Flex/Damper Plate Replacement after engine ticking

[BT_48170]

First off thanks to everyone for the information on this site, it's helped me more than a few times and I thought it was time to give back. There are a few threads out there about damper or flex plates and I thought I'd share my experience with my 05 Mobius LS. Towards the end of last summer I started hearing a tick coming from the rear of the engine (only at idle speed), it was not very loud however when I put my hand on the top of the motor mount I could feel something coming through the mount along with the tick. I looked around on this site and some others and read a lot about flex or damper plate failures preceded by a ticking noise. I at first decided I didn't really want to tackle this myself but a call to the local ski boat shops changed my mind, being springtime I was told they might be able to look at the boat in about 6 weeks, I also suggested it might be a flex plate issue to the local moomba dealer and was told they could almost guarantee that wasn't the issue as they only replace about one of those a year. Solid reasoning. So I decided to bite the bullet and ordered a new flex plate from skidim (around $100, item 1516). It was not the first thing I did however for those of you who are hearing a ticking noise and wondering if it's the flex plate you may want to remove your starter first, have a look and run a stick magnet around the starter hole...here is what I saw:
flex_plate_1.jpg

A pile of broken flex plate springs. So yes there is the smoking gun, I was lucky as there are some other posts out there where the broken springs had shot through the bell housing. My boat was still driving perfectly fine other than the ticking noise but probably wasn't far away from all of the springs failing.

Ok so time to replace the flex plate.

Tools you will definitely need: 15/16 box end wrench and socket, 9/16 box end and socket, 1/2 and 3/8 drive ratchet and extensions, torque wrench, big pry bar, ratchet straps, 2x4's, clymer manual

Step 1. Remove the rear seat and center floor panel.
Step 2. Disconnect transmission shift linkage and wiring. Take some pictures so you don't forget what goes where.
Step 3. Get a $10 hand pump and pump what transmission fluid out through the dipstick hole that you are able to. Then remove the fluid lines going from the transmission to the transmission cooler. Put paint dots on one of the fittings/lines so you know which is which later.
Step 4. Remove the propeller shaft hub from the transmission hub. Be sure to put something over the prop so if you are able to reach the rudder when you separate the two you don't ding the prop.
Attachment 22149
Step 5. Now it's time to support the engine. I took the hook on the front of the left bank cylinder head and put it at the rear so I had two hooks equally spaced. I'll probably take a beating for my hoist but it worked just fine. I also put a couple pieces of wood under the engine as secondary supports. The transmission was supported in the same way, it's not that heavy and this is just an interim step while you loosen the bolts.
hillbilly_hoist.jpg
Step 6. Remove the flywheel shield bolts. These are a bit tricky (even to find). You need to be behind the drivers seat and looking towards the back of the boat at the flywheel , there are two bolts holding the shield on, on either side of the engine. I used a flex and some long extensions to loosen these. One of these locations is shown in the empty bolt hole next to the starter hole in picture #1.
Step 7. Ok now with the engine and transmission supported it's time to remove the vertical motor mount bolts, you will also want to loosen the horizontal wedge bolts (which control the side to side position of the engine/transmission. Before loosening anything put paint dots on the vertical bolt threads right above the transmission crossbar and on the crossbar where the wedge bolt is, this is just to get you close when you put it back together, you will still need to do an alignment. After you mark the current postion, loosen the wedge bolts and remove the vertical mount bolts . For the vertical mount bolts you will need to loosen the locking nut above the cross bar and then get a 15/16 box end on the nut on the very bottom. You'll need to move the locking nut down as you loosen the mount bolt. I read some other posts for older boats where they removed the mount right off the transmission, there is not enough room on the 05's.
zf_mount_bolts.jpg
Step 8. Remove the flywheel housing bolts. You may want to leave one hand tight until you're ready to remove the transmission but the transmission is doweled as well so it's not going to just slide down, I had to rock it pretty good and slip a pry bar in to separate it from the engine. Once it's loose have a buddy help you lift it onto some 2x4 behind the engine.
Flex_plate_trans.jpg
Step 9. Remove old flex plate and install the new plate, torque to 35 ft lbs or whatever your clymer manual states for your boat.
Flex_plate.jpg
Step 10. Reinstall transmission. This is atleast a 2 man job but 3 is better, 2 to lift and maneuver the transmission back to the dowels and a third to rotate the transmission hub at the rear to get the splines on the transmission and drive plate to line up. I also cut some course 3/8 threaded rod to make some guide rods. Reinstall transmission housing bolts and torque to 30 Ft lbs.
Step 11. Reinstall engine mount bolts and align according to the paint dots you put on in step 7. For the horizontal alignment you will need to get a big pry bar or spreader to move the engine/transmission, it takes a good bit of force.
Step 12. Alignment #1.. You will need to recheck it in the water. Get a set of feeler gauges and pick a gauge, slide the hubs together with the gauge in between at either top or 90 degrees from then check it 180 degrees from your first position by seeing what gauge you are able to slide in. Try to get both the horizontal and vertical gaps within 0.003" of each other. The clymer manual covers this in pretty good detail, worth the $20 or $30. Tighten the hub bolts to 50 ft lbs. Be sure to check the alignment again in the water mine was quite a bit different then when I did it on the trailer.
Step 13. The easy stuff, reinstall the shift linkage, cooler lines and transmission wiring. Leave the floor and seat out or loose until you check the alignment in the water. Add transmission fluid back to the full mark.

Done. Go have fun.

This is a solid day of work or maybe two, it is a pain in the... but I saved myself a lot of money and downtime.