Some of you may know that I traded in a Yamaha 9.9 that was too heavy for my
boat for a nice new little
Mercury 5hp. Before I traded it in I called
Mercury to see if it would meet my needs. I asked about weight, prop
pitch,
fuel consumption and whether or not I could easily install an
alternator without any special tools.
The customer
service guy said "oh sure it's not a problem just order this $60 rectifier and you will be on your way." So I traded the Yamaha in, bought the rectifier kit and opened it (there is a sign on the bag that says "if you open this bag you will not be able to return it") well the directions in the bag say "you cannot use this unless you have the
alternator kit". I call Mercury - "Oh sir I'm sorry I can see how
you were confused but you need to buy this $40 kit too. Fine no big deal, I buy the kit.
I went to install it today and got the pull cord unit out of the way. Right there on the flywheel it says torque this screw to 46 lbs per ft or something. So now I need to have a torque wrench $60 to $100. I was all flustered so decided to take a break and go buy some
oil and stuff for my new
outboard. The
chandlery is also a Mercury dealer. The guy there says oh you don't need a torque wrench. I walk out of there elated. I get back to the
boat pull the bolt that is keeping the flywheel on off and hmmm. The flywheel seems really stuck on there. Another
phone call to Mercury
Marine - "Well sir it would seem that you need to buy a flywheel puller that will be $267 sir."
Grrrrrr. So I called my friends at the
chandlery up the street thinking I am outgunned and that I should just have them install it - "well we have a 6 week wait list and it will be $200 for 2 hours of
work. Jesus this is really adding up. I basically went from spending $60 to spending upwards of $300 in about an hour.
Does anyone know of a generic flywheel puller that isn't $267? Is pulling a flywheel a precision job that I need to leave up to the professionals? Is this even a job I can even do myself or should I just eat the $200 and have the guys at the chandlery do it?