Walter V Drive Systems Gearbox Q

[bud37]

Heh man......they come in different sizes etc, you will have to see the plate for the ratio etc......regarding the fluid, how does it look now, the reason I ask is, I have never liked to change all the fluid in a trans at once, do it in steps.....pull out some and replace with the same amt. new .......new fluid tends to clean and if what is in there is really dirty and appears to never have been changed, you could potentially create a problem.....just my opinion anyway, but out thru the dipstick will work fine......good luck man, looks ok down there ,nice clean paint in the pics.......

[Viper]

So you have the isolated drive and it looks like the pump on the engine draws water through the strainer, then through the drive and on to the engine. You won't see much by removing the top cover of the unit. You'll see a cavity with an E shaped tube in it that the oil lines attach to. As the water comes in one end, it goes into the cavity and draws heat from the oil E tube inside and then exits the outlet. There is a gasket under the cover plate so if you remove the cover, you should be prepared to replace the gasket.

To pressure test the cooling circuit, I cap off both raw water ends at the fittings. One of my plugs has an shrader valve on it which I use to attach a hand pump to with a gauge. You pump it up and see if it maintains pressure for a while. A drop in pressure means you have a raw water side leak either in through the housing, through the gasket to outside, through the gasket to the dipstick hole, or through the oil E tube.

[mjk1040]

390; Going back and reading ur original post, I take it both drives oil looks about the same. I'm really suspecting condensation if this boat sat for a long time prior to auction, condensation moisture in gear oil is not uncommon and a little moisture in gear oil looks like a lot. To change this gear oil (Which should be 30W), ur going to have to warm them gear boxes somehow to extract it or drain it. Ur going to have to run them, use a heat gun on them or a dip stick oil heater rod to warm the oil up some. I'm really thinking if u had a fresh water cooling leak the gear boxes would be overfull. I'd note the gear oil level on both dip sticks, splash it and see after docking it if your oil level changed at all. U may have a slight increase as the oil warms, but if u had a cooling water leak the gear boxes would fill up considerably. Good luck man! We all feel ur pain.

[Viper]

You don't know the last time maintenance was performed so you should replace the oil (and all other fluids on board) no matter what. Don't take any shortcuts here though. Chances are, past oil changes if any were rushed by extracting through the dipstick tube and a couple of important steps omitted. There are drain plugs at the lower end of the casing and/or the bottom pan cover. As part of a regular oil change every season, you should remove the two large plug fittings near the bottom of the casing. At least one of these will be magnetic and should be inspected for metal filings. This will give some indication of wear and should be no more than very fine paste of solids. Any large filings found here are a concern that metal chunks have chipped off your gears or bearings. The fitting at the the lower pan cover that an oil line is hooked up to has an oil strainer in it. The hose should be removed at the elbow and then the entire fitting removed from the casing. The fitting going into the casing is an oil strainer who's outer surface should be cleaned at every oil change interval.

[SplashyLady]

Most folks don't know this and don't do it, but if you want the V-drive to last and also reduce noise and heat, you need to put 5-10% MolyKote Gear Guard M in the oil. Walter used to recommend this in the owner's manual, but it's become hard to find (and expensive). You can still get it from industrial suppliers like Motion Industries or Essex. Expect to pay $40-60 per quart, but a quart goes a long way at 10%.

https://www.motionindustries.com/motion ... 432371.jpg

[390Express]

Thanks all.

I got the ID tag off of the Walters Gear Drive, apparently my model is an RV 40. Allegedly it takes 2 quarts of fluid (4 pints). I guess that will tell me how much water got in there, presuming it was full/had proper fluid when the water was introduced. You are correct, the fluid in both looked exactly the same, same level, same water characteristics. I'm not as concerned about the water issue as I once was. I watched a video of a guy draining his fluid and it was way, way worse than mine. That said, I'm a bit torn on the non-detergent vs HD argument. Most people say it really doesn't matter, these things are bulletproof and any SAE 30 will work, others say go with the non-detergent, but the non-detergent oils tend to be poorer quality. Anyone have a fluid/brand that they recommend (or don't recommend)? I'm currently leaning toward Valvoline synthetic.

Trans is a BW velvet drive (thanks for the location of the ID tag), I plan on changing both the trans fluid and gearbox fluid this weekend. I would never splash a boat with an unknown maintenance history with old fluids in it. The BW velvet drive is 5 quarts (well, 4.9) of GM Dextron III trans fluid, correct? Is the only way to drain the BW velvet drive through the dip tube? I didn't see a drain plug, but it's a lot easier to find things crawling around down there when you know where to look.

There is a little crud on the prop shafts (thin layer of dried algae). I'm considering using a scouring pad (green pad) and some simple green to clean them off. Any issues? The sacrificial anode just clamps onto the shaft, and I don't need to worry about it being off balance or anything? Coming from the performance boating world, this seems weird to me.

