Thread:

OMC Cobra outdrive...

Quesiton for you STEARN DRIVE gurus...

I need to take down the lower unit on my little sisters 1988 Bayliner (2.3 ford) and I believe that the lower unit is a Cobra, NOT King Cobra.

At any rate, with all of the bolts out on the lower unit and the shifter in neutral the unit drops down about 3/4 inch with a little help but stops there. Using a flashlight I can see the bottom two O-rings on the intermediate housing for the input shaft. I can't seem to get the unit to drop any lower and I'm afraid that I will break something if I apply any more force than the handle of a breaker bar between the two castings working with even pressure...

Any suggestions/thoughts?

Shop manual says pull backwards (away) and down on the lower unit, I assume that is to let the shift input clear the shift actuator??? There really is no fore and aft movement since the intermediate housing is still partially inside the upper unit.

Mucho appreciated if you can guide me...

Bruce...

Ya, I would have dumped this TURD but my dad has already rebuilt a head for it and sunk a ton of time/money into fixing this thing for my sister and her fam... EVEN having new interior sewn up for the heap...

My brother in law didnt winterize the boat and it cracked the head/pushed out all the freeze plugs and it must have cracked the water pickup tube that goes from the lower to the upper bcuz when we hook water with muffs to the lower it has water comign out the front of the drive between the lowre and upper.

It sounds as though you have the drive still on the boat and are trying to split the upper from the lower...Your not going to do it without pulling the drive.


Pull the drive and you can rotate the shift shaft 90 degrees and your GTG..

Originally Posted by bart@nordicboats

I hope your not trying to drop to do the impeller

He stated he has water coming from odd places within the drive. Suspected a broken copper water tube.

Impeller is from above and is not the issue...

We suspect an issue in the transfer tube from the lower to the upper...