Mercury V6 School for lower units

[Aaronhl]

Almost all of the lowers with the anode are not ratcheting. There are some but it’s a good rule of thumb that if it has the anode it doesn’t ratchet. The little gills over the water inlet are usually ratchet cases bb style. At least that’s the case from what I’ve seen the last few years

According to other posts and even the service manual there are C1 units (ratcheting) with the anode...I think the years 86 through 97 are ratcheting?

[Merc 2.5]

I have 2 with pins that ratchet and no anodes , and sporty with anode ratchet no pin

[LakeFever]

What’s the differences in CLE housings? I have read about the original mod vp, then two hole, then the four hole. What is different about these housings aside from the water intakes?

more importantly what about through hub exhaust? I saw a post mentioning the CLE requires relieved exhaust like the offshore mid because the exhaust opening in the CLE is too small to support high horse power. Is this the case with all CLE lowers or only some?

[LakeFever]

Bumpin for info on the CLE

[25two.stroke]

You can't tell if its a C1 case without taking it off. You can tell if its a sporty or CLE easily as they have the nose cones. If you are looking for donor motors they will be pretty hard to come by with sporties or CLEs cause people send to know what they are worth even if they blow up.
As far as spotting a good Sporty and CLE...most all sporties are good if they arent blown. They have different skeg types, swept and straight. The swept were made in at least 2 different exaggerations...look for whichever one you want. The straight skeg was for counter rotating units that didn't need the torque assistance. People also mod and cut the skegs so unless you know what you are looking for then just google images of them and get used to what they should look like.

The CLEs have been around a while and went through a couple changes. The late ones have the same internals as a sporty minus the double bearing driveshaft. The double bearing driveshaft was better for a lot of on and off the gas applications because the pinion wouldn't slide up and down into the gears. So if you are planning on getting on and off the gas a lot at high rpms then the general consensus is that a sporty is the way to go. As far as the actual difference inside the different CLE models (they are all single bearing driveshaft) the early ones had smaller bearings and no bearing retaining clip for the propshaft bearings. There were other changes too, and there were some slight bearing configuration changes in the sporties too but I don't think you want to get that deep into it.

Basically the best way to tell on the CLEs if you can find those is to look and see if theres 6 bolts holding the water passage cover on or 4. The 6 bolt ones had the bearing retainer and big bearing internals. Some of the 4 bolt ones out there have been upgraded like I'm building one right now that's getting all the sporty guts in a 4 bolt CLE...And I know some people are gonna say what I'm saying here is wrong based on lowers they've taken apart and other stuff they've seen. I do not know when merc did what and if and 4 bolt CLEs ever came with the big bearing and retaining clip. Now though, because its been so long since they were built, anyone could have messed with anything inside these cases and we might mistake it for factory stuff. Only the guys who retailed and serviced them when they were brand new can say for sure. I know people now put the small fishing shafts in the CLEs and Sportmasters...

The major differences inside that people are concerned with are the FWD gear bearing configuration The big bearing is p/n 31-78172A 1 and the smaller bearing is 31-30894A 1. As far as the C1 "big bearing" case peopel are talking about, this number is in the casting between where the two rear studs go down from the mid through the lower: so you HAVE to take the lower off to see the numbers. The C1 came with the big bearing but it does not have the bearing retaining clip in the carrier.

It would be best to specify which kind of case you wanna know about cause there are so many variables. I personally don't have any problems with the CLEs, you just can't run them as high as a sporty. going back to your initial post I see you are not surfacing now but would like to. CLE is (in my opinion) your easiest way to start surfacing. I don't see what hull you are running, but given that you have a 135 then you are running 2.0:1 gears now and you will likely be dropping that to 1.87, 1.78, 1.75 or 1.62 if you find any LWP case. Also, not knowing the speed numbers you are going for then we also can't recommend what case you need for sure.

