looking for options for omc lowwer unit

[Big Johnson v6]

My lowwer unit case has started to leak at the center of the bullet on the side . looks like its bleeding tru the side. Have been looking around and have fiqured out this is not a quick fix. looking for any advice and where to find the best most cost effective answer. I have a low water pick up and torque tammer on this one. 93 looper 225 pushed to about 275 and on vegas pushing 85. dont want loose any performance and would love to pick up a few mph. thanks for any advice, jeff

[Big Johnson V8]

I was just talking with Joe at Dragon Master Outboard and he has a brand new heavy duty gear case 1 708 636-7265. great guy, very honest.

[Big Johnson v6]

i wil give them a call friday. also will call you for any advice . trie to do my homework before making a costley mistake. thanks for the lead.
jeff

[hsbob]

you may want to consider converting to a sportmaster. it might be cheaper in the long run.

[lokinutz]

Yes, do the sportmaster conversion. At your speeds, the CLE may be an even better choice. I did a CLE conversion on my looper last winter and would never spend another dime on an OMC lower for any type of performance application. All total, between the purchase of the used newest style four hole in excellent shape big cleanout CLE (900), 25# driveshaft (75), cut and spline driveshaft (100), install and set up new driveshaft (250)(depends on deal you can get), adapter plate (250), shift shaft that I modified (25), it was pretty price effective. $1600 Wasn't too bad for a freshly rebuilt lower that I can surface, has great water pressure, and I won't have to worry about again. P.S. the reason I did this conversion is my OMC lower was starting to push out the side of the housing also. I figured it will just happen again. To go to a sportmaster, you can figure about another grand for the good starting lower (maybe a little less), and a little more for a 25" shaft to cut down, as sportmasters don't come in 25", you need a shaft out of a torquemaster.

Also, if you are going to stick to an OMC lower, send a PM to Instigator. He is also in FL and I think he has one for sale, or can get you hooked up on one.

[Instigator]

Have a couple of good housings laying around.

If the fluid is actually coming through the side of the housing casting,...it's toast.

On switching to a Merc CLE or Sporty they are superior units but at speeds you're running you really don't need one and you can get yours rebuild for way less.

Couple of tricks to make an OMC live but most important is called "pinning the carrier".
The consisits of drilling holes though side of l/u housing and prop shaft bearing carrier (this is the housing that slides inside main housing).
In stock form when surfacing the prop it destroys these housings.
By through bolting you are looking the two pcs together as one.

Send me a p.m. if you need some help with info or parts. (my e-mail address will be changing in a day or two)

Gary

[Instigator]

Ask Wildman.
He bought 6 or 8 close out HO's with the Lightning cases and every one of them came loose with very, very few hrs.

[Action Dave]

I have one of the "lightning" cases on my Looper. First thing I did was pin the carrier. However, the pickups are too high on the case and I can't run the engine as high as I would like without losing water pressure. I'm actually in the process of picking up an older housing and having a nose-cone kit installed on it. (I can't afford a whole Merc case and adapter). I figure I'll try to sell the lightning housing as soon as the whole process is complete. I will say that I have had no blow-out problems with the HO case at a tick under 90 on the GPS.

[Instigator]

I have one of the "lightning" cases on my Looper. First thing I did was pin the carrier. However, the pickups are too high on the case and I can't run the engine as high as I would like without losing water pressure. I'm actually in the process of picking up an older housing and having a nose-cone kit installed on it. (I can't afford a whole Merc case and adapter). I figure I'll try to sell the lightning housing as soon as the whole process is complete. I will say that I have had no blow-out problems with the HO case at a tick under 90 on the GPS.
I forgot about the pick ups.

Proof again that when thinking about Hi Perf, the people at OMC were saying "duhhhhh".

I have been over a 100 many, many times with a coned stock housing.

[aerj]

two prototypes.one for the old style omc and one for the new.
new style is the one on the leaning post cushion.

[oldschoolltv]

I just came across this thread did you ever make any of these up aerj, Matt
I would be interested in one

[spirit5.6]

I just bought a new Lightening unit from Tri State marine in MO.
I have also blown 2 Units so far, last one a lightening and thought of the Sportsmaster convertion, though was to expensive!!
Tri Sate sell an OEM case with his own remanufactured gears US$1250.00 that he says is a better option then the OEM gears,(of coarse he would say this) though l am not going to use the internals, l bought also a brand new Offshore unit (cheap) to transfer the internals from one to the other.
Has anyone heard of these units??
He also talked me out of pinning the carrier, says it is worse to pin them, can crack and send out of wack!!
Im not sure if l will do it or not, what do you guys think??
PS Sorry for stealing the post..
Dave G.

[hsbob]

i've seen inspector lances case and it not always a pining issue. his looked like the hp he's generating is too much for the case to hold. if you going to push the hp limits then the cost of converting to SM can be cheaper than replacing many cases. it your call.

[BarryStrawn]

Dave G. - The aftermarket gears are probably from xxx. They make a 12:22 gearset as a replacement for the original 14:26. xxx makes a lot of stern drive parts and most of the lower unit parts interchange with outboards. The 12:22 has physically larger teeth so should be stronger. May also be noisier. That's all I know about them. Could help if you are killing the teeth on the gears.

Barry

I edited the company name because a reliable source messaged me about problems with these gears.

[spirit5.6]

Lee at Tri State makes his own gears out of Billet steel, not sure of the ratio,s though he says that he makes the gears for Mercury after market aswell, sounds good though lm not going to risk another unit.
Just not sure wether to pin it or not..
Dave G.

[racer]

pin it

[bigbore]

My lowwer unit case has started to leak at the center of the bullet on the side . looks like its bleeding tru the side. Have been looking around and have fiqured out this is not a quick fix. looking for any advice and where to find the best most cost effective answer. I have a low water pick up and torque tammer on this one. 93 looper 225 pushed to about 275 and on vegas pushing 85. dont want loose any performance and would love to pick up a few mph. thanks for any advice, jeff

I would hook up with instigator n pick-up new cassing,n (like al said),pin-it.

[spirit5.6]

Thanks guys, l will pin the new unit!!
What about running it in, how long would anyone reccomend to break in a brand new gear case??
Dave G.

[dzalj1]

for running in a new g/box, i took my new/rebuilt box for about 3 hours under load to wear the gears in. get on the plane first, trim it out only for the nose to pick up slightly, and do that for around 2-3 hours. also when you test it out the first time, for more than 3 hours, when you get home, drain the oil in the box and refill it with new. because the gears have to seat in the pinion forward and reverse. soo if any metal particals are floating around the box it will drain out, or it will be on the magnetic fill up screw on the bottom. but make sure you put fresh oil after the first run.

hope this helps, dzalj1,

and one more thing, what part of australia do you live in?. just curious.

[woodduck]

Hey Dave, who's putting this one together for you? Is it the lightning case I sold you?

[spirit5.6]

Thanks mate, lm in Melbourne, how about you..

[dzalj1]

im in south east qld, brisbane. damn i was hoping u would be up here, not soo many qlders with bullets on this forum that i know off live in qld, but hey, thats why we have scream and fly,
dzalj1