Since somebody jacked the hell of my thread I'm starting a new one

I thought I had a lower bearing problem in the clutch, I changed it and I'm not sure that's the problem, I'm thinking the upper shaft has too much "play" in it and was surprised to fine the splines are dry, rusty and don't fit well together. Is it normal if you twist the prop back and forth and see the upper shaft (male splines) wobble like there's a worn out bearing? I'm thinking an upper bearing in the LU may be the culprit.

Here are some pictures of the new clutch, old clutch, coupler, shaft, etc... for those who haven't seen it before.

how much play? Play in the splines should be normal. You have to have some play or it will be an iterference fit. Think of it as a slip section on a driveshaft. It has to be able to move some.

You refereing to the Male splines input shaft? It moves around?

yeah, the last picture, the upper shaft of the LU will move around if you turn the prop back and forth. I know the splines have play, but that shaft concerns me. If you slide the coupler down to where it would normally fit, you can move it enough to hit the walls of the housing. It's relying on the motor shaft to hold it all straight. I would think the upper shaft would be supported better by it's own bearing?

The shaft will move about half the thickness of the spline hieght...

I have't seen a PD LU apart in years, But they have bearings on the shaft to keep the Gears meshed well. You need to check into that while you got it apart!

Maybe after this wekend, she's back together now, I still have 3 gator tags to fill... It takes me about an hour and a half to change the clutch (if it will come off easily)

Hour and a half? Should take about 30 minutes, even if the clutch needs a little persuasion. 4 bolts, lift powerhead, 4 allen head screws, drop spline adapter, 1 bolt, drop clutch, reverse...You using left handed tools or something?

Change the coupler. It should take most of the wear. The shaft will be expensive if you have to change it

You can strip the spline right out of that coupler after to many pertrified stump hits. But there is a slight amount of play. You have a hardened stainless shaft running on a softer carbon steel coupler. Now you see why you should break the whole thing down once a year. I have a coupler rust onto the shaft on a 8 month old motor. Had to cut it off with a sawzall. Neverseize is you friend.

And what your talking about is the gap at the bottom of the coupler. If it were not there it would hold water and you would really have issues. It plays no part in support of the shaft or LU.

thanks for the pics and wright up Will

whatever gave you the idea to take pics of the process

Wasn't the clutch bearing causing the problem, looks like I'll be stripping the LU and changing that upper bearing.

Yours have a grease fitting for that bearing?

Yep, and greased it like clock work, just one of those things I guess. I ran last night and since I'm convinced that's the problem now I pumped more grease in there than you're supposed to and it was quiet for about 2 hours then started singing again. Probably from all the shit I've hit with the prop, lots of rockes where I've been lately.

After talking with KP, i decided to ship them the lower assembly....Good news Peck figured it out, bad news he never seen one do this... That upper bearing on the upper shaft that I thought was the problem was but not quite what I expected, that bearing is a press fit to the shaft and somehow the inner race became loose a dug a grove in the shaft. The bearing wasn't dry or in bad shape other than the race itself. So we're replacing the shaft, all bearings and converting the lower assembly to the new grease style...I'm glad I sent it to them because I will have a new warranty on it when I get it back.

Nice. Sounds like that bearing spun on the shaft. Shit happens.