I was watching for shallow spots and didn't see the 4X4 piece of wood laying the water and nailed it. Luckily no hull or gelcoat problems. I idled the boat back to the ramp, but when I got on it I felt slight vibration. Pulled the boat out of the water and didn't see anything but a few small pieces of wood in the drive shaft strut. <BR> <BR>The next day I pulled the prop and looked it over, doesn't seem to be hurt, but who knows. The drive shaft is straight, but the alignment is off a tiny bit. We decided to pull off the strut and I am waiting now for new bushings from SKIDIM.com. There is some left to right play in the rudder, but I don't know if this is normal. The play seems to be up at the steering wheel. Does anyone know if this is normal? Once the strut is back on we are going to run another prop to see if there is still vibration, if not, put the ACME back on and see what happens. If it vibrate I guess I will send it back to ACME for repair? Is this right? <BR> <BR>If anyone has had this happen and had repairs done, please let me know what you had to do to get back to normal. Thanks all!

i've been there but it was definitely my drive shaft. <BR> <BR>if you're looking to do the repairs yourself, i'd start by taking the prop and rudder to a prop shop. make sure they know how to work on acme's (if it's a 3-blade). the rudder is pretty easy to get off an a d-drive. skidim or supra can probably give you better details on an '01, my '87's rudder is held in by a cotter pin. place something under the rudder to catch it when you pull the pin though, it will drop and they weigh a good 20 lbs. <BR> <BR>the prop shop can chek your shaft too if you've already pulled it to get to the strut and bushings. <BR> <BR>i had to call in some help for the shaft alignment and didn't get to see it done. <BR> <BR>have you talked to your dealer?

The dealer is too far away to bother. I did get a chance to talk to the folks at SkiDIM after I made this post. The rudder is most likely ok. I told him about the play I had it in and he said it was normal, but I should still disconnect the rudder cable and spin it by hand and feel for binding. <BR> <BR>I wasn't sure how to get the coupler off the shaft, but he filled me in. I will check that out tonight. I think I got pretty lucky and the only problem I feel is going to be the bushings and the prop. Just by eyeballing the porp it looks like there is a flat spot on when of the edges. I'll send it back to ACME if I still feel vibration on it. <BR> <BR>Do I have to replace the packing again if I pull the shaft out?