I just bought a used 23 hp go devil. The previous owner just put a new shaft and bearings on it. I need some tips on maintince and general info. Its my 1st mud motor so any help
Is greatly appreciated. I'm putting it on a 14 foot Louisiana traveler bato.

I just purchased the same one before 2010 hunting season. Its a great motor, a 2005 model. it does need a starter. If you didnt know it already, be careful with the grease reservoir. I hear its kinda easy to break and expensive to replace. Grease is the key. I hear proper greasing will prolong maintenance. I also have be putting synthetic oil in it. Go out of your way to find ETHANOL FREE gasoline. That ETHANOL CR@P doesnt need to sit long before it causes problems. I also plan on bringing mine to the factory for a checkup just in case. Afterwhich; i'll try to come back here and update. I have the same boat (14 x 36). the hull is a poor performer sadly. My motor goes faster on a freinds 18' x 52", go figure. Im gonna have my prop checked out soon also.

three things to check before going out. oil grease and gas. A 23 gdlt is about the closest thing you gonna get to a bullet proof motor. When adding oil make sure motor is level when measuring on the dipstick.Don't overfill with oil!!! It will run like crap. Add grease at the allenmite fitting in the middle of the shaft not the grease cup(fill only to 3/4 full). Check prop wear occasionally. Leave the mercury switch alone till you get the hang of driving it.

Keep water out the gas, air out the fuel line, and keep the right amount of oil in it and that motor will run just about forever. On a go devil long tail most problems are from the back of the engine to the prop. You should break your prop loose every few months and put alot of never seize, I know a lot of people out there say they never did that, I have had a 23 gdlt for a few seasons now and I didn't know that the prop floats on the shaft and depending on the conditions you running in every little thing you hit tighten the prop on the shaft till it snaps the shaft. If your in just mud and veggies that shouldn't be a problem but where I run there are a lot of oysters and thats all it takes. Every duck season I seem to break a shaft . And as far as the grease three or four squirts of grease about every 8 to 10 hrs of run time should do it, if it takes more then that then your seals are bad, when your grease cup is full it will just come out the top but don't try to grease it, after it's full you can take the top off and clean it out if you want but you don't have to. As far as the 23 goes it is fine motor, I found it has enough power to get out where 35 hp surface drives couldn't go and if your battery dies that's the biggest motor that comes with a crank rope. Hope this helps you

Oh by the way is this a long tail or surface drive? I was talking about a long tail

It's a long tail. Thank y'all for helping me out! I took it out for the first time today and is a beast! I used non ethanol premium gas and greased the shaft good. All the guys in my area are running custom exhausts, any suggestions on a good sounding setup?