Yanmar SD20 sail drive broken

[Woodyv12]

G'Day All

We have lost gear selection due to an internal pin that locates the forward and reverse lever on the selection shaft dropping out.

Questions
Anyone else experienced this?
Why would the pin just fall out? - we've never had drive open
Where is pin likely to be ... if we just replace it the old one presumably has the ability to jam in the gears

Photo shows clear hole where pin should be.. lever just rotates.

Looks like developing into a big job for such a tiny part....

[Woodyv12]

Originally Posted by Woodyv12

G'Day All

We have lost gear selection due to an internal pin that locates the forward and reverse lever on the selection shaft dropping out.

Questions
Anyone else experienced this?
Why would the pin just fall out? - we've never had drive open
Where is pin likely to be ... if we just replace it the old one presumably has the ability to jam in the gears

Photo shows clear hole where pin should be.. lever just rotates.

Looks like developing into a big job for such a tiny part....

How we fixed

The internal gear selection lever pin is the one I broke and is accessible relatively easily on the top part of the drive. Once I had detached the cable the lever could be moved in a circle without any perceived change in the selection of forward or reverse. I just undid the four bolts holding holding the lever to get access. The part comes off easily but the oil level is above the bottom of the opening so you will need a few rags to absorb the overflow.

I was lucky to be able to find both halves of the broken pin. I took the plate off the top of the drive - another 4 bolts - and a bit difficult to pull off as it locates a bearing recessed into its bottom side. I tried gently to no avail and eventually had a rush of blood to the head attacked it with a chisel and hammer - without any damage fortunately. There is not much space around the gear cogs so I used a magnet on a springiny thing I bought from the auto store to retrieve the broken pin halves...lucky!!
You could try to find the bits thru the lever hole before removing the top plate but I didn't have any success.

The Part to order from Yanmar is 22301-040250. Yanmar actually sent it to me for free - it's worth about $2.00. They said the had never heard of this happening before. The pin is tapered and needs to go in the correct way.

[Wanderlust]

Thanks for posting a followup.

Do you have any photos of the saildrive with that plate off the top and is there a technique to remove it? Does that give you access to replace/inspect top bearings etc?

I am planning to service mine soon and was thinking of inspecting the top end.

[SailBlue]

I know these are rather old postings, but wanted to report that the same issue happened to me just last week. Mine is a year 2016 SD20, and the taper pin referenced in the postings just fell off leaving the boat engage in forward. The fix is easy, the problem is that I cannot locate the broken pin, and I am afraid it will cause some damage at some point in time when it finds its way in-between gears.

Where there more recent cases of this happening ? Any ideas how to fish out the broken pin ?

[bil56]

drain the oil, insert a magnet on a flexible rod through the dipstick hole ...

[Woodyv12]

Gee.. bringing back some memories. I had the same dilema as I didn’t want the expense and time involved in docking etc. Actually happened twice on separate drives.. It took quite a while to get both parts of the pin. I used a magnet on a flexible spring that I purchased from auto store. One part was visible and retrieved easily.. the smaller bit was not visible so I used my phone to take photos and was able to find it that way. It wasn’t easy to see as it blended in with the remaining oil but magnified images made it possible. Photos have gone walkabout over the years.