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Crack in lower unit

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When I was putting my boat away yesterday I noticed a smear of gear lube on the lower unit. Close examination revealed a crack about an inch long in the housing below where the anti-ventilation plate is and towards the front. I have no idea how this happened. There is no sign of any impact, and I faithfully change gear lube before storing the boat for the winter. (engine is an Evinrude 88spl) Has anyone seen this happen before? To repair it I plan to drain and remove the lower unit, vee out the crack with a die grinder, and take it to a shop I know of that does welding on aluminum. Then I can grind the weld flush, repaint, and the repair should be invisible. Would anyone else repair it differently? This should be a strong, permanent repair. I'm just happy I found the crack before this became a major failure. I checked the area where the boat is stored and found no evidence of gear oil on the ground so I have to think this just happened yesterday.

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No Slack,

 

What you describe is the best way to go about the repair you need to make. Additional homework for you though is to try your best to figure out how/why it happened to begin with. External impact, internal impact (broken gear?), faulty housing, electrolosis, inordinate cavitation, grossly unbalanced prop??? Lot's of things you cause this, especially if there was a sub-standard casting done when the housing was originally made. Good luck to you.

Is it too much to ask to just breathe, be able to walk and go fishing?

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  • 2 weeks later...

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