on the kicker. It's now working great! Went out to the lake today, as it was a nice day, just to run everything and enjoy the day. After going thru some weeds while going forward at around 5mph, I slammed the remote control into reverse to clear the engine, and all I got was ratcheting and grinding. And can not get reverse at all now. Just the grinding of gears. Reverse had worked fine backing off the trailer earlier, even at full throttle (I was on a shallow ramp). After that, I noticed that the remote was more stiff going throttling up going forward. And the shift cable was off skew again as shutting the engine down and restarting it I got the warning light for an improper neutral position. The shift shaft bracket actually felt secured when I reached in to see if it was loose. However, I notice that there is a lot of up and down play. So that's a problem that I will need to resolve/fix before the boat goes out again. My day of troubles didn't end there. Heading home, I had a moving truck driver get my attention, and talking (yelling) between us while going 45mph down the street, all I could make out was that my tire came off... I slowed down and took the next exit. Sure enough, my right front trailer tire and wheel were missing. I never felt a thing. And as luck would have it, I did not have my TPMS turned on for this short jaunt from home. Otherwise, maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to go back and find the tire & wheel. At least get the hub and see if it gave me any hints as to what happened. And retrieve the TPMS sensor off that wheel. I've gone back twice to look for it, but the area where the trucker motioned to me was next to a woodsy area and next to walking through that area, fat chance of seeing the tire from the roadway. I had just checked the oil in the oil bath bearings last night, and all looked fine. If the bearing had seized, I think I would have seen smoke or fire, or felt the trailer drag on the truck. No such thing happened. And this was within just 3 or 4 miles of the boat launch, where I know the tire was still on! Fortunately, I think my spindle is still ok. I had a helluva time getting the castle nut off, and then had to pound on the part of the bearing cage that sits on the spindle, for both the inner and outer bearings, so it appears those were stuck on. I am thinking now it's quite possible I had some salt water intrusion into the hubs while launching and loading out west. I haven't seen any indication of the inner seals leaking, but do get some seepage of oil from the fill hole seals in the cap, which means there has probably been some water seeping into the hubs. Although I always let them cool off before dunking. Guess I'll be pulling all the hubs off and checking the bearings and oil while waiting for new parts for the one. I should be able to get the boat trailer back into traveling status within another week, but not sure what's up with the shifting on the main. If that has to go to the shop, Tennessee is definitely off the books, and my boating season is done. If I can find the issue and get it fixed, then I'm still on. I'll make my decision by the end of the month.

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What an unforgettable day. Sounds like trailer repair is already well underway. Your shifting problem sounds like the same symptoms I had with one of my Tohatsu 115s. Shifting was difficult at times and at other times it seemed OK. I kept adjusting the shifting linkage on the motor. I eventually figured out the problem was in the lower unit. Teardown of the lower unit revealed a sizable chip had come off one of the gears. That chip would float around and cause shifting difficulties, but the missing amount of gear was not enough to stop gears from still working and spinning prop. I know many mechanics around this area won't work on a lower unit and say just replace it. Ultimately I replaced the lower unit on that engine because it had lots of hours and wear and the parts were expensive. The newer entire unit was quicker to get and easy to replace.
-Jeff-
 
ssobol said:
Interesting how the wheel and hub came off without disrupting the brake caliper or brake pads.
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I thought so too. I'm pretty sure when I first got out of the truck to check it, the rotor was still hanging on between the pads. Odd that it was only the rotor. But by the time I got home, that had rattled off and the pads were just barely hanging in their frame. I've now looked a couple of times in the area that I think the tire/wheel may have come off. No luck. But part of that area is wooded or bushy. I'm not going to bushwhack without knowing exactly where the wheel came off. So that'll just add to the expense of replacing stuff...
 
Yeah, looks like the trip is back on for me!

With regards to the wheel issue. The spindle is ok, after I finally got the castle nut and bearing bases off. I did need to clean it up some, as some other bearings I had would not go on easily. I decided to pull the other three hubs as well to check their bearings. Two of the three did have some water in the hub with the oil. However, the bearings still looked ok. No rust or pitting. None the less I'm replacing them all with new Timken bearings and races, which are suppose to be top of the line. Along with the bearing kits, I have a new hub, seals, wheel (rim), and TPMS sensor/transmitter on order, and all should get here next week. Fortunately, I have spare Kodiak bearing bath caps and brake calipers. Even though the brake caliper was still there, I found that part of the main caliper bracket was broken off. As soon as I get the new wheel, I'll purchase a new tire. Sadly, that tire that is gone was brand new and had less than 500 miles on it. I will get everything back together on the trailer before next weekend.

With regards to the outboard and shifting. I was quite concerned that if the shift rod bracket had come lose again or broken, it was going to be a major issue. It was a PITA to tighten that bolt that holds the bracket down that was loose last time. It sits at the front of the engine, somewhat beneath the powerhead. To replace it, would require removal of the power head. Labor I am not willing to do myself, and would have essentially ended my boating season. However, reaching under there, it still felt secure. I did notice that there seems to be some verticle play of the linkage, and that does concern me some. But the more I moved the throttle and thought about it, I was starting to think (and hope actually) that the problem was going to be in the remote control. However, before tearing into that, I spent some more time peering into the engine linkage connections and upper shift bracket. Finally found the culprit. The shift cable jacket had popped out of the braket just inside the cowling. A new concern is why.... But I repositioned the cable, and at least on the muffs, I can now shift between forward and reverse again. I'll get it out to one of our local lakes as soon as I get the trailer back together, to make sure everything is working right again. Barring any more issues, I'm set for the Tennessee River, as planned! :cool:

Lastly, Rosanne is not certain she'll come along, so I may be solo.

Colby
 
As of now, this is the list of folks I have joining me.

Colby and ??? Rosanne??? on C-Traveler
Jeff on C-Play
Dale on Marinaut
Rick & Jane on Assurance
Bill & Jill on Southwind

Bill, can you private message me your truck information and plate number? I'll need to give those to the ranger if you are parking at Harrison Bay SP. (Or if you prefer, you can just use the float plan link earlier in this thread and it'll go directly to the park.

Colby
 
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Wow, what a sequence of "bad events". I have had bearings overheat and damage the race, but never to the extent of damage you had. I got to tearing down each hub before any long trip, checking bearings and races then repacking the grease--You have the oil hubs I believe. I wonder if the initiat issue was loss of the oil, over heating (might not be smoke or drag). I had the surge breaks on one axel hang up enough during a long down grade that I had to replace the bearings and races. That is one of the reasons I went to Electric Over Hydraulic brakes. (EOH) are much less likely to develope this issue, and give much better control of the trailer.

When you drained the lower unit fluid what did it look like? Any excess metal filings on the magnetic plug or in the fluid? I had to replace one lower unit when I had that issue. My son also had a similar issue, and had to replace the lower unit of his 150 Honda on the 25 Cruise Ship.

Good on getting all together in time for the Tn River Trip!
 
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