I take the transmission-V Drive out of my truck and place it on my workbench. I unbolt the transmission from the V-Drive and test the transmission. When it is in neutral I can turn the input and output shafts without any resistance, but as soon as I put it into forward or reverse it jams up. The problem is definitely inside the transmission. My choices are to get the parts and rebuild the one I have or see if anyone has a complete one. I check online for a few hours and there is nothing in the United States. Next, I search for someone who has the same engine as I do, but nothing is listed anywhere. I drive over to the local marine consignment store and ask if they know of anyone, but their answer is no. As a last resort, I contact a fellow sailor who had given me an engine starter when mine was starting to act up a few years ago, I remembered that he has or had the same engine in another boat. I find him at a local marina and to my great surprise he has a spare transmission in his storage unit. We head to the storage unit, it’s full of stuff, and he starts routing around, going deeper and deeper into the storage unit, at different points in the search I can’t see him anymore. With him completely out of sight all of a sudden I hear, ‘here it is’, he pulls it out and plops it down on the ground. I can tell immediately that it is exactly the same as mine. He tells me that he bought it used and has no idea if it works, and has no idea what it’s worth. He says, go try it out and if it works, we can settle on a price when you get back. I agree that is the best idea.
I take the replacement transmission back to the house, and manually test it by hand turning the input shaft, it seems to work the way it should. But this isn’t anything close to testing it under load, the only way to do that is to attach it to the V-drive, install it into the boat, and run it. Now the sheered-off studs have to be removed from the V-drive output flange, I try a stud remover, but no joy. I try a pair of channel locks, but nothing moves. I try heating the flange, and still no movement. The only way now is to get an oversized nut and weld it to the stud. Then I can just unscrew it. That completed the next steps are bolting the replacement transmission to the V-Drive, wire brushing it and giving it a coat or two of protective paint to keep rust at bay. I’ll be heading back to the boat tomorrow morning.
