Suzuki DF 175 lower unit problem

[bluecrab1112]

Today while up and running all of a sudden the motor reved up with a loud grinding noise. After stopping and restarting engine I have no propulsion in fwd or rev. Still hear grinding noise when engine is running. After being towed in I checked lower unit grease it is clean and no metal shavings. With motor in gear you can rotate prop and hear water pump impeller turning.

Possible

input shaft is broken or splines stripped out. Looking for some input will drop lower unit later today.

Thanks for your help!

[bluecrab1112]

Dropped lower unit and found that lower unit input shaft splines are stripped where it goes into the engine. Should I be concerned with damage in the engine area?
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[bluecrab1112]

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[tsturm]

I would look at the end of the crank real good & every time you put those splines back together grease the shit out of them. (helps keep salt water at bay}

[briscoe]

Screenshot.PNG I can't imagine how that happened. I believe we are looking at the top of the drive shaft, which is driven by the crank shaft. There are 2 bearings, spacer and seals that I would be concerned with. I don't know if changing the oil will clean out those bearings. I suspect those shavings are in the bearings. I also wonder if the bearings are toast. I think this is in the oil pan. You will need to lift off the power head to look at it.

[briscoe]

I had to think about this a little bit. These bearings are in the bottom of the oil pan. They are separated from oil bath. They are greased. You have nothing to loose cleaning shavings you can see. But cleaning out the bearings? OMG what a pain in the butt. Those areas shaved off had to be because of the bearing freezing up. The grinding is those bearings. I don't see this having an easy solution. Sorry brother. This is completely doable if you have a book. Remove Power head, lower unit and oil pan, so you can knock out bearing. Yikes

[bluecrab1112]

Briscoe thank you for the info. I talked to my cousin who owns the Seatow in my area and runs only Suzuki, he said this is common on commercial use engine with a bunch of hours, mine has +6k ! Switched out motors thankfully had a spare. Will make repairs at a later date.