Bad thrust washers?

[jakekups88]

So I’ve had my new 250 SHO for just over a year now. I have about 80 hours on it and have already had two thrust washers give it up. Luckily the first one I caught before it became a problem. I was not so lucky on the second one as it burned up over the course of 4 days while the boat never came out of the water. I now need a new lower unit which is about impossible to find apparently and I am supposed to fish the bass open as a boater on the james river in two weeks. Are these thrust washers a recent problem with the SHOs?

[yam911]

The thrust washer is not the core problem. Lack of sufficient torque when tightening the propeller nut, and failure to re-torque the nut after an hours so of run time, is generally the problem.

Presumption being that you are talking about the Yamaha two piece thrust washer.

Did the propeller move forward into the gear case?

The SHO casing is available. If shove comes to push have you thought of getting a new casing and having all of your parts transferred to it?

[jakekups88]

That is exactly what happened. Per Yamaha the opposite is true. They have pretty much everything to rebuild an existing casing but the casings themselves are back ordered.

[McQuaig]

My Yamaha manual says 38lbs torque on prop nut, From all the posts I've read that's not nearly enough. I set my wrench to 50lbs and then keep going to line up the hole so is probably 55lbs or so. And as YAM911 says, recheck it after running.

[jakekups88]

Interesting I assume the dealer is just torquing it do the manufacturers specs. These have both been warranty deals. I don’t understand how Yamaha would not have a fix for this.

[yam911]

Interesting I assume the dealer is just torquing it do the manufacturers specs. These have both been warranty deals. I don’t understand how Yamaha would not have a fix for this.

You know the saying about assume I presume.

Yamaha would apparently prefer to pay to replace lower units than to change the torque value and procedure.

I would prefer to strip a $15 propeller nut than to ruin a hundred dollars worth of thrust washers and a four thousand dollar gear case.

Having said that, if a user does their due diligence and catches a loose thrust washer early then just a simple re-tightening of the nut may be all that is needed.

[yam911]

My Yamaha manual says 38lbs torque on prop nut, From all the posts I've read that's not nearly enough. I set my wrench to 50lbs and then keep going to line up the hole so is probably 55lbs or so. And as YAM911 says, recheck it after running.

Manual does not say to do this so many figure they don't need to be doing it.

For want of a torque a thrust washer was lost. For want of a thrust washer a gear case was lost.

Maybe Yamaha thinks that there is more common sense than there is. I have known folks that if their common sense was lard, they would not have enough to grease a skillet.

[Hchamberlin1]

Just my .02 cents from having mine on and off over the years. 38lb is enough if you check it each trip. I however found that if I set my wrench to 38lb to get the next hole it ends up being alot tighter. Mines around 58lb now and I dont have any issues. I used to make it 38lb and get it precise but I had it come loose and shear a pin before. Luckily I caught that loose nut and fixed it before it did anything but I will not torque to 38lb anymore.