Don't be like me, change your v-drive o-rings...Walter RV-26 rebuild

[wellvrsd]

I had raw water leak into my v-drive on my 2003 super sport. By the time I discovered it, the water had fully mixed with the oil to make a disgusting foamy mess that had all been blown out the vent of the v-drive, and the v-drive was chock full of water only. The path the water took was through the o-ring seal of the oil cooling tube. The o-rings are 6F, highlighted in pink below. The o-rings are in grooves in the fittings they are shown with, then the tube, 6E is pushed through the o-rings into the fittings creating a seal. Oil flows inside the tube, and raw water flows outside of it, and the oil is cooled. Over time, o-rings can be compressed and lose some of their sealing ability, which is what happened to me, and may happen to you. I recommend changing these o-rings, it is cheap easy insurance against the heartache I've been through.

You can do this without removing your rear seat base, though it will certainly be easier if you do. I included the last picture with the impeller bits I found in the jacket to show how much space you'll have if you don't remove your seat base. I'm working through the hole left when the cooler(?) is removed from the center of the seat base. The cover labeled as 6D-C is the access to the raw water jacket. I believe the nuts were 9/16, almost every nut on this v-drive was a 9/16. They will be covered with thick paint though, so you have to chip that off to get the proper size wrench on them. After the cover is off, the tube is exposed, but there isn't enough room to slide the tube out of the fittings, so you have to disconnect the oil lines (also painted 9/16), then remove the fittings from the v-drive (I forget the size on these fittings). Remove the o-rings from their grooves with a pick. To help seal the joint, I packed marine grease in the o-ring grooves and lubed the o-rings with it. Installation is the reverse of removal. When reinstalling the oil lines, tighten 1/2 flat past snug. RTV can be used to seal the water jacket cover, but this and the oil sump are the only places I would use it on one of these drives.

[wellvrsd]

Knowing what I know now, here's my recommendation if you have this leak happen to you. I think I might have avoided rebuilding the drive if these had been my immediate actions.

When you pull your boat from the water, leave your drain plug in, the bilge will be a mess anyway, and drain your v-drive into your bilge. Drive straight to the store, get some SAE 30 oil and fill your v-drive. I don't mean full on the dipstick, I mean fill it until it overflows. Rotate your prop by hand for 5 minutes or so, then drain the v-drive to the bilge again, and once again fill the v-drive until it overflows.

At this point, I would expect that there is next to no water left in the v-drive, and I would let the boat sit for a week or two so that any moisture that does remain has a chance to sink into the sump. Rotate your prop by hand a few turns each day to help chase the water out of the bearings and keep the bearings from locking up. While it's sitting, clean your bilge. It's going to be a horrible experience. I recommend pulling your rear seat base and your fuel tank. Good luck. You're also going to want to change those o-rings now.

When you're ready to put the boat in the water again, drain the oil, and refill to the proper level, then come back here and let us know if it worked. I'm not positive it will, I just wish I would have done these things.

Assuming it works, I would do frequent oil changes for a while, And keep rotating the prop by hand on a regular basis.

Pictures show the oil/water muck sitting on the oil pump housing, and a hose I added to the v-drive sump for easy draining, The hose is long enough to go out the back of the boat.

[wellvrsd]

As I previously mentioned, the above is what I wish I would have done. What I did was get home from vacation and work a lot of 12-hour shifts. When I had time for the boat, my first concerns were finding the cause of the leak, and cleaning the mess. I didn't attempt to rotate the shaft for a very long time, and by the time I did, the v-drive was locked up. Therefore it had to come out for a rebuild.

Have you ever tried to disconnect the prop shaft from a locked up v-drive? Look at that clearance(or lack thereof). You can't turn the shaft, and you're not going to get that nut/bolt off with any tool I know of in its current position.


Conveniently, I was going to have to press the output shaft out of the v-drive anyways. Might as well just do it now. BTW, the tool doing the work is an OTC 4532, 7-ton multi purpose bearing and puller set. I highly recommend owning one.


Plenty of space to get at that nut and bolt now.

[wellvrsd]

The last pictures I have are of the internals right after I pulled them out. I got all excited to put it back together and didn't take pictures when things were cleaned up.











As you can see, the internals are skookum as frig. Automotive transmissions don't have gears like that, and they're putting power to the ground, not the water.

All of these part numbers were/are applicable to my RV-26D SN92836. YMMV.

The gears and the yokes of the universal I soaked in WD-40 rust remover soak for a few days, and they came out in fine shape. I replaced the actual U-joints, they were Spicer 1350 style, I used Moog 331's.

Not a single bearing would turn. I wasn't going to try and save them, I replaced them all. They all had their manufacture markings on them.
2x Timken 26883 Bearing
2x Timken 26824 Race
1x Timken JHM88540 Bearing
1x Timken JHM88513 Race
2x Timken 09067 Bearing
2x Timken 09195AB Race
1x NTN 6207C3
1x NTN JAF 5207

There were input and output shaft seals that I replaced as well.
SKF 12384
SKF 15655 (This one was a cross-reference from the CR seal that I removed)

All the parts wound up costing me $303. I bought everything through amazon and ebay. I did save money on some of the bearings by buying NOS.

There are a couple of good manuals that you can find through google. One is the Walter V-drive Installation and Service Manual. It has full teardown and assembly instructions. The other is the Walter RV-20 V-drive Installation Operation and Maintenance Manual which has less info, but a better (imo) exploded diagram.

