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Old 07-23-2020, 05:08 AM
  #10  
OOfff
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Joined APC: Sep 2016
Posts: 6,716
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Sea rays are fine, just very common and lower-end boats. You’re most likely looking at an alpha-one outdrive. They’re easy to work on and reliable at low (under 260ish hp) power levels. I’d definitely check the magnetic plug on the lower gear case for metal shavings (and water in the gear oil) before any purchase.

Also look for evidence that grease has ever been put in the driveshaft bearing (just in front of the transom, behind the motor at about the 2-o’clock position looking backwards). It’s hard to see and often missed in normal maintenance.

check that the trim gauge and limit switches function (that it stops trimming in the up direction with the trim switch, and needs a trailer trim to go all the way up. They’re fairly cheap but you have to basically remove the whole drive and gimbal to change them properly, so you might as well do a whole lot of other items while they’re out.

look for damage in the bellows (shift cable, exhaust, and driveshaft). Damage to the driveshaft bellow is a guaranteed gimbal bearing/u-joint job.

The other outdrive issues (gimbal bearings, u-joints, etc) are all fairly straightforward.

the 5.0 itself shouldn’t cause much problem if it’s running well and is well maintained. Hard to tell without seeing it, but if it doesn’t sound awful, looks clean, and runs strong during a test run... 🤷🏻‍♂️. bring a compression tester if you’re really worried.

Price seems pretty high, but if it’s in fantastic shape, I could entertain it
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