Installing New Tranny

cobius 08-22-2005, 4:34 PM

How many out there have installed a tranny on a direct drive? My forward gear is going on my Velvet Drive 1:1, and given my experience with cars, it seems like it would be pretty easy to swap in a new tranny rather than rebuilding. Any opinions?

tommcat 08-22-2005, 5:27 PM

pretty damn easy in my opinion, but keep in mind i work as a ford tech so that may be a factor in what i consider easy.

(cyclonecj) · (cyclonecj) **Join Date: Jul 2001** 08-22-2005, 5:31 PM

It would be a hell of a lot easier than changing a trans in a car! I haven't had the need to but I wouldn't hesitate to do that one myself. You can get a rebuilt trans somewhere and just swap it out. There was a really good engine alignment doc on the web a while back, I can't find it anymore.

Someone posted a site to get rebuilt transmissions not too long ago, prices were not unreasonable.

cobius 08-22-2005, 6:30 PM

Yeah, I think it would be easier, especially since I can lift the boat tranny myself, and access is a hell of alot easier. Its a simple Ford 351, so nothing too complicated. I just had the shaft and everything aligned beginning of the season for $80, so I can always have that done after I install the tranny. I just figured I could save myself several hundred in labor.

(rodmcinnis) · (rodmcinnis) **Join Date: Sep 2002** 08-23-2005, 10:38 AM

I replaced the transmission on a direct drive boat that I used own 5 years ago.

If yours is like mine then the transmission is providing the rear motor mounts. You will need to raise the motor a tiny amount and block it so that you can take the weight off the transmission.

As I recall, I had to remove the rear mounts from the stringers rather than the transmission from the mounts. If I was pulling the engine and transmission together then the mounts could have stayed, but because the engine was staying put and I needed room to slide the transmission back the rear mounts had to come off. I also recall that there was not a lot of room to turn the bolts.....

The transmission is heavy, but managable. Think about how you are going to hand this thing out of the boat. Unless you have a body builder friend who can manage a 100 pound object at head height you might want to consider a hoist or similar method of lowering it to the ground.

Before you assemble the new transmission to the engine make sure that it is set up properly for the engine rotation. The Velvet Drive transmissions can work with either rotation by simply turning the pump on the input shaft 180 degrees. To set it up for the opposite rotation is simply a matter of removing four bolts, rotating the pump 180 degrees and putting the bolts back in. It is simple to do when the transmission is in your garage, but impossible to do once it is bolted to the engine.

When I went to reinstall everything shaft alignment was WAY out. Not even close! It took quite a while to get everything lined up again.

(dizzyj) · (dizzyj) **Join Date: Jul 2003** 08-23-2005, 12:28 PM

The hard part about the rebuild is taking it in and out. Once its out, the rebuild is pretty straight forward.

remove the coupler
remove the rear engine mounts
jack up the engine by putting a jack between the stringers and the exhaust manafolds
remove the tranny.

rebuild and reinstall.

I rebuilt the tranny on my 82 mastercraft, wasnt too hard.

(cyclonecj) · (cyclonecj) **Join Date: Jul 2001** 08-23-2005, 4:42 PM

http://www.planetnautique.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=3053

A link to a link to the alignment procedure, and also a Velvet drive install manual;)

cobius 08-23-2005, 7:29 PM

Rod, can you easily tell the rotation when the tranny is on the ground in the garage? Lifting out the tranny isn't a problem, I can just use a hoist I have up in the rafters, then roll the boat forward. Its just than once its out, there's no turning back. It still seems alot easier than a car. I may just have someone who does prop shaft alignments all the time do the alignment.

(rodmcinnis) · (rodmcinnis) **Join Date: Sep 2002** 08-24-2005, 11:25 AM

If I recall, the pump housing has the word "TOP" and a curved arrow showing the shaft rotation. Note that both sides of the pump were labled TOP, but the arrows point opposite directions.

The idea is that which ever side is actually on TOP, that arrow shows the correct shaft rotation.

Just make it match the transmission you took out and you should be fine.

If you are going to rebuild your own, make careful note (a picture is a good idea) so that you know how to put it back.