Evinrude Johnson upper drive shaft material

[rude tim]

Anyone know what material the upper drive shaft is made of?

[loop]

pretty sure its 17-4PH

[Machinist76]

Definitely some grade of stainless, probably with some induction hardening on the ends...

Why, you gonna make one? Weld on it?

[baja200merk]

pretty sure its 17-4PH

It would be magnetic like etec head and front half bolts. The shafts are a completely different color. I will check in the am but I know it welds perfectly to merc shafts

we have seen 100 lower drive shafts broken and zero upper driveshafts broken.

[loop]

Im almost positive its 17-4. My memory is foggy but I had one PMI'd a few years ago and it was either 17-4 or 15-5. Either way both of those materials use the same ER630 filler wire.
I machine a lot of it and If i had to chose only one material to have in my machine shop it would be that. Its an extremely versatile material. Not crazy expensive, Very strong and corrosion resistant. Heat treatable, easy to machine and weld. VERY little warpage when welded.

When I go to work Monday I'll have one PMI'd again to be sure. Just for grins I'll check one of the earlier one piece shafts too. judging by the corrosion ive seen on them I'm guessing the older ones are a 410 type material

[loop]

yes 17-4 has a strong magnetic pull.
To me it would be almost overkill using 17-4 threaded into aluminum since the aluminum threads would strip way before the bolt would.
Theyre Ideal bolts for through bolting motors and jackplates.
The different color is probably due to the heat treating process. The ones ive cut and splined arent that hard but even the H900 version is only 40 RC. so it cuts easily with carbide tooling. We use mostly the H1150 which is only around 28-30.
We dont have a good hardness tester but I'll try to narrow down exactly which version it is

[loop]

sorry it took so long to get these checked
upper shaft I had checked was 17-4. I cant guarantee if this one was factory or aftermarket.
older V6 one piece shaft was 410SS as I suspected.
Had a Mazco RE4 handy so had I it checked too. It was also 17-4

[MattGreen]

Tim, what are you building ? Is this for your big V8 ?

Matt

[rude tim]

Matt,
I have my V8 on the back of a deck boat with a sea drive. I changed from a 25 inch mid to a 20 inch mid. It was not deep enough so I made a 1 1/2 spacer. I have been using welding shafts. I would like to make a one piece shaft. The boat is heavy and with 428 hp it is hard on the welded shafts.

[MattGreen]

Matt,
I have my V8 on the back of a deck boat with a sea drive. I changed from a 25 inch mid to a 20 inch mid. It was not deep enough so I made a 1 1/2 spacer. I have been using welding shafts. I would like to make a one piece shaft. The boat is heavy and with 428 hp it is hard on the welded shafts.

Thanks Tim, Interesting, I did not realize you had rigged that beast powerhead on a Seadrive. Have you been running V8 cases or M2 cases ?

Matt

[powerabout]

yes 17-4 has a strong magnetic pull.
To me it would be almost overkill using 17-4 threaded into aluminum since the aluminum threads would strip way before the bolt would.
Theyre Ideal bolts for through bolting motors and jackplates.
The different color is probably due to the heat treating process. The ones ive cut and splined arent that hard but even the H900 version is only 40 RC. so it cuts easily with carbide tooling. We use mostly the H1150 which is only around 28-30.
We dont have a good hardness tester but I'll try to narrow down exactly which version it is

17-4 doesnt stretch like other SS hence it was used for OMC V8 engine mount bolts

[rude tim]

Thanks Tim, Interesting, I did not realize you had rigged that beast powerhead on a Seadrive. Have you been running V8 cases or M2 cases ?

Matt

I am running V8 cases, with the seadrive I am limited. The V6 case is 3/4” shorter from the mounting surface to the prop shaft. In order to run a V6 case I need to make a thicker spacer, longer drive shaft and water tube. Lot of work/expense.