83 Ski Nautique 2001 Problems

New damper just came in the mail. Heard back from Fantastic Finish and they got the transmission all taken apart. Apparently the oil pump went bad and the oil pump gears ground into the front cover of the transmission, leading to the leaking oil... whoops! Price went up, no surprise there. Needs a new oil pump and front cover, plus the rebuild of course.

Maybe you want to replace the rear main seal while you have it apart. Cheap insurance.

If you dont want to trim it yourself, there is also a pre-trimmed version available for $10 more:

http://bpi.ebasicpower.com/pc/ALTDA-106A/ALL3G

Eddie is correct- these dampers are transmission specific (Borg Warner Velvet Drive) and are "universal" in that they are made to fit a number of different engines. For example, a 72c bolted to a big block Chevy uses the same damper, (no trimming needed).

so this exact damper plate?

http://bpi.ebasicpower.com/p/ALTDA-106

and can someone describe "trim" off a little? what exactly am I trimming?

Ok will order a new damper plate for sure then, I wasn't 100% sure of what its exact purpose was until reading Eddie's description.

Well I hope everything works out with Fantastic Finish, they seem very good and on top of business so far. Every email I have sent them has been promptly responded to. I will be sure to report back any updates from them! Looking forward to getting this back out on the lake

I believe this is the damper you need, you have to trim the edges if I am not mistaken.

backfoot100 wrote: Don't argue. Just do it.

Eddie's not ever a guy you want to argue with...not only is he always right about engine issues, he's the only guy I know who has "part time bouncer at the roadhouse because he beat Dalton at arm-wrestling" on his resume.

The cooler doesn't have to be replaced unless you know it's leaking water into the tranny fluid. That requirement I'd presume is coming from whomever is rebuilding the tranny.

The damper plate is bolted to the flywheel and what the tranny input shaft actually mates up to. It provides the vibration dampening between the tranny input shaft and the crankshaft of the engine. Every time you go in and out of gear, the damper is doing it's job. It does this with a series of springs that become brittle and/or weak over a period time and eventually, they'll start breaking and sending pieces of the broken springs and the damper plate itself all over the inside of the bell housing. At that point you'll hear this hellatious noise from what you'll think is your brand new freshly rebuilt tranny grinding itself to a horrible halt.
Our standard recommendation is to replace the damper whenever you remove/replace the tranny. The ONLY way to replace the damper is to remove the tranny and it's easier seeing as it's easily accessable now and you have no idea how weak those springs have become or the last time it was ever replaced.
Inevitably, anyone who doesn't replace the damper after a tranny rebuild will just end up going through the hassle of removing the tranny a second time within a few short hours of a fresh rebuild.

After everything else that you've had to replace and/or repair in this endevour, the damper plate was the last line of defense in the entire drivetrain that probably saved your crankshaft from complete destruction. Do yourself a favor and get a new damper. Don't argue. Just do it.

Joe is a great guy and very honest. If you send him your core, most ship these in an old Milk Crate. I believe you use plastic pull ties to install a wooden lid. You put your shipping info on the wooden lid.

FFM
Eric no longer works there but they still have very capable people that know what they are doing. Still highly recommended by guys here.

Wow, I gotta tell you that you're taking this really well. I had to reread the whole thread to remember what was going on. It's been one thing after another for you but you've been doing great at getting everything repaired. Learning a lot along the way too. Well done!!!!

However, yours is a classic example of what happens when a prop striking an object can damage anything along the entire drivetrain as you're quickly finding out. There's no doubt in my mind that this is still a result of the strike.
I can't help you with where to take it in the DFW area but you do need to make sure that you replace the damper on the flywheel. Any time that you remove/replace the tranny the damper should be replaced. If you don't, there's no doubt that you'll be pulling the tranny again after you get it rebuilt.

Just a quick update, finally got the boat put all back together and got to test it out on lake Lewisville north of Dallas this past weekend. The new 542 prop is awesome behind the boat. Everything went great until about 7pm the RPMS started shuttering up and down so I turned it off. Come to find out the transmission leaked all of its fluid out and what little remained inside it looked like a milk shake. Figure its the oil cooler leaking fluid into the fresh water, so a new one is in the mail thanks to SKIDIM.

We were able to get a tow from a very friendly gentlemen in his nice new Super Air Nautique. It was a little sad to have to get towed back after such a great day on the water, but we should be back out this weekend and hopefully will make it out AND back under our own power!

shot of a buddy behind the boat on Saturday

Can you let me know where you will source the shaft hose from please?
I ordered some from skidim a while back and it and it was no good, wrong id, not wire reinforced, only 3 ply

Fit tolerance was never mentioned. He just showed me where inside of the strut there are two bearings and that one of them had moved forward towards the other bearing and come off the set screw (figure this is most likely do to the "incident")

When I took the strut to the prop repair shop, the owner took a look at it and said it was slightly tweaked to the side but said there was no sign of stretching or compression. Hopefully he will call me back with good news!!

8122pbrainard wrote: Mike26 wrote: I took the strut over to the Nautique dealer and they looked at the strut and said it had a very slight bend and that once they are bent they are not repairable... I then took the strut to the prop repair shop and the owner is quite confident he can repair the strut and replace the bearings inside of it. Of course they are going to tell you it's not repairable. Guess what, I have a feeling they wanted to sell you a new strut!! This is only one reason that going to a dealer should be your ABSOLUTE LAST option!!

well the real cool part was when they told me when you push the bearing out of the strut, it removes a layer of metal and then new bearings just rotate inside the strut... they said they recommend replacing the strut anytime it requires new bearings inside it...