07 challenger 180 drive shaft removal issue

[Wyicehockey]

Hoping to get some help as I am stumped! I am unable to remove my drive shaft from the rear of my vessel. I have removed the c-clip but my drive shaft won’t pull out more than an inch or two. When I pull real hard I can feel the splines release from the pto and I can turn the drive shaft freely. But as soon as I stop pulling on the drive shaft in slides right back into place almost as if I am pulling on a rubber band. Please help anyone this is driving me nuts

 

[ski-d00]

Use a brass punch and tap on the inner ring of the oil seal bearing (it's clamped in a bellows boot at the back of the motor) while someone is pulling on the driveshaft with medium force. It will come right out.

 

[Wyicehockey]

Thank you so much for responding I’ll will try this right away. I already replaced my wear ring and I am after the carbon seal, support ring and bellow.

After looking further it almost looks as tho the support ring installed is double sided and attaches to something leading into the pto??? Here is a picture of the one installed and the new one. Sorry for the crappy quality

 

[JPass]

The support ring needs to be pulled towards the rear of the boat. There's a c-clip underneath it holding it in place.

Here's a video of the removal from a ski, but the process is the same.

Carbon Seal Replacement

 

[Wyicehockey]

Thanks JP for also responding. C-clip has already been pulled. I actually used that exact video also. Here is a picture of the c-clip removed for proof.

Also I took more pictures of the support ring installed that looks strange. Maybe wedged in something from the pto? Or double sided? Almost looks like an odd Bearing. Nothing in my manual says anything about this?

 

[ski-d00]

You pulled the oil seal bearing out of the rubber boot(bellows with the flap that gets in the way) where it is clamped with an oetiker clamp. Since it's removed already, all you will have to do is pull hard with a steady pull and twist the driveshaft, it will come out and the collar(support ring) and the rear oil seal bearing will fall into the hull.

 

[Wyicehockey]

That makes so much sense. Was I supposed to remove both of the oetiker clamps on that rubber boot? Because I did not. If so should I still remove them? I did not remove the supercharger so they were very difficult to get too. Also I didn’t know if I had to or not.

Thank you so much for all your help tonight. I have been literally staring at this for 2 days straight trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

You're about to get a bunch of oil spilled into your bilge. There is a way to rev the engine so that most of the oil is pumped out of the PTO, but I forgot that procedure. you're too far gone for that at this point (need pump to start motor. Be careful with that carrier seal, it seals around your driveshaft. Put plenty of rags down as you're going to have a mess down there once that shaft comes out. I would undo the worm-clamp and take the shaft seal out with the shaft so you can better remove it w/o damaging it. Sometimes they get stuck. Why are you removing the driveshaft? Know that you cannot start a 4tec motor w/o that driveshaft or you'll spill more oil everywhere.

 

[Wyicehockey]

Thank for very much for this information. I’m removing the drive shaft so I can replace the carbon seal, support ring and bellow. Would it help if I pumped the oil out of the motor? I have not changed the oil yet so I will be changing the oil after the repair anyhow.

I suppose I’ll have to remove the supercharger because I can’t get to the oetiker clamps holding the rubber/oil seal bearings with it installed.

So at the point it sounds like I’m going to have to force out the drive shaft? Just making sure I’m understanding correctly.

 

[ski-d00]

No, you don't remove the oetiker clamps. Ideally, you don't remove the oil seal bearing from the boot but it will push back in with some effort and you won't need to replace any clamps so you don't have to remove the supercharger.

You'll get some oil to spill but normally it isn't too bad.

Yes, you are using force to get it out at this point and you will need both hands to pull and twist. Tapping the base of the oil seal bearing is an easier method. The seadoo tool works well too but tapping with a brass punch is the fastest method as normally 3-4 taps is all it takes to free it.

 

[beergut]

I know the thread is a few months old and there's no update- but I'm about to tackle this on my sportster- I just ordered all the special tools. I'm wondering if he's having a hard time pulling the shaft out because he didn't lubricate the o-rings as described in this section here- the instruction specifically states to expose both shaft o-rings by pushing the seal forward and sliding the shaft to the rear, and lubricate the o-rings to ease shaft removal? thankfully, I'm not dealing with a supercharger and the bellow area looks easy to get to.

 

[C9R0J0]

Mine pulled out easily without doing the procedure described in the manual. It's a freshwater boat though. 300h on the boat.

 

[jorgeu03]

wait, i just did this on my boat (not fun at all since i was not able to get the C clam exposed and removed since it was corroded.. so i cut it in 2 pieces the suppert ring) my biggest concerned is.... i removed the bearing that is closed to the PTO and NO oil was spilled. in fact this is my second time doing this job an on 2 different seadoos and never saw oil spill.