The boat has a fluid mechanism connected to the prop shaft seal. Do I need to do anything with this? I'm familiar with the old school rope seals, this is my first go-round with this system. (pics attached)

[mjk1040]

This appears to be a lubed seal system. I would make a few water trips and recheck these fluid levels. If they do not change dramatically and I saw no water leaking at the shafts, then I would assume they are working properly and I would google the name on the reservoir to research fluid type and all other info I could get. Anodes on the prop shafts are common. If they appear equal in size and not eroded away a lot they should be fine, otherwise measure the shaft size and replace them with new ones. I do not think there are drain plugs on the BW drives so you'll have to extract it out of the dip tube.

[Viper]

The shaft seal uses ATF. The trend now is to replace those units though with water cooled ones to keep oil out of our waters.

Oval shaft anodes are common in recreational applications. It was pretty common years ago to use zinc anodes even in fresh water so you should check which type you have. If their surface is relatively smooth and they seem to still be full size, replace them as they are likely zinc and aren't doing a thing to protect your running gear. To be safe, I'd replace them. You could go magnesium for the highest protection as they are the most active but they are expensive and you'll need to replace them every year. I use aluminum on all inboard applications now in fresh water. They are less active but are just fine for inboard metals, much cheaper than magnesium, and will likely last 2-3 years. If you have anodes on any other gear like rudders and trim tabs, you must replace them as well so that all anodes are of the same metal composition.

[390Express]

Source of the post The shaft seal uses ATF. The trend now is to replace those units though with water cooled ones to keep oil out of our waters.

Oval shaft anodes are common in recreational applications. It was pretty common years ago to use zinc anodes even in fresh water so you should check which type you have. If their surface is relatively smooth and they seem to still be full size, replace them as they are likely zinc and aren't doing a thing to protect your running gear. To be safe, I'd replace them. You could go magnesium for the highest protection as they are the most active but they are expensive and you'll need to replace them every year. I use aluminum on all inboard applications now in fresh water. They are less active but are just fine for inboard metals, much cheaper than magnesium, and will likely last 2-3 years. If you have anodes on any other gear like rudders and trim tabs, you must replace them as well so that all anodes are of the same metal composition.

Ha, thanks Viper. I'm pretty environmentally conscious, but I'm more worried about keeping water out of my boat than anything. I mean, think of the environmental consequence of having to build a whole new boat! (I'm kidding, somewhat) Is there any maintenance that I need to do to the prop shaft seal, or just splash it and see where its at?I've heard of people replacing prop shaft seals with the boat in the water, but I don't know how keen I am to that idea.

I'll look into aluminum anodes. The prop shafts are stainless and have zero corrosion, the props are brass/bronze and have no corrosion as well. If I was trying to protect an aluminum outdrive, I may consider magnesium, given how fast aluminum corrodes, but I agree with you, I'll look into and most likely purchase aluminum anodes before I hit the water. Prop shafts on this thing are huge (1.75). I think the shafts on our 34 Sundancer were 1". I'm a bit surprised how much "beefier" this boat is.

[390Express]

Drained the trans fluid last weekend. I would say it had a minimal amount of water in the port trans only, all of which was settled to the bottom. (See pic of Jug I drained everything into) It was only the first pump of the evac pump that had any sort of water in it. Pics below. I would guess it had less than two cups of water or so, mixed with trans fluid in the port trans. Not sure why it's only in the port motor, other than the port motor sits on the side of the boat that is hit by the sun (which would help form condensation). The stbd motor had no water whatsoever. (See second pic of tube with ATF) More concerning was the low level of fluid. I only got about 4 quarts out of both transmissions, but I'm sure I didn't get it all. I'll fill it fresh, take it for a ride and drain and fill one more time. A mini-flush if you will. I couldn't drain the Walter gearboxes. I'm going to have to take it for a brief ride, heat it up, and drain it while warm. I disconnected the plug and a minimal amount of oil trickled out. The only other way is to heat it up with a heatgun or torch, and that seems like unneeded risk and misery at this point.

My biggest issue at this point seems to be the fuel. I took the gas line off of the fuel / water separator and it didn't smell like gas. It wasn't "varnish" or tarry, but it had a strong, sweet alcohol smell to it. Kind of smelled like anti-freeze and alcohol mixed together. In any event, it needs to come out. There are no fittings at the bottom of the gas tank, and nothing comes out when I took the fuel line off of the water separator. I'm considering hard wiring a separate fuel pump, hooking it to the line that comes out of the water separator, and drawing it out that way. Thoughts?

If that turns out to be the best option, does anyone know what size fitting I need to hook the line to the fuel pump? I just want a barbed fitting that I can screw into the gas line fitting, to connect it to a rubber hose on the pump. To the extent it helps, a 3/4 in wrench is what I used to disconnect the fuel line from the fuel water separator.

I tried feeding a 3/8 tube into the tank from the fill valve, and it was a no-go. I'd rather stay out of the bilge if possible. Lots of smells down there, it needs a good cleaning. It's not particularly filthy, but lots of solvents and PB Blaster sprayed at various times over the last few months. I get a headache down there. Removed the starters and alternators this weekend too. More preventative than anything. I'm having both rebuilt. Should have them back later today or tomorrow. The other option is to try to remove the approximately 2" inlet hose at the top, and stick something directly in the tank.

What is the round plastic thing near the fuel water separator? A vent for the gas tank I presume?

Thanks for the advice so far!