Sugar Sand jet drive stator question

[Stomp10]

Hi All-
Recent purchase of a 1997 Sugar sand Tango with the 175hp Merc Sport Jet.
I just picked up end of season '19.

Thinking that I need to check underwater components for water intrusion before everything freezes solid, (Boat was kept on the water for the season(s)) I have pulled the stator.
I also splurged on an air driven 1\2" drive 800# torque impact driver in order to get the stator bolts out. Made all of that almost too easy. Why did I wait almost 40+ years to get one of these?????

Oil level was below the plug at the end of the cone. I'm going to say less than 8oz of oil was in it but, there is no evidence of water intrusion into the stator other than 2 tiny pinhead sized drops of water. No milky look to the oil. Nice and greenish blue.

Is it possible for oil to leak out without water leaking in? Or did service people run out of oil during last service? There is no external evidence of an oil leak on any of the components, but again, the boat was in the water for the summer most likely.
The good news is impeller and wear ring have very little time on them. I haven't stuck a feeler gauge in there yet but it looks in the neighborhood of .030"-.040"
Can't tell you how thrilled I am to see that on a 22 year old boat! Esp when it's mine!

I have yet to pull the drain plug on the gearcase, hoping I'm not finding the same thing there.... Hopefully I'll have time after work today to get that done.
Stay tuned

 

[Speedling]

Hi All-
Recent purchase of a 1997 Sugar sand Tango with the 175hp Merc Sport Jet.
I just picked up end of season '19.

Thinking that I need to check underwater components for water intrusion before everything freezes solid, (Boat was kept on the water for the season(s)) I have pulled the stator.
I also splurged on an air driven 1\2" drive 800# torque impact driver in order to get the stator bolts out. Made all of that almost too easy. Why did I wait almost 40+ years to get one of these?????

Oil level was below the plug at the end of the cone. I'm going to say less than 8oz of oil was in it but, there is no evidence of water intrusion into the stator other than 2 tiny pinhead sized drops of water. No milky look to the oil. Nice and greenish blue.

Is it possible for oil to leak out without water leaking in? Or did service people run out of oil during last service? There is no external evidence of an oil leak on any of the components, but again, the boat was in the water for the summer most likely.
The good news is impeller and wear ring have very little time on them. I haven't stuck a feeler gauge in there yet but it looks in the neighborhood of .030"-.040"
Can't tell you how thrilled I am to see that on a 22 year old boat! Esp when it's mine!

I have yet to pull the drain plug on the gearcase, hoping I'm not finding the same thing there.... Hopefully I'll have time after work today to get that done.
Stay tuned

Do you have a shop manual? I wonder if it isn't suppoded to be oil at all but grease that over time has broken down into oil.
Or perhaps not full but only partially full to allow for expansion or something. Be sure the bearings are good and get a manual to be sure!

 

[Stomp10]

I do happen to have the manual but not in front of me at the moment.
iirc its Mercury gear lube and it should hold 19oz. I think the gearcase is 21oz.

Maybe the other way around but either way level was way too low.

 

[Speedling]

I do happen to have the manual but not in front of me at the moment.
iirc its Mercury gear lube and it should hold 19oz. I think the gearcase is 21oz.

Maybe the other way around but either way level was way too low.

Sometimes if you want it done right, ya gotta do it yourself. I don't think it would cause harm to be slightly low but thats less than half.

 

[Bilmon]

Sounds like it was just under filled, don't think it could leak without discoloring or leaving a mess on the exterior. Same oil used in outboard lower units.

 

[Stomp10]

Thanks all!
@Bilmon I'm so happy to hear that. Somehow that seems to be the best outcome here.
Going to check the bearing for any grinding\roughness. If I'm lucky I'll skate on this one.
Still have to drain the gearcase... snow in the forecast for tomorrow.... ;( I've got to get that drained tonight somehow.
If no mechanical issues present, get them both filled up again with fresh lube, then I can breathe easier.

Bilmon, I did see your photo of your SS on the river... Nicely kept boat you have there.
Mine isn't so nice to look at, but the PO's did keep up on the mechanicals, more so than most, so it does have good bones I think. This was the deciding factor for me with this boat. Should be a few more years of life in it yet.

 

[RedBarron55]

If it was just a little below the drain plug they you are most likely OK.
The stator takes relatively little 90 wt. blue Merc oil.
Drain the oil and refill. The stator fills to where it just runs out of the hole.
The gearcase drains with one of the plug and fills until it overflows from the other and then a put the overflow plug back and quickly reinstall the plug.
My guess is you are OK.
https://www.outlaweagle.com/forum/files/sjannualservicev1.1_190.pdf

 

[Bilmon]

Those pumps that screw on the quart bottles make it pretty simple and mess free, pump in the fill hole till it comes out the vent. Cheapest place I've found for the Merc oil is Walmart. Make sure you grab the right one, there are two grades, the one we use is the High Performance Gear oil for the larger outboards ,IO's and sportjets the other is for the small outboards.