I think that's all that I learned from my v-drive rebuild experience, hopefully there's some helpful information in there for someone. I've had my boat back in the water and the gears sound fine. I haven't gotten the oil pump working properly yet though. It's the most finicky part of the install, I'm going to try it again in the spring. I'll report back if I have any lessons learned there.

[Beach-TJ]

Knowing what I know now, here's my recommendation if you have this leak happen to you. I think I might have avoided rebuilding the drive if these had been my immediate actions.

When you pull your boat from the water, leave your drain plug in, the bilge will be a mess anyway, and drain your v-drive into your bilge. Drive straight to the store, get some SAE 30 oil and fill your v-drive. I don't mean full on the dipstick, I mean fill it until it overflows. Rotate your prop by hand for 5 minutes or so, then drain the v-drive to the bilge again, and once again fill the v-drive until it overflows.

At this point, I would expect that there is next to no water left in the v-drive, and I would let the boat sit for a week or two so that any moisture that does remain has a chance to sink into the sump. Rotate your prop by hand a few turns each day to help chase the water out of the bearings and keep the bearings from locking up. While it's sitting, clean your bilge. It's going to be a horrible experience. I recommend pulling your rear seat base and your fuel tank. Good luck. You're also going to want to change those o-rings now.

When you're ready to put the boat in the water again, drain the oil, and refill to the proper level, then come back here and let us know if it worked. I'm not positive it will, I just wish I would have done these things.

Good write up.

I would suggest using Kerosene instead of SAE 30 oil for the flush steps. It attracts and holds water. I would do the steps as you suggest. Just make sure to drain the Kerosene and add SAE 30 at the end, before using the boat.

I've used Kerosene to flush the manual transmission in my jeep several times after deep water crossings....don't ask, but it works.

[Beach-TJ]

Thought i would state the obvious. Kerosene is flammable, if you use it, refill with oil. Run the blower extensively and make sure none is in the bilge before starting the boat.

[functionoverfashion]

Do you remember the exact size of the o-rings? I have to tap the threads on a drain plug on my v-drive in the spring, so I'll have the back seat out. Doesn't seem like a ton of extra work to pull those hoses and replace the o-rings... I plan to have this boat for a very long time.

[gome123]

To help the folks. I just spent the weekend chasing the O-Rings. They are Standard size:014 = 1/16" W x 0.489" ID. Solder works great for plugging pin holes in the copper pipe.

[shag]

Good write up. I saved a V-drive from a 92 BF Nautique (full of water when I bought it for who knows how long).. Drained it, filled it and rotated prop awhile and did this process several times until clean fluid came out the drain. I then ran the boat a few hours under load, and drained and filled again. Never had an issue with it after.

[functionoverfashion]

To help the folks. I just spent the weekend chasing the O-Rings. They are Standard size:014 = 1/16" W x 0.489" ID. Solder works great for plugging pin holes in the copper pipe.

Thanks for this, I think I'll get these on hand and try to do this either later in the summer, or next time I've got the boat out of the water. Might not want to attempt this in the water...

[gome123]

Thanks for this, I think I'll get these on hand and try to do this either later in the summer, or next time I've got the boat out of the water. Might not want to attempt this in the water...

They are easy to replace. Drain the V-Drive of water in the cooler. If you did out on the lake there could be cross contamination of water and possibly getting into the V-Drive. But, an easy quick DIY for sure.

[nyryan2001]

A+ write up and thanks for sharing.

to clarify... the bits to the impeller were stuck specifically where?

[mxr181]

wellvrsd THANK YOU very much for posting all this! I bought an 02 210 SANTE with a locked up Vdrive and currently trying to get it fixed. Decided to pull apart myself after seeing this thread. Mine lost the bearing on the input shaft closest to the ujoints. It was a pain to get it apart but it did finally get it with lots of penetrating oil, heat, and a 20 ton hydraulic press.

my main question to you is how good did your gears clean up? My pinion & idler def got hot and show some discoloration from the heat, but otherwise have very little wear. Debating running them or replacing. I get yours didn’t get hot but was there any pitting or anything or did all the rust clean right up?

[wellvrsd]

Sorry this is the first time I've replied to this thread, I'll have to change my email settings for it.

nyryan2001 - If you look at the 3rd and 4th pictures in the first post, you can see where the copper tube runs through the water jacket with little partitions to direct the water around the tube. The pieces of impeller were hung up in various places in the water jacket, some trapped by the copper tube, some by the partitions.

mxr181 - I had some extremely minimal pitting, but it was almost nothing. The gears cleaned up quite well with just soaking and wire brushing. I wouldn't be concerned about running them based on a bit of discoloration. Like I said, these gears are insanely overbuilt compared to automotive transmissions I've been into. Unless you're planning on slamming it into forward and reverse repeatedly while trying to move the lake bottom, you should be fine.

[mxr181]

wellvrsd thank you again for your reply! I tend to agree although I was able to verify the hardness of the gears as well and the discolored pinion & idler we’re identical to the large main gear on the teeth as well as the center so I feel pretty comfortable reusing them. I agree they are very stout gears and from what I understand they are pretty bulletproof unless you run out of oil or get water inside.

did you have to shim either shaft or stack gaskets to get the .005” free play mentioned in the assembly directions?