If you look at the pic in my signature you will see a 17' powercat with a 2.4 200 merc. I ran a 1.87:1 preloaded case with a bob's nose cone on this (thats a standard fishing case with the small bearing and no bearing retainer) and had it up to 90 mph @ 7000 rpms and never had metal shavings or any kind of catastrophe. I was on and off the gas all the time cause in the CA delta theres lots of stupid boaters (wake boarders but don't wanna say that) and other abominations you gotta stop for.

[LakeFever]

Wow, awesome info thanks! That 135 and boat are gone now. I now have a 98 200 efi but I bought a bobs coned CLE last year and was going to run it through the 200 fishing mid. Then in a post a while back I stumbled on one of our members was saying the CLE doesn’t have a big enough exhaust port and needs to have either an offshore mid or a drilled lower or the engine won’t put out good power. This got me thinking about the CLE and well here we are.

I do have an empty sporty case as well as a really nice JC coned lower that is still empty. I will be building that once I get this rig all sorted out. In the meantime I was going to run the coned CLE because it’s ready to go, then the exhaust thing worried me so I thought to ask more about them

[25two.stroke]

Oh sorry, I guess I was replying to an old post of yours somehow. I only ever run relieved exhausts, so I don't know about that. But I know they look like they have a big enough exhaust passage to me. They sporty's is bigger cause if you look at the part of the case above the carrier that faces back towards the prop its squared off on the sporties and like the modern torquemasters for the XS motors. Whoever was mentioning befor that the CLEs restrict exhaust I assume was running a block and adapter plate that were opened up. If your 98 200 efi is a FF block then it has the fat exhaust if its EE then its the small. Regardless, I would say the exhaust restriction in the gearcase would not make a difference unless you had exhaust chest work done. Even the 2.5 hipo motor came on a bass mid with a CLE at one point...

The fishin lower and the CLE have the same exhaust passage as I understand, with the exception possibly of the bigger carrier. If I was you I would swap all those CLE guts into your sporty unless you have the older style CLE that doesn't have the sporty guts.

[LakeFever]

I have a vking hull and the sporty doesn’t seem to work on those as well as a coned BB case. The CLE I purchased coned and the JC case is an anode BB ratchet case which is so nice it’s artwork really. This is where I will end up with hipo shaft and whatnot but after I sort out the boat and motor combo.

I have no issue relieving the exhaust but the excess noise is a bit difficult in a lot of family cruise situations so I need to keep things quiet. I’m thinking to make some removable plates that I can have the best of both. It’s really only when I’m running an over hub prop I want the relief, if I’m running a through hub I’d prefer the quieter aspects but was unsure about the CLE exhaust capacity. I’m feeling better about it now that I read the above. Thanks again

I’ll update this thread with some pics of the lowers and exhaust openings at some point. I have them in storage bow

[25two.stroke]

What prop you running? I'm thinking about setting my vking up...
And what length mid? I assume a 20" bass mid?

[LakeFever]

I've collected up a bunch of props now. My old V-king liked the big ear 26 chopper. I have since bought a 27p Tempest plus I havent run yet. I also have a Maz RE27 thats perfect. A couple of Laser 2 and one or two more I cant remember nothing fancy there.

New set up will be 200efi FF block, 20" bass mid, 4" setback, coned CLE and eventually the JC coned BB lower.

[LakeFever]

Helpful Build information on CLE’s in this link below

https://www.screamandfly.com/showthr...unit-questions

[Dave S]

The cle housing has the same exhaust size..... but some of the Hipo carriers block the flow.

[NZ Sidewinder]

Yes, I have a ratcheting C1 case with an Anode

[Former Gambler]

Does anyone know of a replacement propshaft for 822820F1 small shaft (OEM or aftermarket) other than the 840451A03 fatshaft version?

[25two.stroke]

Does anyone know of a replacement propshaft for 822820F1 small shaft (OEM or aftermarket) other than the 840451A03 fatshaft version?

Nope