 

[Stomp10]

Well, finally got the stator pulled off.
Prop shaft and bearing look great. No scoring. Gotta love that.
Stator has one little ding on one of the vanes that looks fresh, ie: the edges of the ding are still quite sharp. It is probably about ,25" across the top of the vane and less than that deep.
On all of the vanes you can still feel the casting ridges, just going to put this one back in service and call it a day.
Still have yet to drain the oil in the gear case, but temps in the garage are still holding above freezing.... Somehow life gets in the way of getting these things accomplished...

Judging by the status of the stator, I think I'm alright.
This drive was well taken care of as far as I can tell....

One other thing to add.
The impeller and wear ring have maybe 2 seasons at most on them but, having been kept on the water for the season, there is a lot of pitting and aluminum oxide buildup around and over the pits on the inside of the wear ring. I would like to pull the impeller and wear ring so I can clean this up and perhaps fill in the pits as well as put on some kind of a protective coating.

Has anyone done something similar? I was thinking JB weld for filling the pits, then some Mercury Black paint, but first I need to kill the corrosion. What is the best way to go about this or, am I overthinking things again? (Wouldn't be the first time...)

Any suggestions appreciated

 

[RedBarron55]

Look at the clearance from the wear ring to the impeller and then pull the wear ring.
Clean it up really good with some sandpaper and wipe it down a few times with solvent and then put a skim coat of JB Weld over the entire surface.

Get it as smooth as possible and fill the dings and scoring. Make it thinner than the clearance.
After it cures sand down the inevitable ridges and check the clearance again.
This will close up the clearance and fill the dings.
I paint the parts with black epoxy appliance paint for appearance and to protect the aluminum as much as possible.
My experience is that JB weld holds up well and can be easily replaced during maintenance if it is worn or damaged.

 

[Stomp10]

Look at the clearance from the wear ring to the impeller and then pull the wear ring.
Clean it up really good with some sandpaper and wipe it down a few times with solvent and then put a skim coat of JB Weld over the entire surface.

Get it as smooth as possible and fill the dings and scoring. Make it thinner than the clearance.
After it cures sand down the inevitable ridges and check the clearance again.
This will close up the clearance and fill the dings.
I paint the parts with black epoxy appliance paint for appearance and to protect the aluminum as much as possible.
My experience is that JB weld holds up well and can be easily replaced during maintenance if it is worn or damaged.

Thanks Red,
I'm on the right track then.
I love the idea of black appliance epoxy!

Going to hunt down a impeller socket and just spring for it.
I already indulged in a Horror Fright 800# impact driver for this job after attempting disassembly with ratchet & sockets. I just couldn't justify not doing that with all the time this thing has spent sitting in the water. The ratchet and socket route soon convinced me of the need for it. So happy now that I did that.

As an aside....
If anyone is on the fence about buying one of these, do it. You wont regret it. I had the bucket, nozzle & stator off in less than 15 minutes. No fighting with it, no bloody knuckles, no rounded off bolt heads. It took everything my air system could deliver to just break them loose. Once broken loose they were still needing the impact driver to get them the rest of the way out. Nirvana!

I'll have to clean up the threads and use liberal amounts of 2-4-C on reassembly.

 

[RedBarron55]

I made my socket by cutting off the proper socket that was too short to go over the shaft and welded a piece of pipe the make the length.
I doubt that you need an impact wrench once you have taken it apart the first time, but get the HF impact "screwdriver" while you are there.
I think that the book calls for using Mercury grease with Teflon to lube on reassembly.
It goes easier if you do this every season.

 

[Bilmon]

JB Weld trick works very well, did it on a badly worn wear ring and three seasons later when I finely replaced it and the impeller the JB Weld was still holding up. Bolts are a bear to get out some times cause Merc uses Loctite on them. Manual calls for Loctite 271, that's the red permanent stuff, I just use the blue. Lube on the impeller shaft.

 

[Stomp10]

JB Weld trick works very well, did it on a badly worn wear ring and three seasons later when I finely replaced it and the impeller the JB Weld was still holding up. Bolts are a bear to get out some times cause Merc uses Loctite on them. Manual calls for Loctite 271, that's the red permanent stuff, I just use the blue. Lube on the impeller shaft.

Thanks Bill, good to know.
Thumbing through the manual I was questioning the use of permanent Loctite because it's..... permanent. I guess they call for it due to vibration and stresses on the drive.
Good to hear you have used the blue with no issues. I'll probably go that route too, as my excursions are all day trips, with a haul out at the end of the day. Pretty unlikely anything will fall off in that time.

I made my socket by cutting off the proper socket that was too short to go over the shaft and welded a piece of pipe the make the length.
I doubt that you need an impact wrench once you have taken it apart the first time, but get the HF impact "screwdriver" while you are there.
I think that the book calls for using Mercury grease with Teflon to lube on reassembly.
It goes easier if you do this every season.

Thanks for sharing that, Red.
My trouble is my home shop isn't quite that complete yet. (no welder)
I also suffer from having too many interests and not enough time for all of them. lol
I really do need to narrow my focus...
Having said that, I did order the socket off of EBay this week. 15% off or something this week, so not all bad. Best part is I will now have one in my inventory for whenever it's needed.

I really do appreciate everyone's input though. It helps me to decide on the best way to go for me.