I understand this is a long shot, but I wanted to ask if anyone had a spare primary drive gear that drives the two prop gears on the prop shaft of the saildrive.

  After pulling the boat for the winter, I found murky lower unit oil, which indicated a leak. After removing the SD lower housing, I found the primary drive gear had wear damage to the center drive surface of all teeth. The prop drive gears were fine . I ordered a replacement drive gear and shims from LSM Diesel, but it was a different size and diameter (taller and a smaller diameter) than my original and had a different gear design as well. Not sure why Bukh would have multiple designs for the DV8, but the gears were different. 

As stated in an earlier post, I am evaluating options for the SD. Will contact United Welding Processes to inquire about getting my gear remade, but am also evaluating the option of pulling the Bukh and SD and replacing it with an outboard off the back, like the J29's did.  I know it goes against the grain to have anything but an inboard on the L28, but reliability and budget are also part of the evaluation process.  Re-powering with a new Beta Marine sounds appealing, but the cost is hard to justify.

Let me know if there are any primary drive gears out there collecting dust.

Images of gears in attached pdf below;

http://laser28.org/images/175/DV8_saildrive_drive_gear_replacement_175.pdf" rel="nofollow - http://laser28.org/images/175/DV8_saildrive_drive_gear_replacement_175.pdf

Thanks,

 Marc

Paul,

I did order the R620A2101 Gearwheel Little Drive from LSM as referenced by the Bukh parts master).  My gear had wear damage in the middle of each tooth, so as a first step contacted LSM and ordered a new one from them.  As part of the order, I also purchased the rear bearing assembly, a new thrust washer, O-rings, and some shims for adjustments as required. All told ~$1500.  My prop shaft gears had minor scuffing,  just the primary gear suffered the most damage. When I  received  the new gear from LSM,  it was apparent the gear teeth height and designs were different. I can send you pictures with associated measurements if you want to compare your gear up against my old one and the new one from LSM.  If yours are in line with the new gear, it should be a good fit. I was tempted to order the two prop gears from LSM to see if they would match up with the new bevel gear, but another $2K ($1K each gear) after the first didn't match was in the guess category. It didn't make sense that Bukh should have more than one design for the gear set, unless at some point they made an undocumented design change .  At one point I did call Erik to request the refund. He was kind enough to let me send the parts back  to them after I emailed the pictures of the gears not matching up and the phone call. The refund minus $270 import duty/restock fee  and another $145 shipping with insurance was an added cost to the order.

As a plan B, I contacted Stephan Beaulieu-Champigny / Plant Manager at United Welding Processes  (514) 321-3320 or (800) 361-3950, Email Stephan@uwp.ca, and sent him pictures of the gear asking if he could repair or replace it. His response was that they would have to remake the gears to get proper alignment and meshing. My prop shaft also had minor scoring from the gear debris, so if I pursued this route, would also ask him to remake the shaft, as they are no longer available either.   

I have owned the boat for 15 years, and this is the second saildrive on it. After one race in severe weather, my dog clutch came apart and destroyed the gears in the lower unit.  I replaced it with a new one from Bukh 10 years ago. 

I love the boat, but after two rounds with the SD, it makes sense to me  to look at Bukh alternatives. The Beta inboard/shaft drive  solution is about $13K for parts and yard labor.  I am also evaluating outboard solutions for my 35 year old boat. As I was considering this path, I walked the boatyard to make measurements on boats with outboards, and was surprised to see quite a few with both outboards on the back and also inboard drive props poking out their bottoms.  After going through this process it dawned on me how much I have had to pamper the SD over the years, using zinc based paint that quit working the third month, buying Gori props every four to five year, and replacing the shaft seal every 7 years. After those considerations, the outboard wasn't so bad after all. 

Let me know if your gears have sustained similar damage.  As stated above, if interested, I can send you pictures of the drive gears, new and old so you can make an informed decision forward if/and when contacting LSM. Just send me your email. Mine is rileys_4@verizon.net. 

Marc 

mailto:stephan@uwp.ca" rel="nofollow -

Just so I understand correctly Marc, you replaced the complete sail drive unit with a complete new Bukh sail drive?

If I ever had to consider repowering the Laser 28 I would go with a Yanmar 1GM10(C) with the SD25 sail drive. This is a single cylinder horizontal crankshaft diesel rated at 9.9 HP which means for a sail drive application it has a bevel gear transmission at the rear to adapt to the sail drive. Custom bracketing would be required for the engine mounts and a new sail drive ring fabricated, also the back of the stairs would need modification as the engine would protrude further forward. All doable in my opinion.

If you mount an outboard and race the boat then you may consider removing the Bukh, that would necessitate a block off plate for the engine well and a new rubber to cover the hole in the hull for the sail drive.