Tweet
I was asked to take a look at a lower unit that was 'making a weird noise' and I discovered that the fwd and driveshaft pinion gears have significant damage. The reverse gear seems to be attached to the bearing carrier -- which seems odd, I didn't think they were attached and the service manual makes no mention of a special tool to remove the reverse pinion gear from the bearing carrier. I am leaning towards thinking the bearings in the reverse gear failed given you can feel a grinding when manually turning the reverse gear. Any thoughts on what might have cause this damage? A used lower unit is cheaper than a new set of pinion gears (at a minimum), but I'm curious as to what could've caused this failure. There was also a fair amount of line in the prop shaft seal, but I wouldn't think that could lead to this sort of catastrophic failure.
**Update -- I was able to remove the rear pinion gear from the bearing carrier. I used a pair of needle nose pliers (sideways) as a shim to pry it out. But it was definitely stuck in there.
**Update -- I was able to remove the rear pinion gear from the bearing carrier. I used a pair of needle nose pliers (sideways) as a shim to pry it out. But it was definitely stuck in there.